"Under the plan, property tax rates could rise by 35 percent, making Lake Worth’s rate by far the county’s highest. The resulting jolt to the city’s economy will likely drive up rents for businesses and renters, which could lead to some businesses closing or looking elsewhere to open up. We hope the negative effects will be minimal, but no one should pretend there will be none. ...No one denies the city’s need to repairs its infrastructure. But the proposal has been remarkably divisive, and for legitimate reasons. The $63 million loan would be more than twice the city’s annual operating budget, and repaying it would require huge property tax increases on its residents." The Palm Beach Post
The Palm Beach Post's editorial today recommends passing the bond referendum. No surprise there. The Post and I agree on little from local to national politics. However, at least the editorial was not a marketing piece for Lake Worth 2020 and the City. It did give the good, the bad and the ugly in its editorial. We all agree that roads and infrastructure must be repaired or in some cases, totally rebuilt, but we are looking for a worst case scenario to do first and not put the property owners in debt for 34 years. As we come out of this recession that hit us harder than most, we are optimistic that property values will increase, thus more money to the city.
We also agree that there is a lot of poverty in our city along with the beautiful and important assets that we have. It has always been a poor city and even during the economical boom years, money was spent and went "missing." To rebuild the infrastructure on 70%, according to the city's figures, in a 100 year old city that had a line item for street maintenance of $1 mil a year until this commission, boggles the mind. Politicians don't blink an eye on asking residents to vote themselves into a massive debt and put their properties in jeopardy.
I am still looking for Plan B and someone at city hall who can come up with it instead of grabbing all the cash in a city that gives away city assets for a dollar a year and has never maintained one darn thing--past city administrations or this one.
Don't vote for any more money to go down the drain or that pothole.
5 comments:
Thank you. I will be voting against this bond.
I agree I am voting against it too!
I will not be voting for this bond. I care about our businesses,renters and property owners.
The problem is that most people who rent in this city, a very large majority are being told and believe this is better for us, to vote for it to have better roads and infrastructure, renters are all voting for this tax. This is a waste of home owners and tax payers though.
Other than 40 people, who is going to vote for it? Renters? The 60% with low property values?
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