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May 01, 2008

City spending should match citizens' needs

Winter Springs continues once more to produce propaganda on the fire fee and, as expected, they have no true facts to support their claims. Even the Oviedo Voice talks about taxes going up a "tad" for fire services.

This will be true for some, but others will have the highest taxes in both Seminole County and Orange County. I thought I made this rather clear with all my research documents using county and city records of real facts that cannot be manipulated.

Only commissioners Rick Brown and Joanne Krebs have taken the time to actually listen and understand the facts. They are the only two commissioners that recognize the reality of a disaster in the making and have taken corrective measures.

Other commissioners have even made comments that the city could bankrupt if the fire fee collection is not made.

I don't buy that for one second with a $60 million dollar budget with room for purchases of trucks such as an F150 at $21,000, an F250 at $29,000, an F350 at $30,000 and an F450 at $38,000. There have also been huge investments in the Town Center that far exceed the Town Center tax revenue output of $308,000 - thus not an economic engine. Spend before it's gone is the theme of government.

According to Mayor John Bush in the Insider editorial, multi-family homes were not paying their fair share for fire services and were being subsidized by home owners. However, the top two highest tax payers of Winter Springs are multi-family homes that generated about $800,000 in tax revenue for 2007, and they are not protected with Homestead Exemption or Save our Homes.

So now all of a sudden the adopted tier platform clearly shows that multi-family homes are not being subsidized on any level?

These are clear examples of broken platforms of operation with no consistency where the only concern is a legal way to collect and no consideration on impact. Don't we all pay for fire protection regardless if we have a fire in the first place? The high-paid GSG consultants, paid to the tune of $117,000, call this "revenue enhancement." Unfortunately, now about 80 percent of households will pay higher taxes with zero value added.

However, commissioners in favor of the fire fee compromised with 75 percent of total collection rate where about 50 percent of the residents will pay higher taxes. That may sound like a compromise, but keep in mind that our city padded the fire fee with 25 percent surplus, knowing that they may not collect from all households.

The flaunted $4.3 million dollar budget cut was another attempt to show fiscal constraint. Does that mean the city was looking for a $65 million dollar budget? A $2 million dollar proposal for workforce housing? Who do you think is being subsidized on that one?

We also have a $125,000 dog park in the budget. Guess the dog park is more important than a fire truck.

Taxes and fees are of course not in sync with the private sector in many cities. In Massachusetts, they still have a tax for the Spanish American War. Guess it's been one expensive war.

Ron Ligthart

Winter Springs

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Date	Subject	Posted by:
05/02/2008	I just hope that our mayor and...	David A. Smith
05/06/2008	I think it would be great for our...	Chuck Jenkins

Mr. Ligthart has been on top of this "fire tax " scam from the start. He produce ACTUAL FIGURES from the County and City Records to establish the authenticity of his many presentations before the Winter Springs commission at various meetings. Only two of the elected official on the dais have the intelligence to recognize the facts as presented to them. The mayor has been RUDE in his acknowledgement of Mr. Ligthart, and the other three commissioners silent as to the figures presented. That alone shows mere stupidity!

That's because they have been TOLD TO VOTE FOR THE FIRE TAX as represented by the city manager. Just the reference to his statement at the top of the page on our website entitled "The Three Stooges" is an indication of the collusion that has taken place on the Winter Springs dais. The city manager put his foot in his own mouth with that mere utterance to Commissioner Brown.

Even the Orlando Sentinel recognized the scam back on April of 2008 with a huge editorial outlining exactly what Mr. Ligthart has been trying to put across to the commission at all those public meetings. However, it is the collusion, and down-right stupidity of the three commissioners who are tied to the shoelaces of the city mangler. How these three commissioners EVER got re-elected is above and beyond all reasoning.

It's is, however, with the monetary aid by developers, builders, and special interest alone that have sustained their overdue longevity on the dais. In the up-coming election we will point out ANY deficiencies that PFGG finds with ANY candidate in any race for election to what should be, however now so lacking, to a responsible seat on the dais.

Attend tomorrow evenings so-called "budget scrutiny" meeting, and voice your opinions to those over-paid professional politicians seated on the dais. That's the only way that ANY future changes can be made -- SPEAK OUT FOR YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE regarding how much the city is stealing from you now.