Solid Waste of Palm Beach County

Merry Christmas

Video Ad (tree disposal): Click here 🎄

Video Ad (wrap and paper): Click here 🎁

Lake Worth Proposes Rate Reduction in Solid Waste

Is this a first? A fee actually going down?

2nd Natural Area Clean-up in Lake Worth

The City of Lake Worth Tree Board will hold clean up on Saturday, November 5 in the 17th Avenue North Natural Area.  The Tree Board has partnered with the Solid Waste Authority in their Adopt-A-Spot program to make the clean-up possible.  This is the second in a series of clean-ups that the Tree Board has hosted in the city’s only remaining undeveloped oak hammock.  The goal is to restore the Natural Area to its natural splendor.

“The exceptionally hard working volunteers who came out for the first clean-up made a huge dent in removing the almost unimaginable amount of garbage. It was a tremendous success but we still need help to finish the job,” said Tree Board member Katie Curtis.  The first clean-up was held on October 15.

2nd Natural Area Clean-Up
Where:                 1759 17th Avenue North
When:                  Saturday, November 5
                            8:00am – 11:00am
 
“The goal of these volunteer-driven clean-ups is not only to remove garbage from this long-neglected city property, but also to preserve and restore its healthy mix of South Florida Coastal Upland natives,” said Richard Stowe, Chair of the Lake Worth City Tree Board.

The November 5th clean-up will be followed by an invasive plant removal at the Natural Area taking place on Saturday morning December 3 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The Lake Worth City Tree Board is a volunteer advisory board comprised of city residents appointed by the Mayor and City Commissioners.  Members of the public are encouraged to attend Tree Board meetings on the second Thursday of each month at 5:30pm in the City Hall Conference Room.

Located in central Palm Beach County, Lake Worth is a dynamic, multi-cultural city with an individualistic style.  People are drawn to the city by its acceptance of different cultures and lifestyles, historic districts, hip downtown and colorful arts district.

Palm Beach County talks Trash

and trash wins!  Click here...

Trash, a dirty business

Comment Up

Trash is not transparent and neither are some commissions.

Just a few months ago, Palm Beach County awarded trash contracts to four companies. Two of them were Republic Services of Florida and Southern Waste Systems that will have the southern and western portions of the county, with Southern Waste Systems also handling the Glades communities.

Today, Republic Services agreed to pay $111,811 to PB County's Solid Waste Authority to settle a dispute on dealings perceived as shady for improper trucking of trash in Broward County. Republic also agreed to stop delivering trash to facilities not owned by the Authority. This was all to beat the Authority out of $42 a ton for dumping fees. Read more.

Republic is a large national corporation and Southern Waste Systems is privately owned and local.  In 2011, Southern Waste Systems was awarded a contract for Broward's trash business through a sub-contract deal with Republic. "We are really excited about the partnership on this contract with Republic Services and to have city staff and commission support on the collaboration," said Charles Gusmano, President and CEO of SWS and Sun Recycling. 

In spite of pulling a fast one in the past on the Solid Waste Authority, Palm Beach County commissioners still awarded them a contract in February.

And, in spite of Sun Recycling dumping all sorts of questionable debris on our landfill, (They were supposed to remove it and our landfill was to be in the same condition in which they originally received it.), this entire matter of the landfill has been swept under the rug. The Lake Worth Commission was all set to award them another contract for roll-off services on March 19.   After the roll-off contract was removed from the Consent Agenda because of some public out-cry as well as the commission's desire to end all meetings early (can you imagine the time that would have been wasted for public speaking and everyone in the Osborne community showing up to voice their horror?), we have not heard a word about this new contract.

Is this just another example of the lack of transparency in Lake Worth--the mindset that the public has no need to know? As public meetings are getting shorter and shorter, we have to wonder what is going on out of the Sunshine. The mayor and vice mayor were both absent from what has been described as the shortest meeting in history and opine that they missed a meeting allowing them to go home early.

"As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly"

Comment Up

 Sun Recycling - They're baaaaaaaaaack

"This is a company that wants to dispose of all of our garbage, one of the most important functions in our society, especially from an environmental standpoint. And this company happens to have a long history of illegal dumping and other violations. Character is important, even when it comes to trash," so wrote Bob Norman, Channel 10 Miami.

See the shocking video

Sun Recycling did it in Dania Beach and they did the same thing in Lake Worth.

Through the years, I have written blog after blog on Sun Recycling as well as their political ties to some candidates for office in our city and their campaign contributions to influence. There were meetings after meetings regarding the acts of this company. Residents of the Osborne community gave testimony after testimony on their illnesses that they believed were caused by Sun's dumping.  Finally we did not renew their dumping contract.  And we did not renew their roll-off container contract, with Joe Kroll, Public Works Director saying that we could do it better and do it cheaper. At last, Sun was out of our city, or so we thought.

