Lake Worth - A House of Cards

Tax, tax, tax, tax, tax.
Spend, spend, spend, spend, spend

Comparing Last year's Budget Summary to this coming Year's

• In looking over last years public notice Budget Summary, revenues are lower on last year's estimate. Ad valorem taxes are up this year. We are raising only a $million more from last year even though the special assessment is higher. We know that there have been multiple amendments to the Budget throughout the year and we have burned through our cash reserves. Where did all of these millions go?
  

• Special Assessments, a new item on this year's summary, are projected to bring in revenue in the amount of $1,750,856. I am guessing that this is fire and street lights? Who knows, as they told us the fire pension special assessment was to raise $1.45 mil. Perhaps it is wrong as the city did not plan on garbage revenue staying the same.
  

• Sales and Use taxes revenue will add $800,000, down from the projection from last year even though we just implemented a new Certificate of Use Tax that should bring in much, much more and we have many new businesses that have located to Lake Worth.

• Overall, our expenses are up and our revenues are up. Where are the cuts in spending? The City has told us that overall, department by department, spending will be down 11% from the previous year.

Whatever you see in the newspaper public notice is an estimate of what we will get in revenues and what we will spend. It is seldom accurate.

Once a city special assesses to raise revenue, it would take nothing short of a miracle to erase that tax in future years. The City is doing everything possible to raise your taxes by coming in the back door. They want to assess everything and anything possible. That is the plan. I want the City to live within a budget just like we have to do without taking the easy way out--raise taxes.

Maybe we will luck out and all those six cities as well as Palm Beach State College will pay us the $10 mil plus that they owe for sewer once this audit is concluded. That should be any day now. Perhaps collections will force those deadbeat entities to pay what they owe on their utility bills such as the School Board. And what about all those code enforcement fines? The city can't continue to operate as a charity with the taxpayer picking up the tab that continues to grow.

Tonight's meeting is very important. It has everything to do with your future and your quality of life in Lake Worth. If you allow a special assessment, there is no turning back. You will be taxed unfairly forever.

Business Booming in Lake Worth

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We need more of this type of story on Lake Worth.

Business Booming In Lake Worth - West Palm Beach News Story - WPBF West Palm Beach

E-Verify victory

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JUDICIARY COMMITTEE JUST DEFEATED THE POISON PILL AMENDMENT DESIGNED TO KILL MANDATORY E-VERIFY FOR THE REST OF THIS CONGRESS

PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT VICTORY TODAY

By a vote of 18-16, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee defeated an amendment by amnesty-champion Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) to eliminate the state preemption language in the mandatory E-Verify bill.

The reason this vote was so dangerous was because so many ANTI-amnesty conservative groups were lobbying anti-amnesty Republican Members so hard.

For more information go to Numbers USA

House Energy and Utilities Subcommittee

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Pointing to tough economic times for consumers, the chairman of the Florida Public Service Commission cautioned Tuesday about being "overly aggressive" in adding renewable energy.

"We're way behind other states (in renewable energy),'' Rep. Jeff Clemens pointed out. So?

Read more about it here.

Lake Worth Stays with PB County Fire/Rescue

Lake Worth Casino

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

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The citizens of Lake Worth have a difficult time in trusting our elected officials when they spend our money with impunity and believe that they are entitled...when they make horrendously costly decisions and/or take that free lunch. We need to keep reminding them that they are out of touch and out of tune. November might be the wake-up call.

Corruption starts at the local level because this is where a vast percentage of politicians begin their careers. CREW keeps track of congressional corruption. We here in Palm Beach County now have an Inspector General which is funded by the taxpayers. The sense of entitlement that drive politicians galls us all even in the prosperous times. What compounds our wrath are those who give a spiel that perhaps PB County won't think ill thoughts of Lake Worth now that we signed with Fire/Rescue on a long-term Contract or those who want to "slash their paycheck" for being an elected official. Barf. We think ill of phonies, period.

