The Train may not be off the Track

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Is it politics or is it sincere? I would suspect it is a little of both.

Scott Maxwell says he wants to create a "culture of challenge"-- wants the city to wean Lake Worth's dependence from Lake Worth Utilities that has helped, in a very large way, to operate our city.  He said that we need to "get the train back on track." The commission now has a five year goal to lower electric rates. They say high electric rates have been a deterrent to people wanting to move or do business here.

In year 2002, we entered into a contract with FMPA that locked us into higher costs. Commissioner Maxwell voted FOR that contract. The beginning of lowering rates started in December 2008 when we voted to exit FMPA All Requirements. By the end of this year, we will have ended our contract with them. In January 2014 we will have a new energy provider with Orlando Utilities giving us a rate that is more favorable to Lake Worth.

The problem is we are an older city with older housing stock on small lots. Many of these properties are less than 1000 s.f. and naturally are worth less. 60% of our city are rentals. Property values plummeted during the financial meltdown and our smaller properties dropped into a category where they no longer contributed to ad-valorem as their values were too low. Property values have yet to recover. Ad-valorem taxes cannot sustain the city's budget. We own our utility and the revenues we generate are there to help our city when necessary. That is what makes it so valuable to us.

With an operating budget of nearly $29 million, public safety takes $20 million. Have you ever heard of a budget where public safety takes 2/3rds of your operating revenue?  What about the pot holes? Out of the $29 million budget, $9.6 million comes from our utility. Without it we would go belly-up. We generate about $6 million in ad-valorem taxes; $4.3 million in utility services taxes; $4.3 million in state shared revenues. The balance of our revenues is from business tax receipts, permits and other incidental revenues.

The CRA just spent $23 million to bring in more low cost housing which includes low cost RENTALS on 6th Avenue South on the railroad tracks.  This is no way to build a tax base. This will only increase the cost of services and will probably get us more Section 8 housing down the road. Everyone can bring up a problem. That is easy.  Stop building low-cost housing--stop packing the people in. We are dense enough as it is and density costs money.

Commissioner McVoy was right when he said that we could be doing everyone a disservice by putting out an expectation without knowing how we're going to accomplish the goal. City Manager Bornstein will come back with a plan during this year's budget cycle. He told the commission that we will be in a tough spot, that we need to be very rational...we are stretched thin. "We can't be consumed by the tyranny of the crazed," he said.

Being a "cheerleader" for the city is fine as well as having a "vision," but blaming it on a former commission or lack of code officers is not the problem here. The Utility has always been the black hole but it has always allowed our city to stay on track by meeting budget. Let's see what the city manager's Plan looks like. It may not be "doable" as Commissioner Szerdi suggests. The train may not be off the track as Maxwell said. We won't know anything until we have a plan and then we will find out if this is nothing more than political posturing.