Street light on County Road in front of Lakeside Point GardensDid they really sit around that conference table and dream up ways to get you? They all congregated one morning while eating Danish from Publix, the very same corporation that we gave 1/2 million dollars to and say, "Ok, we will tell the dumb idiots that it is only an assessment, not a tax. We will tell them that everyone must pay their fair share for fire services I mean, afterall, if your apartment was burning down it would take the same amount of men or trucks to put out the flames in a 780 s.f place or a 7,000 s.f. place especially if you lived in a cement blocked building. The payers won't know that it's really for a pension. I am sick and tired, they say, that poor people aren't paying their "fair" share. You poor slobs--we have not solved the slum and blight, crime continues, foreclosures up the ying yang, unemployment is still high, so we are going to sock it to you folks"...Merry X'mas and the socialists on the commission say halellujah Mother.
Under most ethical and normal circumstances, tax revenue is generated by the value of your property. If a municipality has more expenses than revenues, they usually and normally will cut costs and tax more as a last resort. Not here. We are going to spend more. In Lake Worth, they threaten closing our library and even Commissioner Maxwell suggested that we outsource it to the County. The heck with our history. The heck with our local library. The mindset is to generate more money than we did last year and spend more to boot.
What's coming next?
Well, you can bet your booty that it is the very street light in front or near to your property. The City hired Government Services Group. A representative of Government Services Group has done her duty to God and country at every fire assessment meeting, there to convince the public that it is legal, nothing you can do about it and that the City can therefore screw you. The RFP for street lights said:
The services requested are for the development of a special assessment for street lights. The contract shall be effective for the period beginning with the date of the executed contract and continuing through the completion of work. The purpose of the project is to conduct a review and develop a legally defensible method of apportionment to all types of buildings, to include multiple apportionment options, for street light special assessment fees for the City of Lake Worth.
Staff has negotiated a three year contract with Government Services Group for special assessment development services in the amount of $32,541.00. The contract requires Government Services Group to develop a street light assessment program to be implemented in Fiscal Year 2011-2012 beginning October 1. Of course, it is too late for this year but be assured that the City will implement this tax next year that is estimated now at $30 a parcel, probably to go up. They have to go out and now count street lights I suppose because I doubt seriously if they have any idea how many there are and who benefits from one. How absurd if you think about it.
Streets lights are for everyone's safety, i.e. Joe blow driving on Dixie Highway from Lincoln, Nebraska. The tax that the City will impose on us is to probably be thrown into that Assessment Slush Fund.
Yes, but those running have no solution on getting rid of it.
ReplyDeleteThis will be one of the main reasons why incumbents will be out of there come the end of election day and they just don't get it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can use sun pass to charge every car that enters the city at night for the street lights.All we need are some cameras to photo the license plates and send out a bill for those who do not have a sun pass. Talk about revenues.Just thinking.
ReplyDeletep.m.m. brilliant idea. They could akso do that for the beach parking.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if we got rid of Stanton, and a few of the upper level jobs she has created we got put their salaries towards the budget, and we would not need all of these assessments.
ReplyDeleteYa know, I don't blame Stanton. I hold the Commission responsible for it all. They have allowed an employee to direct the City in just about every respect from tax increases & special assessments to IBEW union negotiations unfavorable to the City to more law suits and employee discontent, from taking out the speakers in the city hallway and removing our history. Even Maxwell doesn't scream loud enough. There is a lot and I mean A LOT, that we will never know. The Commission has turned over its responsibility to the city manager and they have no clue. The Finance Advisory Board is ineffective. Shame on all of them.
ReplyDeleteI'm so disgusted with it that I almost don't want to write about it any more.
Then DON'T. I for one am sick of reading about you constant bickering about it.
ReplyDeleteCan we all just send our $60 bill to you? What rock did you crawl out of?
ReplyDeleteJust can't take the heat, huh Susan?
ReplyDeleteSeems to me the commission has already voted and we are stuck with it. Till someone in City Hall has the Balls to say enough is enough. We all know that it will not be Waterman who is for it, but voted against it.
ReplyDeleteLynn, why don't we all send them to you, seeing as you have 5 accounts you write checks on..
ReplyDeleteAwh gee, I thought it was I that you are obsessed with not the 5 accounts. Shattered.
ReplyDeleteYet Again.
ReplyDeleteLynn if you look at your election counter upper right hand corner, looks like Waterman is behind. Maybe we can get someone to replace her that is running on the old adage Enough is Enough. High Taxes,Electric, and Water, not to mention assessments. Pam has said she has had enough, how about You? I know I have having been in this city for over 20 years. And No I am not a Hater.And with any luck she will get rid of Stanton if elected also.
ReplyDeleteReplacing Stanton is not a good idea IMO. All we need is a commission that will do its job.
ReplyDeleteWell at least street lights are more of a service than pension. I expect the City will be sued, shortly now, for the pension assessment (since its illegal) and that may take some of the wind out of their sails.
ReplyDeleteOf course it will still cost the tax payors because (1) we do need to pay the pension and (2) we will incure litigation costs.
All of theses costs have been in the operating budget--street lights, fire costs, you name it. In 2009, they decided a clever way to collect more money when they took garbage collection and made it a special assessment thus freeing up a lot of money to use for other purposes. All this is--a ploy to grab the cash. They extracted the pension costs out of the operating fund budget. They did not fund it in the operating budget and created instead a special assessment to take $1.45 million of your money. Special assessments are nothing more than legally stealing your money.
ReplyDeleteThat's what this is all about and this commission has gone along with it.
If the BCM did not put the fear of God into the commission, Maybe we could get something other than what Stanton want's out of City Hall. You Really do not think the Commission could come up with the assessments on their own do you..
ReplyDeleteOf course the commission did not dream up special assessments. I am not even sure that Stanton came up with the fire grab the cash assessment either. Some cleaver, sneaky person on Staff did though.
ReplyDeleteYou really do not think this is something Stanton thought of?
ReplyDeleteThis is how I envision it--
ReplyDeleteStanton told her department heads to come up with ways to cut costs and get revenue. One of her execs thought up the special assessment (probably someone in finance)...came to her and she said...brilliant--Let's grab the cash. But it could have been she who dreamed it up.
Who in this city is smart enough, she surrounds herself with stupidity so that she comes out smelling like a rose, Oh Wait that is the gawd awful perfume she bathes in.
ReplyDelete