Charles Lomangino's alleged Mob connections were never proven, but he's never been too popular with many of the residents of Lake Worth who believe with 100% degree of certainty that his company Sun Recycling is a public nuisance and environmental menace. Source:  New Times Broward

On Tuesday's Consent Agenda, Southern Waste Systems is back and we are about to just give them a three year contract with 2 one year renewal extensions on our roll-off container business with absolutely NO discussion and now saying it will save us money.  Can we ever get a anything right?  Even morally right? This company was allowed to bid and was one of five in an RFP that went out last year. Sun (Southern Waste Systems) came in the low bidder and presented its proposal back on August 29, 2012 to mayor Pam Triolo.

Republic came in 2nd and Sun is affiliated with them. Back in June 2011, Recycling Today stated that "Southern Waste Systems (SWS), Lantana, Fla., was awarded, through a subcontract agreement with Republic, a five-year franchise to provide waste removal services in the City of Lauderhill, Fla.

Now, a few years later, and for some strange reason, officials have convenient short memories and staff come and go. They believe that the public all has "dementia" and in some ways they are correct. We never seem to keep a history of what has happened in our city and to remind politicians. Factions in this city continue to polarize and bad decisions continue by commission and staff alike. In this case, insanity abounds.

Garbage is a smelly business

Comment Up

Garbage is big business and Waste Management, Inc. is back in the news for funny business.

Waste Management, Inc. is a holding company and all operations are conducted by its subsidiaries. Their subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal services. They are also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. Their subs are all friends and all in bed together.

One of their "friends" is Southern Waste Systems/Sun Recycling, a company that has been entrenched in one way or another in our Lake Worth political scene. Through the past several years, they have given contributions to:

Retha Lowe (the most infamous of all)
Tom Ramiccio, candidate and former mayor of Lake Worth
Lisa Maxwell, candidate for Commissioner District 4
BacPac, Shanon Materio, Chair and presently West Palm Beach City Commissioner
Jim Stafford, candidate for Commissioner District 2
John Szerdi, present Lake Worth City Commissioner

Big Brother will not be watching what you Recycle in Lake Worth

There is a growing rumor circulating in the community that Big Brother will now be invading our private lives by spying on what items we recycle. Lake Worth doesn't care about what you recycle but wants to encourage all of us just to do it.

Last year, Lake Worth applied for a Grant in the amount of $75,100 from the U.S. Department of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG), plus an additional $60,000 was allocated from the Refuse Division’s 2011 budget for the purchase and installation of the Container Asset Recovery Tracking System (C.A.R.T.S).

The City says the purpose of this program is to daily reduce the number of duplicate recycling trips; reduce fuel consumption, and overall emissions. The software will also provide accurate tracking of cart maintenance and collection of data in order to generate work orders. Longer term goal is to further educate the public to reduce the volume and weight of solid waste thus reducing our tipping fees and reducing our overall cost for garbage collection.

The other point that came out of this meeting back in June of last year was that citizens will be encouraged to recycle by initiating “Pay as you Throw” which is an incentive program for businesses and residents to receive discounts on their reduction in recyclable waste removal and rebates of cash credit. The more items you recycle rather than throwing them in your dumpster, could be financially advantageous to you. It definitely will be that for The City of Lake Worth.

The total project cost was approved for $124,307 which would retrofit our two recycling trucks as well as the 13,200 recycling bins. The vote was unanimous.

Residential Refuse Pick-Ups Lake Worth

Comment Up
Someone sent me an e-mail regarding waste pick-up and the fact that the City is not mailing out correct information to customers who live in condos and apartment buildings.

I received in the mail this week, as I'm sure EVERY LW utility customer did, a flier from our Refuse Division. The flier does a nice job of outlining the schedule for residential refuse pickup in LW. One problem I have with the flier is that it's information does not pertain to commercial customers. I, along with thousands of other LW residents that reside in condo or apartments, am considered a commercial customer. My refuse schedule is completely different from that of residential customers. I wonder what how many $$$ these useless fliers cost for printing and mailing. Could it be that the fliers were printed/mailed by the Refuse Division for job security reasons, as the fliers that I received are now in the 'bin.' How about mailing a flier to commercial customers with pertinent schedule information?

Just my 2 pennies.

Have a nice day.

Now the brochure that I have in my possession seems to be correct for Zone 1 where I live. However, it does not make the distinction for bulk pick-up for commercial accounts (condos and apartment buildings included here) as the instructions are for residential customers who live in houses only. I did not get this schedule that the writer received with my last utility bill.

