Why the General Obligation Bond Failed in Lake Worth

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The blog below by Katie Mcgiveron, Chair of the C.A.U.T Pac that helped defeat the General Obligation bond in 2014, is in response to the Wes Blackman opinion as stated on his blog: Unfortunately for the public, what's missing in the article [PBPost] is the reason why we're in this predicament in the first place. And that's all thanks to a bond vote that failed in 2014. The reporter briefly mentions the failed bond vote but not the reason it failed by just 25 votes. He goes on to say it was the PAC and hypocrites and offers that as the reason why we have potholes.

Guest Blogger
Katie Mcgiveron

Why was the 20/20 bond of 2014 such a bad idea for Lake Worth? Let me count the ways. Setting the Record Straight

This was an initial $63.5 million dollar cash grab that by the end of thirty years would have cost taxpayers in Lake Worth over $131 million dollars. Even the best made road has a life span of about fifteen years--So thirty years of debt to pay off roads that might, on a good day, last half of that time.

This bond was pushed as a “Don’t you want your potholes fixed?” necessity. When, in fact, only 30% of the existing roads in Lake Worth would have been resurfaced. Maybe. There were absolutely NO guarantees on how ANY of this bond money would REALLY have been spent.(FEMA,anyone)?

$9,600,000 was earmarked for the Park of Commerce, privately owned land that the city does not even own. Citizens asked for a 'smaller roads only bond' but they were ignored.

$2,075,000 would have gone to pay for a project manager. And, shockingly, each Commissioner would have been given $800,000 to hand out at their own discretion on “neighborhood enhancements”. Hmmmm, really?

$18,510,000 would have been taken from the city reserves, and another 2 million would have been grabbed from the Electric Utility Bond.

These figures came from the CITY’S OWN LITERATURE. Somebody in charge was very unhappy that the public was being told of the REAL cost of this bond. (As opposed to the ridiculous cup of coffee and a burger comparison that Commissioner Maxwell was pushing). For telling the truth, the finance director at the time was fired.

The bond was a thirty year UNCAPPED tax lien on every residence and business in the city. The Commission had already voted to increase both the water and sewer rates. The UNCAPPED bond lien would have been added on top of these increased rates. Lake Worth could have become the highest taxed city, by far, in all of Palm Beach County. As fed up residents and businesses moved out of Lake Worth, the 20/20 bond noose would have gotten tighter and tighter around the necks of the remaining residents and businesses.

With this kind of a pay day at stake, it was no surprise that the City Commission would go to almost any lengths to get the 20/20 bond passed. There were supposed to be two city wide workshops on this issue. The city only held one. From July 1st 2014 until August 19th 2014, OVER A MONTH right before the election, there were NO CITY COMMISSION MEETINGS. This was so that the residents had no chance to speak publicly on the issue and the press had no chance to publish those comments.

A one sided propaganda fest was held at the Lake Worth Playhouse. Citizens against the bond were not invited or allowed to speak. The election was to be held August 26th during the summer to ensure a low voter turnout. The city stole $50,000 of tax payer money to pay for campaign propaganda pushing this cash grab. The Lake Worth Yes Pac was formed to help the city in their efforts. It raised $20,000. My Citizens Against Unfair Taxation PAC was formed to get the real truth about this bond fiasco out to the residents of Lake Worth. We had a total of about $6,000 to fight with. Not much when you’re fighting $70,000 worth of misinformation. And by the way, on the behalf of the people of Lake Worth, give us our $50,000 back!

Even the Palm Beach Post knew what a disaster this would have been for Lake Worth. From an article on 8/12/14- “Under the plan, property tax rates could rise by 35%, 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.”

Also from the Post 8/12/14-“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 city stuck their hands down our pants and stole $50,000 from us to convince us that they were broke and needed $63,000,000 [MILLION], because they were broke. There was no plan “B” in place to fix our roads in case the bond did fail. Why not? Because this was about fixing things, MANY things in Lake Worth, but our roads were not one of them.