CREW’s seventh report on congressional corruption names 19 members of Congress – 14 members whose actions violated the law or who otherwise engaged in serious misconduct, and five others whose lack of regard for the rules earned them a dishonorable mention. The 2010 midterm elections swept in a large freshman class, but certainly didn’t produce more ethical conduct. A startling 14 of the 19 members on the list are new to it this year, and six of those members are also new to Congress. Read more at CREW--click here

Two Florida Congressmen made the list.

1. Representative Vern Buchanan (R-FL) is a three-term member of Congress, representing Florida’s 13th district. His ethics issues stem from (1) pressuring partners and employees to make contributions to his campaign committee; (2) reimbursing them from his corporate funds; (3) trying to coerce a partner into signing a false affidavit; (4) improper use of corporate resources for campaign purposes. Rep. Buchanan was included in CREW’s 2008 and 2009 congressional corruption reports for related matters.

2. Representative David Rivera (R-FL) is a first term member of Congress, representing Florida’s 25th congressional district. He was a Florida state representative from 2002 until his election to Congress in 2010. His ethics issues stem from what appear to be multiple money laundering and tax evasion schemes involving: (1) his role in a pro-slots campaign; (2) repeatedly misreporting his income and liabilities on personal financial disclosure forms; (3) using campaign funds for personal benefit and to steer money to family and friends; and (4) his personal and professional ties to an ex-lobbyist and her consulting company.

Rep. Rivera is under criminal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Miami- Dade Police public corruption unit, and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office. It is unclear which entity has jurisdiction over specific pieces of the larger criminal probe, and the status of each investigation is unknown.

Thank God for watch-dog groups. Click here for my friend, Bett's Florida Wall of shame of convicted Florida politicians.

Out of Touch and Out of Tune

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The meeting was not as long as usual--not too much packed on the Agenda. Everything was passed on consent and the outcome was predetermined. I would have liked to have learned what 2000 amp outdoor vacuum circuit breakers were for $182,046. Obviously the Commission knew because there was NO discussion and they accepted Staff's recommendation.

I came to only talk on the "free lunch" and ended up speaking a minute or so on much more. The Fire/Rescue contract was a done deal weeks ago. It's too bad that we ever lost control over our own fire department. The economy made it impossible for poor Lake Worth to ever go back. Now we are into a new 10 year deal and will be at the mercy of Palm Beach County. The Unions, forget it. They have no mercy.

Union pensions are expected to go up every year. If the Commission passes the fire assessment this Thursday, that will mean that every property owner will have an assessment increase every year. The only way to remedy this would be to die, sell your house or if the house burns down...nope, excuse me, you would still have to pay if your structure burned to the ground.

We are locked into PB County Fire/Rescue for ten more years. Anything in the future that can possibly be shifted to an assessment, will. Susan Stanton negotiated away the fire supplement because she had a strong belief that the supplement was unfair. PB County must have agreed and it was the one good thing that came out of the deal.

I also talked about the free lunch even though I knew that was also a "done deal." An excursion is a trip usually made for leisure, education, or physical purposes. In the case of the League of Cities Annual Meeting in Phoenix, supposedly it is for educational purposes and to rub elbows with others across the country who are members of the League of Cities. How nice. Party time. Commissioner McVoy took umbrage when I described the free lunch as an excursion. I don't care what you want to call it or how insulted you may be by the description, it is money totally wasted. You want to raise taxes and special assessments on your constituents because the city is broke and then you want to play word definitions with the public who picks up the bill for a convention that is an unnecessary waste of money, budgeted or not.

This Commission justifies all of their bad decisions. Wasting money on a trip to Phoenix that will talk about global economic development is a con on the taxpayer. Don't believe for one second that this excursion is a hardship or that the public will benefit; staying in a hotel and having all of your needs satisfied for several days--rubbing elbows with other politicos feeding off the public trough, does not sound like a punishment, except perhaps, for the taxpayers picking up the tab. The Mayor suggested that the Commission approve of even more money than was asked. I left before I heard the final result of spending more $$$.