I spoke about this a year ago in front of the commission when Joe Kroll was in charge. Nothing ever got changed. Consequently, we still have people in the condo communities that just don't understand that this information is for those customers who live in houses only and therefore some get confused and put mattresses, etc. out by the road on Lake Osborne blighting the community. In fact, they should be putting out bulk by the dumpster the night before for bulk pick-up day.

If more people speak out, perhaps, eventually, the correct instructions will be given to residential buildings that are treated as commercial accounts. Jaime Brown took over for Joe Kroll and he might be unaware of this flier and its instructions. Perhaps Steve O'Neal is not aware either. Joe Kroll should have been.

Lake Worth Taxes - The Power of People

Comment Up
As poverty hits a 52 week high with 46.2 million people living below the poverty line, the Lake Worth City Commission did the right thing by its people last night. It voted down the 17% proposed rate hike in garbage fees. Many of those who live here are a part of the poverty statistic. They have lost their jobs, lost their homes or businesses, living on fixed incomes or struggling to pay the rent and high electric bills.

With North Palm Beach, Palm Springs, PB Gardens, Wellington and Greenacres to name a few that are holding their millage at last year's rate, Lake Worth still has raised many taxes and wants to raise its millage by 7% over roll-back rate. The Fire Assessment of $60 per parcel will be heard on September 22.

The commission chamber was packed. There was a room full of people who seldom or never go to commission meetings--new faces who showed up to let the Commission know of their displeasure. Cesar Figueroa, part of my extended family, was literally escorted out by an armed sheriff deputy. He didn't care. He was just plain furious. He has been struggling just to hold on to his business in this economy and all he saw were people trying to grab what little cash he has. Cesar said, "Small businesses are being annihilated. We are unemployed because there is not enough economy and we can't meet these increases and taxes imposed by Lake Worth." The very fact that new faces confronted the Commission spoke volumes and it made them listen and act.

From Palm Beach County to Lake Worth, people are in an uproar regarding tax increases. Labor costs have been steadily growing beyond sustainability during this depression. Not one citizen understands why public safety takes more than half of the operating budget. No one understands why pension costs have escalated beyond common sense and beyond their capability to pay for the very services they need.

In Lake Worth, we have seen budgets cut, lay-offs, the closing of our pool, our museum, and shockingly learn that for the past several years, we were operating beyond our means and burning all our cash reserves. We wonder how other cities operate more efficiently and why we can't manage our money especially when we have our own Utility and worry about the multi-millions spent there. We wonder why the City has to raise so many taxes as all property values have gone down throughout the County, not just Lake Worth and other cities are managing better.

The Neighborhood Associations have become much more active and giving back with their time and labor to clean up yards and helping the guy who lives next door. The residents of Lake Worth have always been ready to defend their neighborhoods and their friends. During these difficult times, it will be up to the neighborhoods, as Code Enforcement clearly has not worked.

A lot of us have come together during these difficult times. We all hope that the City Commission will appreciate the hardships that a majority of us are enduring every day. We ask them to consider that when the vote comes up on the fire pension tax on September 22 that will be a burden to 77% of the property owners in Lake Worth who will be paying more as City manager Susan Stanton wants to "democratize" the rate (everyone paying the same regardless of ability or income).

It's All Garbage - Where did the Money Go?

Comment Up

The question of the day--Why did we spend 15 million dollars over the past several years that were not budgeted in order to deplete our Reserves?

Tonight the City Commission will vote to increase the Solid Waste assessment. They will listen to us all but will not waiver. You can take that to the bank. Staff wants it. Staff gets it. Their minds have been made up for weeks. Public meetings are a farce of the first order.

Everything in the world is going up it seems in the City of Lake Worth including our blood pressure. I asked Joe Kroll about Solid Waste. He has given reasons for the increase (special assessment) that is going up 17% charged to every resident in this City:

"We have had increases in fuel, maintenance and dump fees over the past three years and we were absorbing them. With fuel continuing to rise and all oil by-products we can no longer absorb these costs and continue to operate," says Joe.

Everyone is being assessed $42 dollars more a year for garbage pick-up.

According to a source, a few years ago the City Manager was given a wake-up reminder: Slowly convert all fleet vehicles to diesel and lock the price in. Once fuel goes back up, it will stay there. Remember, Southwest Airlines has maintained a positive cash flow throughout the hard times by using this strategy. Potential savings could be as much as $400K/year for your fleet and that is if gas prices only go up $2 from your contract price.

Tipping fees at Solid Waste

According to SWA:
2008/09: $35 a ton
2009/10: $40 a ton
2010/11: $42 a ton
2011/12: $42 a ton

The construction debris charge per ton went down a year ago from $45 a ton to $40 and will remain the same for this Budget cycle.

