s long as they avoid the monument to capitalism that is Butler Plaza, many denizens of Alachua County are able to convince themselves that the county is their own little bohemian paradise, an enlightened splotch of blue in an otherwise hopelessly red part of the state. Along with the ivory-tower idealism leaching out from UF, this attitude has resulted in a certain political party controlling local government practically unopposed for decades. Throw in a huge tax base that doesn't vote and doesn't care (that's you, students), and you have a recipe for disaster.
Consider the county's CHOICES health insurance program. On its face, the program is admirable. It intends to provide health insurance for those who don't qualify for federal assistance by way of a virtually unnoticeable increase in sales taxes. In practice, however, the program has been laughably unsuccessful. Since its inception in 2004, it has enrolled slightly more than 1,000 citizens and collected almost $30 million in tax revenue, practically all of which has gone unused and now sits untouched. Even worse, the program is expected to suck $40 million more out of the local economy over the next four years.
There is a number of reasons why the program has failed on such an extraordinary scale. The bottom line, though, is that CHOICES represents exactly the wrong model of health care for the citizens it's targeting - those who make just enough money to be classified as above the poverty line but are still unable to afford health insurance.
Health care shouldn't come in the form of a blind government handout except for in the direst of circumstances. What government should be doing is making health insurance less expensive so that citizens can afford it. Toward this end, Gov. Charlie Crist and the state Legislature recently implemented a plan that will force insurance providers to simplify policy requirements and offer more sensible coverage. The plan is expected to reduce the cost of health insurance by more than 60 percent and make it cheaper for employers to provide coverage for their employees.
Individual counties, though, don't have the sort of bargaining power or political clout to implement such policies. As a result, governments that believe they are the solution to every problem, such as Alachua County's, are left with no options other than blatant wealth redistribution, such as in CHOICES.
Why, though, should students even care about this farce of a program? Most of us are only here for four years, many of us never change our voter registration, and sadly, a large portion of us hardly keep track of the amount of money we spend in this town, much less of the taxes we pay.
But even if you don't care about the welfare of the county or its citizens, what about RTS? The $1.5 million deficit RTS faces for next year is a paltry sum next to the over $30 million growing mold in the CHOICES account. What about our roads? I can name at least five roads in the county that are in desperate need of resurfacing.
During the school year, UF students represent a fifth of the population of Alachua County. It's about time that some of us became more indignant about the comic mismanagement of our local government.
Joshua Simmons is an economics senior and member of the Alachua County Republican Executive Committee. His column appears on Tuesdays.
