"Our homeowners are tired of being taxed at the highest rate allowable under State law. Our businesses are tired of being harassed, taxed and regulated at strangling levels."
~Dustin A. Zacks, candidate for Mayor Lake Worth
This is a great time to be a candidate for city commission and the worst of times to be an incumbent--tax time. How sweet it is for all of those running to defeat those on the dais and to have an issue such as taxes that will be the main focus of their campaign. Every commissioner last night should have said the same thing that Mr. Zacks said. In fact, all of them should have been studying every line of the budget and asking the hard questions rather than accepting everything presented to them by Staff, or at least be sympathetic that the homeowners will be paying much, much more.
All the candidates were in the Chamber last night, listening and learning and strategizing to win their particular office. After last night, it should be much easier.
36 comments:
You are right. Every commissioner and every candidate should have said this.
You know what I like about it the most? It takes a young man, 28 years old, who capitalized on everyone else's lack of political savvy. No new taxes has been around forever. Politics 101. Great theme. It works. And it is something all of us want to hear whether it is feasible or not. Tell me what I want to hear. Waterman attempted to make it more fair on the street light assessment. She was the only one besides Maxwell that was even considering "fair." Unfortunately squeezing the taxpayer is never fair.
Why do you suppose no candidate spoke last night? It was a great opportunity.
I suggest that everyone send their tax increases to Mr. Tim. He thinks this is all GREAT!Mr Zacks said all the right things. Who wouldn't? Oh yeah-our Commissioners!Zacks still doesn't have any history in this city. I can't support an unknown for Mayor.As a taxpayer who has a family to support, I am FURIOUS at the games the city manager and staff,with the approval of the Commission,are playing. When there are millions in outstanding debt to this city, millions in waste that could be cut at the utility,millions in uncollected code violations, I can not accept the taxpayers being choked to death.Commissioners-either the city manager goes,or you go!It is time to think about deannexation. When a city becomes an unbearable burden,it is time for it to go away! Katie Mcgiveron
Waterman was an unknown just a few months ago.
Lynn, I'm sure you and Kati will vote for Waterman.
Who I vote for is not the issue. EVERY commissioner voted for tax increases. Scott was the only one who voted down the street lighting. Staff and its experts did a great sales job on the commission and the public as to why increases are necessary. All the cards were stacked against Joe Blow taxpayer. Our commissioners depend upon Staff to give them the right direction and rightly so.
The Mayor told a group of us at a meeting this morning that sewer rates were skyrocketing because the cities that owe us millions for services are now refusing to pay our city for current and future services. This could take two years to resolve so we the citizens need to make up the loss. When asked if we could stop providing sewer services to city's that refuse to pay us and she said "no". So we are now in a situation where they won't pay for past services and will not pay for current and future services. Maybe we should all refuse to pay. These problems were not caused by the mayor but there is a general belief that no one can deal with the City manager outside of a lawsuit. The commission needs to demand that the City Manager explain why these matters cannot be resolved and should appoint the mayor as a representative to a settlement committee to bring everyone together to resolve these issues. So you and I will now pay for Lantana residents sewer services. How do we attract business and new homeowners who can now move to Lantana and get a cheaper rate. We can't wait two years.
John-The situation with the cities that owe us money and have since 1997 has been taken head on by our city manager. We ARE doing something about this deplorable situation. At this moment we still have the audit going on to determine what exactly is owed to us by these cities. Once this is determined by this independent State auditor, it will be resolved...we hope. If it were not for Susan Stanton acting on this, we would never get the $13 million owed to us or any part of it. For these cities not to pay us their normal fees right now, this is unacceptable. Stanton took action when no one befire her had. This has resulted in an impasse with these cities and entities that owe us money. Trela White, League of Cities attorney as well as attorney for Atlantis and other cities and normally the one who gives some advice to our city when called upon to act against is citizens, is now our adversary in this dispute.
This guy running against Waterman is a clown. First of all, no one in LW has paid the maximum tax allowed under state law. It's just a fact. Does he not understand the millage structure? I would think that would be a basic requirement if you want to be mayor. And none of you felt the need to correct this little error? Maybe you all don't get it either.
Second, who of you are paying more taxes than you did in 2005? 2006? 2007? 2008? 2009? 2010? Oh, none of you, of course. Your taxes are the lowest they have been in probably a decade or more, right? But you say you want PBSO? The library? PBCFR? Recreation? Sure you do. You just don't want to pay for it. So what do you do when the city manager tries to get us the same service for less money? You interfere and act like idiots.
And you, Lynn? How much did you pay in taxes last year? Since you're so concerned about them going up and having to pay your fair share. Care to enlighten us?
Turn the valve OFF. Let's see how fast they pay us then.
Just a thought: It was the cities' inability to deal with Stanton and her usual negotiating finesse, and now her road blocks to having the audit cover anything but a very narrow issue, that had resulted in such animosity from the other cities.
You are damn lucky I posted this. I have said time and time again, this is NOT ABOUT ME. I am a Senior on social security and have a Senior exemption. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS???????????????????
Now for my question, DO YOU PAY ANY TAXES IN THIS CITY OR ARE YOU A RENTER?
The "clowns" are the ones who proposed increasing the rate to the legal maximum. Oh ya, we will back off that extreme during budget negotiations. Oh ya, we have Stanton as negotiator.
So now it's a matter of substituting "assessments" for taxes. Nice little shell game there right?
That will allow us to back off "a little" from the state maximum.
Am I missing something?