Why then, is the City of Lake Worth taxing residents 17% more when Solid Waste's dumping fees are staying constant? When I asked Solid Waste, I was told that I needed to ask the City of Lake Worth. They had no clue. Kroll says it is to make up for the past 3 years when fees went up at SWA as well as gasoline prices that they did not charge us. Does anyone believe that they were collecting garbage at a loss for 2 or 3 years? Of course not. It is just another way to grab the cash or someone in charge of that department was behind the eight ball.

Ed Fry now says that we burned through $15 million over the past 4 years blaming it on the 2008/09 budget before Stanton got here (blame it on the other guy syndrome) --up $3 million from when the city manager gave the figure just a few weeks ago. More than likely it was the waste of $6 to $10 million and who knows how many more millions in the Utility upgrade that William Coakley spoke about in his recent article and the City is scurrying around to make up those millions lost.

If you look at the Chart on page 65 of the Budget you will see that reserves were depleted over the last 3 years. Where did they learn this trick? Take our money from savings and spend it. Where did it go? The new Budget calls for $25,923,439 in capital spending for the upcoming year. If you back out the casino and beach-redevelopment in this figure, you are left with $14,953,480 that the City plans on spending this year--$15 MILLION on capital improvements. Why are not many of these being deferred? Are we not broke? We continue to spend and tax.

Solid Waste Service Assessments shall constitute a lien upon the Assessed Property so assessed equal in rank and dignity with the liens of all state, county, district or municipal taxes and other non-ad valorem assessments. Except as otherwise provided by law, such lien shall be superior in dignity to all other liens, titles and claims, until paid.

Ed Fry, head of OMB, responded:
Subject: RE: Solid Waste

"Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority (SWA) increased the tipping fee 20% from $35 to $42 per ton this year. Note: SWA says it only went up $2 TWO YEARS AGO AND NOW WILL REMAIN THE SAME.

We do not track the exact tonnage and charges from the County. We do have records on the amounts paid to the County each month. For the current year-to-date, the City has paid SWA $318,881. For the previous year, the City paid the SWA $202,869. As to gas, oil and lubricants, the current year-to-date costs are $168,432. The previous year is $156,756. I do not know how much was spent on tires since the accounting records do not itemize the cost of tires."

The door is wide open for exploitation here when the City says it does not track the exact tonnage. You have no idea what's on that truck when it gets to the County? Can you tell the taxpayers for sure that other people's garbage is not on that truck? Is it possible that we are hauling debris for a developer, a handyman or another resident other than his residential garbage on our city truck? Do our trucks stay in the City or do they go elsewhere? Are people placing other things other than garbage in their dumpsters and we end up paying a higher rate?

It seems to me that we should have less tipping charges because we are recycling more. Joe Kroll told us last year that fees would be reduced the more that we recycled. We all complied even to the point of washing out tin cans before placing them in the bins. We certainly do not have more residents and we do NOT have more garbage. According to the last Census, our population fell. So are we collecting less garbage or more? Also, we have no real sense of accuracy as far as gas and maintenance costs although gas has gone up a $1 a gal. Is this some manufactured figure? Do we even have a figure on what we spend on filling up the gas tanks of our garbage trucks?

Put the public at ease and answer some basic questions.

• Close the open door to what appears to be possible exploitation. You need to know what is on your truck when it reaches the County to get weighed.

• You need to know how many trips you take to the County and the weight of each truck. How many times do our garbage trucks dump throughout the year?
  

• You should be weighing each invoice from the County against your records.

• You must have records regarding fuel fill-ups, etc. You have to know what it costs to fill up a garbage truck and how many times you do it and the cost.
  

• What else are you charging for under this assessment? The possibilities are endless now and into the future.

• Why can't we ever see a Budget with line items and year comparisons. We want to know how much money we are taking in and the true costs of expenses, not padded costs.
  

You have to have this information and these answers before you can tax more. No one heard any plausible explanation. We received the standard reply: costs have gone up. Joe Kroll and Ed Fry said that SWA is charging us more for tipping fees when in fact SWA says that they are not.

Taxes - The Road of Disbelief

Comment Up

Tonight's the night folks when you get screwed. I don't mean for the tax increases that they will pass for the upcoming year but for all the future assessments that have yet to be passed. Tonight, the Commission is allowing the City Manager to tax us beyond belief down the road. They are opening up a can of worms that will never be closed. Special assessments galore will appear, some of which you probably have never imagined. Tonight the City Commission will adopt the millage and the City Manager's Budget.

The most amazing things of all are the zillion hours of Budget reviews and not one major reduction in spending. The other was when the Finance Advisory Board approved of the Budget "as is" with no commentary and not one suggestion to reduce spending. Tax and spend is the theme of the day. Even Obama doesn't want to take from the poor. You don't think that the deck is stacked against you?