Incidentally, Commissioners, it would really serve you well if you read the Constitution, Amendment 1. On another note, we elected you and as my friend Katie would tell you, we are your bosses. This is worth remembering.

Commissioner Maxwell off to Phoenix

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Lake Worth Beach Redevelopment - What a mess

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Deerfield Beach Public Beach
They didn't have to reinvent the wheel

When we got this Bond money from Palm Beach County, we all thought that our beach would look relatively the same. We would use the money to spruce it up: Pavers on the walkways, resurfacing our parking lots, new showers and bathrooms as well as new foliage.

What happens when money is burning in your pocket? Elected officials dream up all sorts of ways to use the money. In our case, it was changing a beach experience to a park experience with actual Jungle Jims. We had one young commissioner who might have been enamored with Disney World or something. Who knows. She never went to the beach; neither did most of the commission. They decided, in all their worldly wisdom, that people didn't come to the beach to go to the beach but wanted other forms of entertainment for little Suzie.

They decided to take out 164 upper level parking spaces saying that the visitors could hoof it for "green" and little Jimmy's play equipment. They, by even accepting the Bond money, lost control of our beach for 30 years. I have heard of people turning their soul over to the devil but losing control for 30 years so developers can get rich? We lost unlimited decal parking and now will be relegated to 55 spaces or so. Who knows what we will really have lost by the time this ever gets figured out.

Now the contractor, Morganti, says that turtle lighting will cost us $2 million. That is over and above the Bond money. Our project manager who took over for the original project manager, Rachel Smithson, who got the heck out of Dodge and moved to Charlotte, has figured out all sorts of cost adjustments by eliminating certain features and materials that total $1.3 mil. Lake Worth Utilities could pick up the cost of the lower parking lot lighting and rent it back to the beach/casino, per the project manager. Also it is planned that the Utility CIP will pay for another $730,000 for water and sewer costs for this redevelopment. There--the $2 mil shortfall was just fixed. This was NOT in the Plan. The taxpayers of Lake Worth were not supposed to pay one dime in extra costs. Again, it is costing us more money for someone's incompetence, or greed, maybe both.

They had previously decided not to go with pavers but monolithic slabs. Do you even know how ugly of an idea that is? The whole project will become a distant cousin of itself. In the project, the wind turbine is still there. Some "green" commissioners love the idea of a wind mill at our beach even though it is a totally impractical idea..."Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind."

The energy can’t be stored, meaning that 100% backup is needed when the wind doesn’t blow. The majority of our days at the beach are anything but windy and the wind is never constant. For some reason, this Commission is in love with all things "green" whether practical or not and whether we can afford it or not. They hate nuclear and there is no alternative that is economically competitive with fossil/nuclear.

It has been discovered and written that wind power would involve covering huge tracts of land all over the country in order to produce any meaningful power. Even environmentalists are becoming disenchanted with wind power, but Lake Worth must have that wind mill for $100,000. It's cool.

Right now we just need a beach. Let's not re-invent the wheel here. Spruce it up and knock off the bull by kicking them all off our beach redevelopment. Tell Johnny Shortboats to buzz off and close our beach at a reasonable time so that we all can be happy, even the turtles.

By the Time I get to Phoenix - the Free Lunch in Lake Worth

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$4,000 Cost
Economic Development Conference
Phoenix, Arizona

Folks, the City is not serious about superfluous spending. They justify anything when it comes to fun, conventions, registration fees, memberships, subscriptions, travel and entertainment or something that turns them on. Last year it was Colorado. This year Phoenix. Vice Mayor Mulvehill was the only one earlier in the year who objected to one of these types of excursions. But most of them all love the free lunch and believe in it. Most politicians do. And then they have the nerve to raise taxes and invent special assessments to take your money to pay for the very things for which we object. The City is on the brink of bankruptcy but Commissioners still are into entitlements and give you excuse after excuse why they are taking that free lunch.

