South Florida Business Journal story (bookmark this page first)
He is so right. I think that far too many people don’t understand the impact this legislation could have. Our leaders could not come up with the right solution but were so pressed to find something, they created this and shot it to us for vote.
– there is nothing to protect homeowners from misuse of public funds
– it perpetuates the existing problems of the current homestead legislation.
– In a few years property taxes could be even higher than they are now
3% ceiling has saved many of us from being taxed out of our homes. This solution is a disaster!
How about this:
– local governments put more items out for bid- forget about piggybacking on state contracts that are not always fairly written (another story)
– local governments can start implementing policies more like corporations. We need more private sector CFO’s coming to the public sector to help make this happen. If they don’t ‘get along’, let the public speak out if the person should go, rather than a board or commission that has a vested interest (let’s see- if I’m taking payback, I won’t like the new CFO, therefore, I’ll just make sure he gets fired!)
– Here’s something really radical- bring in a private sector finance guy to cut waste for big budget areas like the Broward County school board. For every dollar that he saves us, let’s give him a $.01 bonus. He can’t collect by eliminating a needed service. He can only collect when he cuts wasted dollars in a contract. For example, if we are charged ‘special service fees’ that maybe don’t exist in the private sector, he can spot that and just say NO! (This is a true situation that happened.)
We’re going to have increased costs and property tax dollars are going to be needed to support that, but govt’s need to be better stewards of our dollars. (think about the puppet guy entertaining kids after a hurricane)
MOST OVERUSED LINE: “We got a grant, it hardly cost us anything!”
hmmm- don’t you pay the IRS each year?