The City manager has made a statement as follows:

From a service delivery prospective, 3,180 residents in the City live in homes that actually have a market value greater than $25,000 (and therefore have the ability to pay for their city services) but pay no property tax for that service. This disparity is even greater for properties with market values less the $50,000 compared to their Taxable values shown in Table No. 2.

First of all, because someone's house is valued at over $25,000, does not permit you to assume that the owner has the ability to pay. Have you peeked at their bank account? The other thing, the mobile home parks as well as Lake Worth Towers will have to pass those costs on to those who live there, in some cases, the poorest of the poor. Those who own commercial properties will pass the cost on to their tenants, those struggling to make an income in this horrible economy. Those merchants will reflect these taxes in their prices.

The City Manager said, "These lucky property owners therefore pay no property taxes to the City for the services they use." We are paying what the State of Florida allows us to pay with legal exemptions. We pay what PB County allows us to pay with exemptions. Perhaps it's lucky to be poor, not sure about that, but Lake Worth is saying that, "Hey poor person, hey middle class, hey businesses, your luck just ran out, you get absolutely NO sympathy with us." I don't remember the City ever complaining when property values were escalating out of sight and they were making tons of money at all of the taxpayers' expense. That was just a few years ago. Where ever did the money go?

The proposed advalorem tax increase is 7% over the roll-back rate. The "rolled-back" rate (which is more aptly termed a "rolled-forward" rate due to the decline in property values) for FY 2012, after adjustment of annual payments to the CRA by the City and the County Fire MSTU proposed rate of 3.4581 mils is 5.135. The City manager is proposing that the City adopt a 5.4945 ( increasing the tax by .2595) property millage which totals 8.9526. This is exactly 1.0474 shy of the 10 mil cap. Close but this ain't horseshoes.

The proposed FY 2012 General Fund Budget includes $1,750,856 of special assessment revenue to pay for Fire pensions and street lights. When do we get the public notice on street lights of another $300,000? If we use the figures that the City used of 11,431 parcels, then we all will pay approximately $26.24 in an other assessment. The City already estimated this to be $30 per residence.

To make up for not taxing to the max but rather taxing over it through the back-end, the city manager not only is asking for a tax increase of 7% over roll-back rate but is upping Solid Waste by $42, assessing for Fire pensions of $60 and raising $1,450,856, increasing water, sewer and did I miss something? Oh yeah, the $34.50 cost of service that everyone will pay regardless of consumption for electric that will really be an increase and not a decrease in electric as we were told. That has not been settled to any satisfaction as yet or changed in the Budget. They are giving us pennies back on the monthly conservation charge and the cost of electricity but upped the Conservation Department's budget to make up the difference. Rate payers pay a little less; taxpayers pay a little more in millage. Parking at the beach went up 50% and many other fees for services have been increased.

On top of all of that, every resident in this City got a nasty threatening letter in the mail that if you didn't pay the assessment they would take your first born. All we hear now is that over 3,000 people don't pay their fair share of taxes because of low property values and double exemptions.

Taxing more and inventing creative ways to grab the cash during hard times is almost unprecedented. And not saying "no" to at least 60% of the capital expenditures is a mystery on the road of disbelief.

Is Lake Worth Making an End Play?

Comment Up

Question: When does an Assessment become a Tax?
Answer: When you don’t pay it.

At the moment, the proposed “assessment” for fire/rescue pensions is a Resolution that was adopted on August 23 and another hearing will take place at City Hall on September 22 at 6pm. I believe that a simple Resolution only takes one public hearing. Setting the tax millage and other taxes takes two public hearings.

All along, the City has said that the special assessment is not a tax. However, the City says that failure to pay this assessment can result in foreclosure including a process that would cause a tax certificate to be issued against the property. At that point, the “assessment” really becomes a tax.

The City says it is assessing against each tax parcel. As the City is assessing 501(c) corporations, Churches as well as the Chamber of Commerce and others that normally never pay taxes, they are really assessing against each property that, in the mind of the City, all become taxpayers the moment they do not pay this assessment and the City files against them to collect. Is this legal? Is it even probable?

Next, the City says it is sending out a separate bill for this assessment? How does that work? Does it not appear on our tax bill just like Solid Waste on the non-advalorem section of the bill? Is this how they are getting around the possible illegalities of this assessment, I mean tax, in order to raise $72,000 difference for the city manager to feel moral and all warm and fuzzy?

The City of Lake Worth is making an end play on the people as well as taxing those entities not even in tax parcels that are 100% exempt from taxes, something even Washington, D.C. can’t do. And our Commission is allowing this to happen.

Proposed Property Tax - How come Greenacres can do it better??

Comment Up

The proposed property tax rates for 2011/2012 were published in today's newspaper. On September 6 at 6pm, Lake Worth will have its first public hearing for the millage of 6.54 unless budget meetings this month, that are being held on August 18, 19 and 22, come to a different conclusion.

