This was in the Walton Sun Saturday. [URL="http://www.epaperedition.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToPrint_WSUN&Type=text/html&Locale=english-skin-custom&Path=WaltonSun/2009/01/10&ID=Ar00600"]http://www.epaperedition.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:LowLevelEntityToPrint_WSUN&Type=text/html&Locale=english-skin-custom&Path=WaltonSun/2009/01/10&ID=Ar00600[/URL] Publication: WaltonSun; Date: Jan 10, 2009; Section: Opinion; Page: 6 OUR VIEW Come on, commissioners, give us a break! What has your county commission done for you lately? If you?re like most, you go about your day and don?t really think about the day-to-day business of local government until you need something: a permit issued, a road fixed, an errant animal picked up. But these times are tough. Another business closes almost daily. No one is spending any money and no one is buying anything. Construction, all but government-sponsored construction, has come to a halt. No money is being circulated throughout the county. It?s a log jam where no money can get through the stranglehold the economy has on local businesses. So what has the local government done to help break this log jam? There?s talk about making Chat Holley a scenic corridor, completing the bike path on Mack Bayou and even more park improvements, all worthwhile endeavors, but not a realistic view of what is really happening in South Walton. ?For several professions, there is too much bureaucracy. We are going to identify and remove barriers stalling business growth,? said Sen. Don Gaetz, chairman of the Select Committee on Florida?s Economy, which is responsible for reviewing government regulations that are hindering growth and stalling needed projects. Earlier this year Bay County officials reduced or eliminated many of the fees associated with new construction. Why can?t Walton County follow suit? For so many years, Walton County struggled to keep its infrastructure in pace with the rapid growth the county was undergoing. Many strides were made in zoning and planning designed to help preserve the look and feel of ?old Florida.? But traffic studies done five, even two years ago are no longer accurate, and it is just plain not fair to make developers, especially the small builders, pay for the sins of their predecessors. A hiatus needs to be called on all fees six months a year. Let those smaller projects go forward and even offer them a helping hand when possible. Every project, however large or small, that is stopped because of the high cost of fees and permitting costs or the snail?s pace with which it goes through the permitting process is not just one job loss but dozens, from the architects and engineers to the carpet layers and wall plasters ? real people without a real means of supporting themselves and their families. According to the Miami Herald, one out of every 10 Floridians is on food stamps. If the federal government thinks it?s important enough to bail out private companies in order to help stimulate the national economy, cannot our county officials see the urgency of making it easier for builders to get things done quicker and cheaper at the county level? Write or call your commissioner this week and express your support for a moratorium on impact and permitting fees. Let?s help break the dam on local building and bring dollars back into our local economy.