The National League of Cities describes its meeting's importance as follows: Creating Competitiveness from the Inside Out will be held Nov.10-12 in Phoenix, Ariz. as one of four concurrent conferences during NLC’s annual Congress of Cities and Exposition. The conference will offer local leaders tools and resources to build strong, globally competitive local economies. Hell, we can't even build a strong economy on a local basis and we are still fumbling in the dark. The city wants to assess us out of the insanity as a solution to the madness.

Now, once again, the Commission will vote tonight to send two of our commissioners to the League of Cities Annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. The City says that the dates are November 9-12. On top of all this wasteful spending for travel, lodging and registration, the City of Lake Worth has an election on November 8. Commissioner Golden might not even be a commissioner by the time she even thinks of getting to Phoenix. Can anything be more stupid than this?

Stop the spending. Get serious. You need to legislate by example. No more free lunch on the taxpayers of Lake Worth.

Taxing Fairly

In Lake Worth, we have a government that has determined what is fair and what is not. In their minds, Socialism prevails--they want us to all pay the exact same fee for a dubious "service," something they call a "benefit." More than likely they are confused on paying the same FEE and paying the same RATE.

Not fair in the mind of President Obama--

“Apparently Obama will propose that people earning more than $1 million a year pay at least the same tax rate as middle-class earners. That’s aiming mighty low. America’s median income is about $50,000. The typical taxpayer at that level pays approximately 20 percent in taxes. Granted, that’s a higher rate than most of today’s super rich pay because of countless deductions, credits, and loopholes – including, especially, their ability to take their incomes in the form of capital gains, taxed at 15 percent. That’s a big reason Buffett’s hundreds of millions a year are taxed at just over 17 percent — a lower rate than his secretary faces, as Buffett often says.”

Read the rest of Robert Reich's article at Nation of Change.

Lake Worth in Non-Compliance

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The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, the federal government’s appointed board to oversee stimulus spending, says we are not in compliance.

Read about it here.

Let's vote for hometown hero, Herb Score

Everyone who is a member of Facebook--

I would like you to seriously consider voting for hometown hero, Herb Score, into the 2012 Ford Frick Award for excellence in baseball broadcast.

Click Here

A message from his sister:

Thursday, September l, 2011

Cleveland: Herb Score has been nominated as a candidate for the 2012 Ford Frick Award for excellence in baseball broadcasting. Score, who died in 2008, served as the radio voice of the Cleveland Indians from 1968-97.

Fans can take part in on-line voting for the award beginning Thursday, September 1, at 10 a.m. ET at the Baseball Hall of Fame's Facebook site and concluding at 5 p.m.ET on September 30th.

In the fall, a 20 member electorate will vote on the final 10 name ballot to determine the 2012 Frick Award winner who will be honored in Cooperstown during the Baseball Hall of Fame Weekend 2012..July 20-23.

Thanx....Helen

Helen S. Webb
P.O. Box 64, Rabun Gap, GA 30568
Ph: (706) 746-6340

E-Verify Discussion Now

Streaming by Ustream

11th Annual Florida Lineman's Competition in Ocala

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Competition is fun but let's hope we don't have a hurricane any time soon. Watch the video below. You will see our Assistant Utility Director, Clay Lindstrom, in one frame as well as Utility Director, Becky Mattey.

2011 Individual Results

Overall Results of the competition:
to see where Lake Worth placed.

Billboard Money - Parade of Thievery

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The Billboard blight has been a fiasco since the day that Interstate Outdoor Advertising, Inc. contacted our city and told us that they were going to install billboards on our property along I-95. It was sometime in 2007. They filed the necessary applications and were subsequently denied because of our sign ordinance. Interstate then filed suit.

Lake Worth defended its action and hired outside counsel with the firm of Johnson, Anselmo, Murdoch, etal. Interstate told our city attorney at the time, Larry Karns, that they would resolve their lawsuit and settle with us rather than going to court saying that they had won these cases and it would cost the City a lot in legal fees. The City capitulated and rolled over petrified about another lawsuit. The deal offered was as follows:

• A 20 year lease minus 1 day

• Interstate was allowed to install 3 billboards on the west side of I-95 on private properties.

