Lake Worth BAC Political Action Committee is running in the red

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The BAC Political Action Committee.

Although chickens never happened and The Mentoring Center will be closing, the BAC PAC is nothing more than a political attack dog to raise havoc and raise money to help their friends regain control of our City. The Commissioner they objected to the most is not running for re-election. They had to come up with new things to gripe about. They have axes to grind. Yesterday, I received my first attack mailer against McVoy & Mulvehill that was full of misinformation and fabrications.

1. 80% water rate increase? FALSE
2. 9.5% Sewer rate increase. TRUE
3. Proposing?? a new 15% electric rate increase. MEANINGLESS
4. Says Mulvehill eliminated our Code Enforcement. FALSE
5. Plunging property values of 60%. (They FORGOT to tell you over how many years)
6. Mulvehill voted for massive rate hikes. (They fail to tell you that rate hikes are in place over a defined few years to pay for our Reverse Osmosis System)
7. They say Christopher McVoy wants to put our City in the Red. FALSE & FANTASY
4. AND THE BIGGEST LIE OF ALL--$6 million deficit for Lake Worth

State law mandates a balanced Budget and we can NOT operate in the RED.

This is a group, led by disgruntled members and former City Board members who were not re-appointed that have a vendetta-- they are sending a negative message that is full of holes while this City Commission has been focusing on the positive. The mailer they sent is outrageous, incorrect, misstated, full of lies, nitpicking and cherry picking.

Following is a partial list of achievements that the current Commission has done to help our business community:

1. Did not increase the millage rate for 2011 and made drastic cuts in the budget.

2. Exited the FMPA contract to create future competitive electric rates. The electric rates are of great concern for everyone in the City. The City Commission recognized that commercial rates are too high and that is the fundamental reason why they exited the FMPA contract--to eventually obtain competitive rates.

3. Created Energy Conservation Programs. Phase 1 of this program was to start audits and energy improvements for residential properties. Phase 2 which will begin this fiscal year will include energy audits and energy efficiency programs for commercial properties to help them reduce their electric bill.

4. Changed the Certificate of Use program based on concerns from the business community. These changes will eliminate the annual inspection fee paid by those business owners who own rental property. Now, the re-inspection and associated fees are only incurred if a new tenant moves into the property and it is charged to the tenant, not the owner of the property.

5. Created multiple local vendor preference policies, including a 20% bid preference for local vendors who do work under the ECAP grant (The candidates, Carla Blockson and Lisa Maxwell, who are supported by the BAC PAC, want to end this $3,000 per homeowner grant program)

6. Significantly reduced employee Union benefit programs for long-term budget savings. The City is making difficult decisions to address the serious financial times in the upcoming years. All of these decisions will help to keep taxes from escalating for residents and businesses.

7. Voted against downtown parking pay stations in city owned lots after hearing concerns from downtown businesses and residents that it would hurt their employees and businesses and residents' ability to shop.

8. The Commission supports the Chamber of Commerce, building a stronger relationship with them through joint interest in grant writing, policy input and special events.

9. Provides staff assistance for increased number of special events downtown in order to encourage commerce.

10. Investing significant capital funds into the Park of Commerce. The City has completed the infrastructure assessment, moving forward with requests for federal, state and county funds to implement infra-structure needs.

11. Implemented fast-track permitting.

12. Improved customer service in the building department through new management and training of staff.

13. Assisted in rapid change to zoning code to allow for the new Publix building to move forward thus bring more people into our downtown.

14. Re-structured the Code Enforcement Department and we will now have seven code officers instead of eight.

15. Cut the fee in half that it charged to shopkeepers for parking spaces.

So? Bottom line, the political group BAC just wants to complain and to grab the power and take the City back to a time when they controlled it all--when all the rotten decisions were made--for them and their friends--decisions that cost us tons of money (MILLIONS OF DOLLARS LOST) and a hole that we are slowly climbing from. It refuses to acknowledge that the city commission is actually achieving great things for our City and cleaning up the messes of the past made by their "friends."


The only people running in the red are those in the BAC Political Action Committee. They all should be embarrassed to send out a mailer such as this. John Pickett, a member of the Lake Worth Finance Advisory Board, gave $500 to the PAC and he should know better.