Well the property a renter occupies should in theory pay more taxes than one occupied by a home owner since it will not have the homestead exemption. So getting upset a renter for not paying taxes is not a great argument.
The question that was posed was whether or not that commenter was a renter or not...it had nothing to do with the property. Renters are not paying advalorem taxes, the owner is. It is very easy to come up with taxes to pay for management decisions of the past that have brought us to where we are today. I, as an owner, can not help the fact that the value of my unit is so low. I DID NOT DO THIS to myself. A lot of people in this City are in the same boat. We have a lot of poor here. I do not approve of regressive taxes of any kind no matter who tries to implement them.
That is what Lyn means about fair. A A regressive tax takes a larger percentage from low-income people than from high-income people.
Why should you call Zacks a clown? He is not a clown but someone stating what the city manager has already said, 10 mils.
It was my understanding that the cities who owe us have always been willing to pay us but demanded an explanation for the charges they were being presented with. Many of the charges made no sense. I really believe that Stanton's refusal to provide a full accounting is a definite factor here. As a result, the lawyers make a killing and we the people get screwed.
Lynn, you are missing the point. The city manager stated last night, that we are currently paying for those cites that are not paying us. WHY????????? Why don't we just pay our share. And let WPB join us in fighting those cites that are not paying their share. I know we can not shut them off, but we certainly do not have to pay for them.
John that is correct and that is why an audit is being conducted. However, in this instance, I do not believe there is any outside counsel that we are paying.
The big fly in the ointment here is that LW will have to pay one-half of the audit and the remaining townships will pay the remaining one-half. That is because LW is bringing the suit. If LW loses, then you may get to pay the entire amount.
What suit? This is a State Auditor General who will evaluate what they owe.
I was responding to John's remark that the lawyers make a killing. There are no laywers right now. There may never be any lawyers other than Trela White who is representing all of the cities and entity that owes us money and our own city attorney. There could be legal fees if one side appeals the auditor General's findings.
Lynn based on their actions you can no longer be an apologist for the BCE but you keep covering for the BCME. The city is a mess, the city manager and city commission are running the city. Just about everything the city manager touches turns to crap. All this secrecy and obstructio nis just making the situtation worse. Please be objective.
I write what I believe so my "objective" differs from yours, I guess.
Lynn, Are we paying the current Sewer Transfer fees for those cities that do not pay us? If so why?
Our cost of service has always included those who do not pay. In this upcoming Budget, our sewer fees are being raised by 30% as a direct result of these cities who are not paying.
All I am saying is that Lake Worth cannot afford two years and possible appeals. We need the Mayor or another member of the Commission to actively get involved and get this matter settled. We need someone to observe Stanton in action. Right now the commission gets it's information from her and staff. They can tell the commissioners what ever they want. I no longer believe much that comes out of City Hall. Millions of dollars are at stake and we are relying on Stanton. There are no checks and balances here.
Lynn, The Question is WHY ?????? Why has it always included that We pay for them?????
My only guess is that
1) we have to have a balanced budget
2) there is no where else to take the money and raise millions.
3) the city has gone through all of our reserves.
We get left holding the bag.
That is not an answer.. The question is why in the past and to date are we paying for the other cities, and not just paying our share of the bill
You still don't get it????????????
I don't know how to say this any more clear than my previous attempts--We have to pay for the entire cost of sewer service. How do you think it is paid? If it costs $5 million as an example, as we collect 3 million from the residents and $2 million from the cities, and the cities are not paying, then we have to make up the difference. We can't provide a service and lose millions. Someone has to pay. We have to know the cost of the service, the amount we are collecting in revenues and make up the difference. Someone has to pay it. I'm sorry. I just don't know how to explain it bettr than that.
Jesus H. I get it and I don't have some fancy degree. I just don't like it. Get these bums to pay up. Settle or something and them tell them to go get on someone's elses line. Flush their johns somewhere else.
Lynn, I get what you are saying.Why don,t we just change the rules.We do it all the time. If we do not collect
the 2,000,000 million,we just do not send it on.
The dollar figures were just thrown out there. I have no idea without taking the time to look it up, what our regional sewer costs. We own the system. We can't collect the pastdue money from these cities because the Auditor General is auditing our books to come up with the exact figure as to what they owe us. Any money is sent to LW Utilities. The cities are not paying us until the matter is settled. This is going to take another 6 to 8 weeks. Some are not paying current fees and charges as well and this is where the problem lies. These cities would rather stop paying us until we prove to them that they actually owe X amount of dollars that we ahve said that they owe. I am sure that this is not clear. Essentially, they are deadbeats and have not honored a contract. If you want me to try and explain it further, call me.
Lake Worth has to cover the cost of services provided to other municipalities because they are disputing the bills provided by LW Utilities. Now to solve the outflow of money from the Utilities reserve fund, the City Manager and staff have proposed charging all the residential and commercial customers 30% more to pay for the services provided to these non-paying municipalities.
I remember a Commissioner lecturing the public on several ocassions about how outrageous and unacceptable it was for the fire rescue ad valorum taxes from Lake Worth property owneers was being used to support fire rescue services in the Glades. There was not one comment from this Commissioner about the City making its residents pay for the regional sewer charges of other municipalities.
The City Manager and staff are proposing putting everything on the back of the residents with some talk about a credit in the future. and the credit would be in smaller rate increases in the future not in money going back to the residents who paid. Unfortunately this city is going down hill rapidly.
Thank you for saying that a hell of a lot better than I did.
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