6.54% plus the fire MSTU brings us up to 10 mills, the highest allowed by Florida State law. Belle Glade is in the same state of affairs as we. Their problem is the Sheriff costs that are bankrupting their city.

Lake Worth has the highest proposed increase, 21%. The next closest is Jupiter Inlet Colony with 16%. Taxes will remain the same as last year for our neighbor Greenacres, a city of the same size and demographics as Lake Worth, 5.65% and they have their own police and fire departments and have NO Utility from which to rob. In 2010, Greenacres gave a projection on the savings of keeping their own police and fire:

5-year costs of police and fire in Greenacres vs. using Palm Beach County services

City-run police: $44,631,336
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office: $49,852,276
Difference: $5,220,940 more expensive with sheriff's office

City-run fire: $28,668,183
County Fire-Rescue: $28,498,385
Difference: $169,798 less expensive with county fire

Source: City of Greenacres

At least Greenacres did a Study, something some residents here in Lake Worth complain about and feel is unnecessary and a waste of money. If we had done a Study we would have been much better informed in the decision process and we wouldn't have to go through hassles every year of negotiating police and fire. Public Safety equals 63.56% of the budget. What does the rest of personnel cost? It's amazing that we have anything left over to fix pot holes.

Soon, a Study will be presented (maybe we'll get to see it) on taxing the resident here with Special Assessments by putting them on the non-advalorem part of our tax bill. On Tuesday, Government Services Group is on the agenda for approval to conduct a Study and to spend $32,541 for a special assessment for street lights. Street Lights!? The City has come up with, once again, a clever way to raise taxes over and above the 10 mils. Why are they doing this? Because they can and we have a Commission that will probably say yes. Solid Waste is already going up by $42. Any new fee, no matter what you want to call it, is a tax.

Will someone ask Greenacres how they do it? Was it smarter past commissions and smarter management that negotiated better Union contracts? What ever is the problem?

Solid Waste Assessment - a bunch of garbage

Comment Up

As previously reported, the City of Lake Worth will be raising the Solid Waste Assessment to $287.76, a raise of $42 and going up 10% on all commercial accounts. There was some sort of explanation given by Joe Kroll that the County was charging us more or something but no facts or figures were given. Blindly, the Commission accepted this. It's almost like his boss came to him and said, "Hey Joe, we must raise revenue...got any great ideas?" If you're going to raise a fee/tax, give us the documentation to prove the case. The Commission should be asking for this on all matters and not taking the word of Staff. The City is far from transparent.

On page 8A of today's Palm Beach Post, Palm Springs is advertising its special assessment for Solid Waste and re-cycling collection services: Single family homes, $144; Multi-Family homes, $90 and mobile homes, $90.

Do they not use the same dump as Lake Worth? Granted, their population is 1/3rd the size of Lake Worth but dumping is dumping. Their populous is more affluent and less are poor. Perhaps it is because we dump more than they and the County charges us more? If that is the case, let's reduce the pick-ups to one per week at least during the Summer and assess the situation after the snowbirds arrive. What ever is the problem?

We have the highest electric commercial rates in the State of Florida. Our taxes are high and the City keeps raising fees. Perhaps the only problem is Palm Beach County that has a Napolean complex that wants to take over our city by charging us unfair fees such as the fire rescue supplement?

The biggest joke of all though, is that we are told none of these fees are a tax but only assessments.

Read the Editorial in today's Palm Beach Post, Just call it a tax increase.

Tax and Spend and PB County Fire has a Reprieve

Fireman holding a banner and a sign--
Does he even live here?

Citizen believing what he reads

Anticipating a big crowd at City Hall, it didn't happen. But the same activists were there waving signs in support of retaining the Palm Beach County Fire MSTU. Although the rudeness was subdued, many were deliberately impolite in the chamber; it was much of the same crowd that was rude last week and rude during the PBSO fiasco.

City Manager, Susan Stanton addressed the mailer sent out by the Firefighter PAC and made all the corrections. I have to wonder about the cost of the mailer and if it was sent to every resident in Lake Worth but no matter who received it, the crowd was insignificant. It was much of the same who always protest about anything having to do with public safety and unions. The most significant discrepancy on the mailer (Stanton pointed out many) was the total Budget with the County Fire Budget. Stanton said that the County cost is $8.807 million and Lake Worth is estimating $5.5 million to start its own department.

I continue to have mixed emotions on this issue and would like to see a 5 to 10 year forecast on costs comparisons/projections. We now have been given a two month extension to make up our minds on what we are going to do. It is apparent that cost has much to do with this decision. I am very concerned when a Fire Chief and firemen get so actively involved in the issue, who do not even live here, and go so far as to support a mailer with inaccurate information. What is their pony in the race? Fire/Rescue is important. We had our own department for nearly 100 years. We did it then with efficiency and professionalism. We can certainly do it again and allow the city to contain costs and pension plans.

