I'm Georgia Hiller, and I am running as your representative for Collier County Commission, District 2.

My philosophies are simple. They are all about you, the taxpayer.

The economy is facing a continuing downturn. Our local government needs to tighten its belt, just as the private sector has tightened its belt. Our county leaders need to realize that reducing the size of government is a good thing. The federal government's philosophy of growing government is not a model we should follow in our little corner of paradise called Collier County. We currently face a significant reduction in county tax revenues that will force us to reduce the size and scope of our county government or raise taxes dramatically. Revenues will take a long time to catch up with historical trends, if they ever do.

The financial bingeing and empire building by the current Board of County Commissioners must be halted and dismantled, while maintaining the services that are important to residents. Real estate values have dropped significantly and are projected to continue to decline. Ad valorem tax revenues should follow suit. Tourism has dropped significantly, and tourist development tax dollars will likely continue to decline. Development is grinding to a standstill, stymieing the inflow of impact fees, fees which are nothing more than another tax by a different name.

The Board of County Commissioners has maintained big government spending, furthering our financial crisis. Their plan to weather the economic storm is to raise your taxes and levy fees to preserve unrealistic spending levels. This will make matters worse. Collier taxpayers face tax increases because commissioners have refused to make efficient choices. At the same time, residents are watching their personal assets deteriorate in value, as purchasing power declines, and are threatened daily as unemployment reaches record levels. Collier County is a $1.4 billion governmental entity serving approximately 330,000 taxpayers, yet our commissioners do not understand the concepts that need to be implemented.

Collier County must downsize and adopt zero based budgeting! I propose that Collier government cut costs, reform procurement practices, tirelessly examine all department operations to promote efficiencies and eliminate expenditures, and streamline and sunset the giant web of contradictory regulations that have made living and doing business in Collier County unnecessarily cumbersome and expensive due to the oversight of a bloated regulatory division. We need to reexamine what our government currently does for us and compare it to what we really need it to do. Increased taxes will drive citizens and business away from Collier County and crush the life out of potential green shoots of economic recovery and growth.

The county's operations and expenditures should be transparent, reducing government's ability to waste tax dollars. I have fought and will continue to fight to restore the Clerk of Court's power to audit government on behalf of the taxpayers. All government expenditures should be viewable online with the click of a mouse in the comfort of a taxpayer’s home. All public records should be readily and easily retrievable by taxpayers in the time it takes to pull the document up on a computer monitor.

The Board of Commissioners believes they own your tax dollars. They have voted to spend money at levels higher than economic conditions merit due to the influence of special interests that support their actions. They have not made decisions on your behalf, or in your best interest. Commissioners are convinced that they can cover their losses simply by picking your pocket with more taxes and fees, while controlling you with more regulation rather than realistic alternatives.

I bring you the skills that are needed in these hard economic times to make the hard economic decisions that will carry us safely through this storm. I promise to give you my undivided, full-time commitment to represent your voice.

If you agree with this, please vote for me in August 2010!

Thanks for your support,
Georgia Hiller