• Interstate was allowed to install 3 billboards on the east side of I-95 on city owned property.

• They offered a one time payment of $2,650.000 after approval was given, alternative #1.

• The second alternative was paying the City $2,310,000 upon approval and pay the City $4,250 a month for each of the 3 signs located on City property with an increase beginning in year 16 to $5,000 a month. Under this deal, the payments to the City would total $3,975,000 over the life of the lease. The City agreed to this deal in spite of our city attorney advising otherwise. It passed on a 3/2 vote with the gruesome threesome, Clemens, Vespo and Lowe, taking the deal. Jennings and Golden said "nay." They did not want this blight in our City at all.
  

At the June 19, 2007 meeting residents spoke out against billboards but the Mayor said he wanted it because then we wouldn't have to worry about several million when we decided to build our community center. The idea of a new City Hall complex was his dream. The money was specifically earmarked for this project and was to be deposited into the CIP for that purpose.

City Manager Baldwin approved Alternative No. 2. City Attorney Larry Karns encouraged Alternative No. 1. (grab the cash and run, a much more sensible idea in the scheme of things). A motion was made by Commissioner Vespo, seconded by Commissioner Lowe, to approve the settlement agreement Alternative No. 2 for $2.31 million up front plus payments resuming with the caveat that the money be allocated to a new City Government Fund; and approve a lease agreement to place 3 signs on City property.

We never did receive all of the money. There was some sort of another "settlement agreement" because Interstate had assigned some billboards to CBS Outdoor Advertising and they wanted an LED billboard. We don't allow LED billboards either. But you know how that goes in Lake Worth...the bullies always win and the company won this round as well. We ended up receiving a check in the amount of $1,240,000 on February 24, 2010 and it was authorized to be deposited into the CIP account. When reading the paperwork which is difficult to follow, on September 8, 2008, we received an additional $305,000 of which $5,000 was for tree beautification somewhere. So, we were short changed around $765,000 for the upfront costs and the city thought this wonderful. After all, there would now be no law suit. I have no idea if the company is paying us monthly money per the original Lease as it can't be found on any line in the Budget and it is NEVER discussed.

All in all, the residents of this City got royally screwed when the City elected not to defend its rights when Interstate first contacted us and decided to sue.

In the CIP--Public Services:
The decrease between the FY2011-2015 and the FY 2012-2016 CIP for Public Services is the completion of $1.85 million in stormwater and $2.7 million in facilities management projects. In addition, $1.8M in billboard revenues reflected in FY 2011 budget were more appropriately reclassified and removed from the CIP.

I want to know why the billboard money was moved. I want to know when it was moved. I want to know where in the operating budget it was used. I want to know under what authorization was this money moved and/or spent. And I want to know exactly the amount of monies that were spent and on what as well as the balance of that fund.

Steve Carr, Finance Director, said at the FAB meeting on 9-14-11 that $250,000+ of the billboard money was used to replace an air conditioning system and other renovations for Compass. The City Manager has said on more than one occasion that she believes it is the City's responsible to maintain our leased property, not the Lessee. I guess there is no such thing as lease negotiation either. Because it is our building, will we next be paying the a/c bill too? That is probably why we took out a highly questionable loan for Compass because, for heavens sake, they spent too much money renovating our property.

No wonder our shuffleboard court building got trashed beyond recognition and we ended up spending hundreds of thousands on it only to want to demolish the courts because it was only Seniors who used them.

Florida TaxWatch makes Recommendations

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Florida TaxWatch: Recommendations to reduce waste, fat and duplication in Florida's Budget

Report and Recommendations

Manufacturing, an economic driver for Florida's future

Tonight's Sky

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Add to the list--what else will Stanton assess?

Retirement Pensions Bankrupting Cities

Scores of South Florida city employees, particularly police and firefighters, have recently retired in their mid to late 40s or early 50s with six-figure pensions, the result of generous pay and benefits packages that are now costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year.

Read why most cities are going broke. Is our city manager doing all that she can in Lake Worth? That will be answered in the near future.