No Trust; No bonds

"The number who trust the government all or most of the time has sunk so low that it is hard to remember that there was ever a time when Americans routinely trusted the government."

~ CNN Polling Director Keating Holland

On a local level you have a government that only a few years ago was in the black--It took a lot of hard work and budget restraints to turn it around.  We were headed in the right direction. It spent less than it received in revenues and austerity measures were in place. Now we are right back to the same old spending routine.  It is expected that we will receive $500,000 more in ad valorem this year but our departments want to take it all. Everyone wants a bigger piece of the pie. Many departments are asking for increases in their budgets.

We will have a code manager, a code coordinator, seven code officers, 2 community code technicians and one secretary to help eradicate the slum and the blight that breeds crime. According to the mayor, we have 2000 abandoned houses. Until we take care of this problem, nothing else will get better. The biggest and slummiest house in Lake Worth located on a new "resurfaced" street will still be the biggest and slummiest house in Lake Worth.

Controllable costs are up and Commissioner Amoroso wanted to know why.  Commissioner Maxwell asked, 'Where did the money go?" Good questions but they have been in power when our budget got in the black.  Our former Finance Director...you know, the guy who crept away in the middle of the night...said that our general fund balance is not sustainable.

No trust; NO bonds.