Solid Waste was discussed and it seems that the City projects a shortfall this year so they are upping that non-advalorem tax by $42 to all residences to $287.76 and going up 10% on all commercial accounts. This tax, justified in the minds of the Commission with Staff giving us some nebulous reasons, was voted in unanymously. The Staff mentioned that the rate would be comparable to similar cities. We had the second highest rate before this rate increase on the rate comparison chart they used. And what about the dumping fees that we are saving because of recycling? This is a tax; don't kid yourself.

Of course, the City is a 10! No surprise here when the Commission voted to raise our taxes to the max. Commissioner Scott Maxwell voted "nay" but this was a symbolic vote and meaningless as the tax will very likely be adjusted when it comes back to the Commission on September 6. Any politician voting to increase taxes is comparable to slitting your throat especially when you are running for office. The City better well know by September 6 what it's going to do with fire/rescue even though it has until October 1 to give the County its decision--stay with the County and charge us a fortune or start up our own and charge us a fortune. Either way, they have covered their costs by voting in the maximum millage set by law. Sticking it to us on the non-advalorem for fire/rescue is a big possibility. I want them to give us a cost per square foot for fire/rescue, not take the easy way out.

always good advice but nearly impossible to do

Lake Worth is a 10

Comment Up

or fees or whatever you want to call them

A little trivia--"What about the origins of the word mils? It won’t surprise those Americans who dislike taxes to discover that the word has, besides its Latin origin, a rich French heritage. There go those Socialists again.

In Latin, millsimum means “thousandth part.” It became millesme in Medieval French, which became millème, the still-in-use French for thousandth (as opposed to mille in French, which means thousand.)"

Is any other city in the State of Florida taxed at a rate of 10 mils?

Get Ready!

But the whole idea of 10 mils is not trivial and tonight is the night when the City of Lake Worth sets the tentative millage. Susan Stanton will probably go down in the annals of Lake Worth history of being the very first city manager to propose the max allowed by law. The City Commission can lower the tax rate before its final approval and that's what they will tell unhappy residents tonight.

Even my argument of going back to our own Lake Worth Fire department no longer cuts water--wrong timing--wrong economy, unless, of course, we all want to feel the pain of several million dollars to start all over again. It was more important to send a firetruck to Haiti than it was to save our very own department that we had for nearly 100 years with NO complaints. Vice Mayor Suzanne Mulvehill was the only commissioner at the time to vote "no" to go with the County. She made the correct decision. It is too bad that we all have suffered at the hands of former administrations who led us all down the garden path. Yesterday's mailer by the Firefighter FACTPAC made the argument. You still have to question, "Why do they care so much?"

It's never good to have to raise taxes but this year is probably the worst of times. Some of us really are holding on by a thread. I appreciate Mayor Waterman who brought up the plight of Seniors last night. Bringing back the trolley was mentioned and this would be the first step in really helping those elderly who have no means of affordable transportation even to the grocery store. It is a very real situation for many of the 14% of our Senior population but another 66% here in our city are working, middle class families who have suffered way too long. To tax them all the same for fire rescue, (the County Fire Rescue is now giving us two more months before we have to give them notice) is absolutely irrational.

Solid Waste will go up by $45 to $287.76 per residence. Is the cost of this service going up over 1/2 million dollars or is this just another way to screw the resident? Is this just another way to cover the $500,000 in rate decreases in the Utility? The City will keep Storm Water at the same rate as last year or $75.60. Millage will be set at 6.5419 which is above the roll-back rate by 1.3538 mils. Adding in the Fire/Rescue MSTU of 3.4581 mils, it brings up the total millage rate to 10 mils.

The Phrase Finder describes death and taxes as a rather "fatalistic and sardonic proverb." It draws on the actual inevitability of death to highlight the difficulty in avoiding the burden of taxes. We all know that we must pay taxes. We just want to believe that they are all justified and that they are all fair.

How many properties do we have in Lake Worth?

Depending upon whose report it is, we have anywhere from 12,165 up to 12,980 or maybe a few thousand more.

• According to the Willdan Report we have: 6,872 owner occupied housing dwellings and 6,108 renter occupied housing dwellings for a total of 12,980. The number of commercial dwellings are not listed.

• According to the Demographic section page 10 in the new Budget Report we have:12,165 households

• According to the Budget Report itself we have:16,473 units with 3,515 that are vacant for a total of 12,958 with 6,535 being renters. I guess vacant properties that are owned by someone are just not paying. We have 1,190 commercial accounts for Solid Waste. That would add up to 14,148 units involved in paying the proposed special assessment.

