Commissioner Mildred Fernandez (District-3) is in the race for Mayor of Orange County and she told West Orlando News recently that she was “shocked” to learn how much the County is spending on health care insurance for its employees. In an exclusive interview, the Commissioner said that programs that provide very little return on investment must be streamlined in order to balance the budget and provide needed services such as public safety.
“I truly believe that, the government budget can be streamlined much more than is currently the case,” Fernandez said. “For example, Orange County is paying $90 million in health care insurance for employees; not even IBM does that and IBM is a billion dollar company. I was shocked when I learned that $90 million was being spent just on health care insurance for employees. You don’t see that anymore, much less in government.”
The Commissioner added:
“We need to streamline all of those programs that give very little return on the investment, so that we have the resources available for two things: (i) to help balance the budget and close the $70 million gap and (ii) to provide services like public safety.”
