I make no apologies. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do to pay his bills and feed his family. Isn't that what employees in private industry do, if they haven't been laid off by now?

Actually, Florida local gov is doing fine, compared to California. We're going to get through the year with a minimum of layoffs, mostly coming through attrition and cutting empty positions, and our revenue loss is mostly because of the drop in property values due to the mess in the mortgage market. You see, we already cut property taxes severely in the 90s during the Clinton Boom to keep the old farts happy, and now its coming back to bite us in the butt when we can least afford it.

Property taxes will remain stable. We're firing sheriff's deputies, instead. We have to keep the property owners happy, don't we? As for the bus driver bonus issue (I see you've been checking up on me) I unfortunately did not get to cash in on it. In fact, I've just avoided a layoff myself, and I will probably get a week long furlough without pay next year, its a small price for me to pay to save someone else's job. I can afford it and I don't begrudge it.

Things are tight but we'll survive. If not, I'll retire. I've seen this crunch coming, and I've been getting ready for it ever since the Reagan Administration.

How about yourself? Are you still out of work? Are your unemployment insurance IOUs redeemable in local banks?