Suckers come in all shapes and sizes. Most however are
those people that have registered to vote and are either
apathetic or completely lazy to turn out and express their
viewpoint. The very same people are the ones that seem to
bitch all the time about how bad the politicians are and how
much taxes are going up. If those people would only
realize that every election there is a lot at stack.
Especially this one coming up on Tuesday.
There are no less than 8 constitutional amendments , and a
few of them are what I would categorize as "pull the wool
over the eyes" . I am not talking about if you should vote
Republican or Democrat. That would be partisan of me to say
the least. However, constitution amendments and
petitions placed on the ballot to usurp the power of the
citizens due to the knowingly low expected turnout is what I
am talking about. Here are some of the issues on the
ballot and why you need to vote against them:
Penny Increase on Sales Tax: Nothing but a Lie.
There is a proposed increase of 1% of the sales tax
deemed by our politicians to be the Penny Tax even though it
has nothing at all to do with a penny. Here is the
wording of the amendment you need to vote no on
Tuesday:
FUNDING FOR
COUNTY-WIDE TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENTS
Shall Broward County implement an
enhanced county-wide plan to reduce traffic congestion,
synchronize traffic signals, improve roads, expand
transportation services for seniors and disabled
individuals, provide expanded, more frequent bus
services, provide safe facilities and amenities and
provide convenient rapid transit systems and services,
by levying a one-percent sales tax for transportation
purposes only, with proceeds deposited in a designated
trust fund with oversight of expenditures provided by a
citizens advisory committee?
(SELECT ONE ONLY)
Do you see any mention of a Penny? It is clearly spelled
out as 1 Percent. However our politicians want you to think
this is a small number, and as such of course you are
stupid enough to vote it in place. 1 cent. That is what a
penny means. It is no penny. Instead it is more than 260
million dollars coming out of the pockets of every citizen
in this county.
There is no creative thinking on the part of our County
Commissioners. They have not decided to reduce wasteful
spending or lower some of their give away money to special
interest groups. With record revenues from properties that
were wrongly appraised at highest market levels, the Broward
County commissioners have failed to spend wisely the money
we gave them., In fact, with record amounts they are
spending record amounts with absolutely no belt tightening.
They are single handedly destroying the real estate market
place while at the same time forcing you to either remain
where we live or move out of the county all together.
They plan to spend the money, without telling you how, on
some important items as Buses. No doubt this is
something needed in Coral Springs, where most people do not
even know that the bus exist. We have survived without the
Buses up until now, and I am sure that here in Coral
Springs, we will see absolutely no benefits to the increase
revenues the county will suck out of each an every one of
us.
Bottom Line : The Penny Tax is a lie.
You should vote NO and let them revisit this when they
become fiscally responsible to the Taxpayers.
Coral Springs City Commissioners want to make more
money: Vote NO!
Then we have our Coral Springs Politicians, the guys
sitting on the city commission asking for a 215% increase in
their salary, while we have a shortage of Policeman, and
they still have not yet even repaired all of the damage
caused by last years Hurricane Wilma! If there was ever an
issue to get you out to vote it is this one.
Here is what the proposed petition says:
AUTHORIZING ELECTED OFFICIALS’
COMPENSATION AND EXPENSE ALLOWANCE TO BE ESTABLISHED BY
ORDINANCE
Section 4.08 of the City Charter,
“Compensation and expense allowance,” is revised
permitting the Commission to amend the compensation and
expense allowances for the mayor/commissioners by
ordinance, subject to the recommendations of an outside
accounting firm and a citizen-based Compensation
Committee. For fiscal year 2006-2007, the mayor’s
compensation shall be $30,000 and the commissioners’
compensation shall be $28,000, or an amount recommended
by the accounting firm and Compensation Committee,
whichever is less.
Ooops. They left something out The mayors
current salary is $18,000 so he wants $30,000 and the
city commissioners get $13,000 per year and they want
$28,000. Am I missing something here? These are
the same politicians who told you all that the reason they
deserve the office is because of all the volunteer work they
have done in the past. They new before they signed up for
the job what they were going to earn. If the money was
better maybe other people more qualified than those that we
elected would have stepped forward to run. Are the
citizens of our city that stupid as if to think that they
will actually vote yes on a 215% increase in a salary? We
shall soon find out.
Other Amendments and petitions to Watch out For:
Repair of Court House : $450,000,000 BOND. VOTE NO!
The politicians of our county want to float a bond worth
$450,000,000 ( that is 450 million dollars) and place the
Burdon on us for the next 30 years of repaying it through
our taxes.
Here is what is on the ballot:
THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVEMENT
OF NEW AND EXISTING JUDICIAL COURTHOUSES BY ISSUING
GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS
Shall
Broward County fund the construction and development of
a courthouse complex to replace the existing, outdated
and overcrowded courthouse complex serving the needs of
the court system; and renovations to three aging
existing satellite courthouses; all which are necessary
in response to demands of the rapidly growing County by
issuing general obligation bonds not exceeding
$450,000,000, bearing interest not exceeding the maximum
legal rate, maturing within 30 years, payable from ad
valorem taxes?
This is to repair the courthouses and other government buildings,.
It gives the county an open end as to how to spend this
money without any financial restraint.
Until there is control of property taxes in line with reality and
the population wishes the last thing you want to do is give
the Broward county commissioners more money to wastefully
spend. The Penny Tax is $260,000,000 and this is
another 450M, adding to gather places a burden on the
population of close to 1 Billion dollars no matter how you
look at it. They need to show us that they can reduce
the burden of taxes on the population by spending less,
before we give them more. Are we really that stupid?
We will find out on Wednesday.
I am not pushing one candidate to vote for versus
another. That decision rests on your shoulders since
we all know that nothing much changes here in South Florida.
However, if you do not go out and vote on Tuesday,
especially against the amendments and petitions I outlined,
don't blame me when you wake up on Wednesday and you find
out that living here in Broward County has now cost all of
us $1 billion dollars more.
Come out and VOTE on Tuesday! Make a difference.
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