One thing for sure, if the City is going to charge a special assessment for all the mis-management, they had better get the number of units correct or this will be challenged. The other point is, what about all the properties that are exempt in paying taxes like the Greater Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce? Will they now be included in all special assessments?

Lake Worth's Finance Advisory Board - Commentary

Comment Up
From inception, the Chair has said that he was only to be the conductor driving the train…that the agenda was to be formed by the members to discuss and pursue issues that were important to them relative to the Budget. It was his intention to allow the Board to go where they pleased without any manipulation from him. I thought this was a good approach as I have seen other City Boards with Chairs that bring every Board member around to their way of thinking by out talking them and manipulation.

There have been problems with this Board from the beginning. It was formed on April 7, 2010 during Budget preparation in order to assist. Half of the members wanted to meet once or twice a week even suggesting Saturday meetings while the others wanted to meet once a week during Budget and thereafter when there was something to discuss at the regularly scheduled meeting on the 2nd Wednesday of each month.

Although the Board has always had good intentions and has been enthusiastic to tackle its job, one member asked last night, “What have we accomplished?” They have not been able to advance and have been stopped by the lack of information, the lack of interest by the City Commission and the lack of cooperation from the city overall in order to get the data to make decisions. The liaison, who is magnificent, and departmental heads have been very helpful giving up their time to explain their departments and answer questions. But here it is once again, Budget time, and this Board has not been allowed to be engaged.

The original intent of its formation, that of assisting in the Budget and giving recommendations, has been distorted and changed during this last year. Its mission is that of advising the City Manager and the City Commission in matters affecting the annual operating budget, capital improvement program and all financial policies, not anything else.

The Finance Advisory Board gets to look at documents after they have been produced and have no chance to give recommendations such as the Amended Budget that came out this year. Frustrations have grown and human nature, as it is, needs to put the blame on someone. The Commission has told them that their primary goal should be revenue sources and reduce waste, but the Board gets side-tracked.

The appointment of Chair Exline has been controversial from that first meeting when one member nominated someone else after Exline was nominated. It did not go according to their desires. It caused a little friction as I believe there should always be solidarity. It is a constant personality problem; a Chair who is laid back and wanting to proceed by procedure and rules and the other being extremely assertive and aggressive wanting to discuss and place items on the Agenda that are not really in the pervue of the Board although interesting. And to be blunt, a few members have little patience with the Chair who is elderly with a hearing disability and who wants to meet only when the Board has something to meet about. They want a new leader.

Another blunt observation-- no matter who is elected as Chair, this Board will not be any different or effective. You can demand any amount of financial data you choose, it doesn't mean you will get it or that the City will be all of a sudden, cooperative.

The staggered terms for all members end on July 31 every year. The best thing to do is to have elections at the first meeting after July 31 every year. The Board would then be on a 365 day year beginning August 1, a fiscal year rather than a calendar year.

Lake Worth Utility's Plan - Go with 13.2kv

Comment Up
Originally our Bond for our Utility was for $66,000,000, half of which was for our RO and the other half for the Utility electric upgrade. (2008 Series Utility System Refunding and Improvement Bonds-- 2004 Series Bonds). The bonds were refinanced in 2008 in order to get a fixed interest rate payment of 4.25%. These bonds are due and payable in yearly installments through May 1, 2028.

Today Becky Mattey said that we had $16.6 million left for the utility upgrade and needed $7 million more to complete her 10 year plan that was going to cost $22,587,778. That adds up to $16 mil spent, $16.6 mil left plus an additional $7. No one was clear whether or not some of the things suggested in her back-up and not discussed today are included in the $22.59 million. No one is sure of her statement that one-half of the bond money has already been expended. No one is even sure if $7 million is really all that she needs. There was no accounting of the funds presented and Commissioner Scott Maxwell has asked for this as well as the time-lines for items to be finished/completed. Mattey said that we were "under Bank requirements and no longer under the requirements of the Bond Covenants."

Mattey says she does not want to call it a "Conversion" but rather a "solid, well designed" long range electric utility plan that will take 10 years from start to finish. It is a conversion if her department has now decided to go with a 13.2kv distribution system as the "most economical approach by de-converting the 26.4kv and converting the 4.kv to 13.2kv. What else would it be?
Going with the 13.2kv is the way to go.

One thing we did learn today, we are now short $7,000,000 to complete her Plan. We learned but already knew, possibly $5 to 6 million was wasted on labor and materials in ripping a part a system and now we will be paying millions more in labor to straighten out the mess. Director Mattey said it "wasn't lost money."

Bad decisions and not listening to expert advice always result in lost money and in the City of Lake Worth's case, it is always millions, not hay.