Insect-population control sees $200,000 budget increase

There is a buzz this year in Sarasota County about mosquitoes.

Sarasota County will approve a budget for the 2013 fiscal year that includes an increase in property taxes that pay for management of the insect’s population for the first time in five years.

Sarasota County Health and Human Services Director Chuck Henry said he’s sensitive to concerns about the tax increase as a taxpayer but that controlling the threat of mosquito-born diseases is more complex than most residents think. The Mosquito Management Department recently lost Director Dr. Eric Schreiber to a sudden resignation, but Henry said he has staff ready to step in to lead.

“West Nile this year seems to be particularly strong across the nation,” Henry said during a phone interview. “We began to watch closer, be more strategic and watch what’s happening in other counties.”

That strategy involves chickens — sentinel chickens. The Mosquito Management Department uses a scientific version of the canary-in-the-mine test by performing weekly blood tests on 13 groups of chickens placed throughout the county, and it sets insect traps for the bloodsuckers.

Nine months into 2012, county scientists have found about 16 cases of West Nile virus, roughly half the number of cases discovered last year. The closest human infection occurred in Hillsborough County, Henry said.

The increased millage rate, which is 0.0805 next year compared with 0.0277 in the 2012 fiscal year, is to fill a funding void, Henry said, but the mosquito-management budget does increase by more than $200,000. That’s a little less than the department spends on disease surveillance and monitoring mosquito populations.

Florida mandates that tax money raised for mosquito management only be used for that purpose, Henry explained. Sarasota County Commissioner Nora Patterson during a Sept. 10 budget hearing said the rate was wisely lowered five years ago after accumulating a surplus. That created a hole in the department’s budget, which was filled by a greater 2013 fiscal year millage rate.

PUBLIC TALENT TOUGHT TO KEEP
Sarasota County Administrator Randall Reid said one he has faced since taking the job earlier this year was retaining talented staff. It was part of his argument for giving $1,000 one-time raises to non-bargaining employees in the 2013 fiscal year.

The sudden resignation of County Mosquito Management Director Dr. Eric Schreiber seems to have been another case of talent poaching by other jurisdictions. Schreiber recently received a pay increase of $8,000 from the county to counter a job offer from Collier County, according to a personnel file obtained by the Pelican Press.

“Eric certainly had a tremendous technical skill and background,” said Sarasota County Health and Human Services Director Chuck Henry. He said there are staff members who can take his place, but he will be doing an open search to fill the position.