It was clear and simple. The inspector general needs additional monies or she will have to lay off a large part of her staff. The county commissioners have always said they are in favor of an independent inspector general. Since the rogue cites have ignored the 72 percent of their electorate, and have sued to not fund the IG, there was only one way to keep the IG going, and that is for the Palm Beach County commissioners to give her the money, and they agreed in principle to do it.
Things are going much better for Palm Beach County this year. Housing is booming, property values are rising and taxes will increase. There should be enough money to fund the temporary needs of the inspector general, despite budget constraints.
County Clerk Sharon Bock is currently holding onto the money 25 cities have committed to fund and is trying to get the authority to pass it on to the inspector general. The rogue cites are still stonewalling the inspector general by shamelessly disregarding citizens’ wishes to fund the IG. Their only hope is to vote their representatives out of office in the next election, which is exactly what Wellington did in its last election. This issue is getting old, but we must not relent.
Morley Alperstein, Wellington
