Hillsborough County Clerks Office

Pasco's homeless population 2nd-highest in state

County officials for a grant of 1.4 million to provide housing and treatment for up to 380 people.

A few weeks ago, as Pasco County commissioners debated whether a request for $ 1.4 million federal grant to help homeless, County community services director dropped this bomb:

"One thing about the homeless population," George Romagnoli mentioned almost as an aside, "Pasco has the second highest population homeless in the state, just behind Hillsborough."

When the homeless coalition County and volunteers have crisscrossed the county in January26 for the semi-annual count, they found 4442 men, women and children living in shelters or on the street.

It's more than Miami-Dade County, which has five times the population of Pasco.

Miami-Dade County has reduced its homeless population by 27 percent since 2005, while the count homeless Pasco has stabilized at around 4500 for the last three years.

Based on these figures, almost 1 percent of the total population of Pasco is homeless, making it the highest rate per capita homeless in Florida.

Pasco figure does not include about 3,000 or so adults and children who are "doubled" with friends or family because they lost their homes.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development designates a specific day in January every two years for the national census of homeless people. That's how the department allocates funds for shelters and other organizations that help the homeless.

Romagnoli questions if other counties are under-reporting their numbers. It's the only explanation he can come to why Pasco has more homeless people than all the major metropolitan areas across the state, except in Tampa.

"I do not think this is correct," he said. "This is a joke. Our calculation is carried out with military precision. Our figures are honest. "

But Eugene Williams, head of the Pasco County Coalition for the Homeless, said it is time for county officials to get their heads out of sand.

"This is my opinion," he said. "These other counties have facilities where they can house people. We have more people on the street because we do not have shelters."

Last year, for the first time, Pasco received a major cash injection for homeless services.The federal grant grows away from $ 78 000 to $ 500 000 over the county received $ 1 million in stimulus funding to prevent homelessness.

"The revival we saved 600 families homeless," said Williams. "In fact, our numbers have fallen, but all I hear about is that we are number two in the state.

Hillsborough Clerk of Courts Pat Frank plans to dump a $3.5 million ...

Tampa, Florida - There is an office of Hillsborough County who is accused of fixing a ticket, which gives a bonus to each employee and now there is more controversy surrounding the Clerk of Court Office of Hillsborough. The Office is already preparing to release a computer system for traffic that has been online only since last July.

In its "in house" video call "Frank talks," Clerk of the Court Pat Frank told employees there would be some technological changes that include the implementation of what is called the Odyssey system to manage traffic tickets.

This announcement means that $ 3.5000000 HCTS system, which has not been online for a full year, will be replaced by a system of $ 6 million Odyssey, which manages the work of other clerks.

We asked Frank if he had anticipated the old system would have lasted more than a couple of years and she said no, she did not. According to Frank there have been some failures in the system with the HCTS.

But the change has surprised some in the office.

Even some employees wonder why Frank could hire the husband of one of those who are forced into the scandal fixing tickets for one of its three new members to the head a six-figure salary.Frank admits she told Doug Bakke, as she promoted her new management position, this will be uncomfortable for both, but it would be measured on its own merits. As Frank says she is uncomfortable, she says she does not measure people by their relatives.

However, some taxpayers can assess the clerk's office differently these days considering the activities that the last two months.

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