FERNANDINA, Fla., March 22 --
The Nassau Analysis Group today disputed the findings of potential job losses due to the Hometown Democracy Amendment, Amendment 4 on the November 2010 ballot, that had been issued by an economics consulting firm.
The Nassau Analysis Group (NAG) is a not-for-profit organization comprised of former corporate and government financial managers and economists that analyze local economic and tax issues to provide guidance for local governments. NAG rejected the findings of the Washington Economics Group, Inc. (WEG), a for-profit consultant to large corporations including developers and land speculators, which earlier this month issued a report critical of Amendment 4.
“The statistical conclusions cannot be validated,” the NAG report states, because “assumptions necessary for the economic formula used by WEG are not identified.”
Using the phrase “garbage in, garbage out,” the NAG report states, “The starting assumptions are the creation of the author and designed to achieve the desired conclusions.” It goes on to point out that “the WEG study's reference date from which Florida is falling into a steep decline is pre-recession and reflects what has already occurred rather than what will occur once Amendment 4 is approved by the voters.
WEG’s Web site says, “successfully meeting client objectives since 1993.” Its Florida clients include WCI Development Companies, the St. Joe Companies, and Flo-Sun Sugar Corp. The WEG principal who wrote the report has been a campaigner against Amendment 4. WEG titled its report "An Economic Impact Analysis of the Proposed Amendment 4 on the Economic Development of Florida."
Stating there is nothing in the report that deals with Amendment 4’s impact on development- related jobs, the NAG report concludes: “The unsupported assumption of the WEG report is that the real estate development boom continues today and will be ended if Amendment 4 passes, an assumption that is obviously false. Once the matter of assumptions is questioned the entire analysis loses validity.”
Nassau Analysis Group
P.O. Box 38
Fernandina FL
904 -491-6817; 904-321-0597
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