With unemployment at 11% in Palm Beach County and in the State of Florida, no COLA increases for Seniors, everything imaginable going up, not down, and foreclosures galore, the City wants to raise taxes and I don't mean just a little bit.
How worse can it get? How much more can they sock it to the people? Ad-valorem taxes are proposed at the highest increase in Palm Beach County but that doesn't even include all the assessments, fees and rate increases (all taxes). Because of another decrease in property values this year of 3.57%, just look at the latest Budget and proposed tax increases:
- Funding for Fire Rescue Services = $330 a year per parcel and maybe we will have to pay for the entire cost if we get back our own fire department --special assessment less the emergency services (EMS) of $6.5 million estimated by the city manager.
- Funding for Financial Oversight Services = 0.3145 mill increase, page 66
- Street Light Assessment = $50 per property benefited, page 67...Tonight they want to hire Government Services Group for $32,541 to figure out how to charge us for street lamps in this new Budget cycle. This contract will be for 3 years to use our taxes to figure out how to tax us more using special assessments. Pretty cool.
- Lien & Building Permit Search Fees = $70 increase per permit, page 68
- Residential Electric Rates = $34.50 Cost of Service Fee every month, page 69
- Commercial Electric Rates = $25.63 Cost of Service Fee every month, page 72
- Commercial Demand Rates = $100 Cost of Service Fee every month, page 72
- Water Rate Increase = 5.25% per month, page 74
- Regional Sewer Rate Increase = 30%, page 78
- Local Sewer Rate Increase = 13% from the current 9%, page 78
- Refuse Rate Increase (Residential) = $42/year, page 80
- Refuse Rate Increase (Commercial) = 10% monthly, page 80
The City also tells us that an Internal Auditor will cost $246,456 and instead of him being independent, he should be an employee with benefits. Why is that? The last one we had cost $50,000.
Get all the cities owing us money on the sub-regional sewer system to pay up. Get all those who are not paying their electric bill to pay up. Get all those who have code fines to pay up or take out a lien and treat these accounts like you mean business because that is what this is, business, not a charity with the taxpayers getting you out of this deep, dark hole. No more of this "we're poor and can't pick up the trash or mow our yards." All employees take a 10% cut and stop hiring people at $100,000 plus a year and place a moratorium on promotions if they cost us more money.
1) Eliminate the electrical conversion from the budget ($22 million, lowered to $11.4 million). According to the Black & Veatch study, LW is not on the verge of overloading its existing 4 kV system as the utility would have everyone believe. In fact, the load has been steadily decreasing for the past several years. This is not an expense that a city on the verge of financial collapse should be undertaking unless there is a desire to sell to FPL.
ReplyDelete2) Eliminate the new tie line to Hypoluxo from the budget ($4 million). This is a redundant tie back to the same source and serves little or no purpose.
These two items alone would save the city $15.4 million.
Better yet, terminate the Utility Director and the Assistant Utility Director and replace them with professionals who give a damn about the financial health of the city.
If you read the Budget, the CM thinks very highly of the Utilities Director.
ReplyDeleteThere is just so much waste in this city anyway. My neighbor was telling me how the city is paying $100K for painting all these bike lines all over so many streets, D, J, K, L, M, O, 2nd Av. yet they won't even put sidewalks in between Lake and Lucerne from C Street to F Street where you have to walk int he road as parts do not have sidewalks on either side of the road. No logic. They painted two west-bound bike trails one block from each other on Lucerne and 2nd Ave north, yet displaced and striped all the parking from 2nd Ave. They waste so much and just use no logic. Do we really need all these bike trails, can't we just have inform biking, we have it anyway, and most people at least in western downtown just bike on the sidewalks anyway. There is just too much waste in our city and no known logic to why they do what they do? There is just too much waste, people need to say no to higher taxes, let the CM and others making over $100K take a 10% pay cut like in WPB. There is a lot a fat that can be trimmed here and too much waste.
ReplyDeleteBest commission ever. Keep taxing struggling residents until the city is abandoned. That's one way to cover up the fact you don't know what else to do.
ReplyDeleteWhen a city such as Lake Worth starts to be more of a BURDEN to us,the taxpayers, than a BENEFIT, then it is time to start looking at dissolving the city. It can be done.We are being taxed to death. The city manager and all of the other parasitic city employees have finally killed their golden goose.I am going to bring up the subject of deannexation at my next neighborhood meeting.
ReplyDeleteWe might as well de-anex. The Police, Fire, Building Department and now our own Beach has been given away, mainly to the county already. The area West of the city is also known as lake Worth (un-incorporated)
ReplyDeleteExcellent post annon. Which neighborhood meeting so we can garner support.
I am in the ROLOH neighborhood around Lake Osborne.This is a serious topic.My taxpaying carcass can't take another slice from Stanton's filet knife!
ReplyDeleteWith de-annexation, we won't have any control. I don't believe in giving our city away. Stop the waste. Stop the spending. Stop the crap. Stop the Unions from bleeding us dry.
ReplyDeleteI really would like someone who is informed to speak as to the legality of assessments on top of a maximum tax rate, can the City just keep shifting more and more to assessments such that the cap means nothing?
ReplyDeleteThe bike lanes are the stupidest move in a long list of stupid moves, painted bike lakes on neighborhood streets is the exact opposite of what a proper bike network should include. Bike lanes should be on main roads, like 6th Ave. So., 10th Ave. No. to the beach, Lucerne, etc. not on low speed neighborhood roads. If you read any research on this you discover that the City/CRA is just putting bike lanes anywhere. I think a bike network would be great, but do it right or don't do it all, why would you stripe up this city, make it look worse, put stripes on asphalt that is literally crumbling and why would you spend 2.8 Million doing so?