Emergency Services Surtax – Round Up

Posted on March 18, 2016 by M_Blank
monkey on phone

Yes, Commissioner.  I’ll get right on that.

I’ve spilled lots of ink on this Emergency Services Surtax (ESS).  There’s a good reason for that.  The true impact of this proposed tax has been misrepresented to the public.  (More monkey math!)  People need to know the real deal.  The ESS is being sold as a “tax shift”.  According to the spin, tourists pay nothing for fire and rescue services.  Locals pay for it all.  The way to “fix” that is to pay for those services with a sales tax rather than a property tax.  To hear the county talk, this “tax shift” is all about helping locals.

In order to support Comm. Heather Carruthers’s proposal, county staff has made some demonstrably false claims. Continue reading →

Posted in BOCC, Bubba System, Fire and Ambulance, Monroe County | 4 Comments

Peary Court and Affordable Housing

Posted on March 16, 2016 by M_Blank

at-home-1001367_960_720I’ve got no horse in the Peary Court race – at least not directly.  But I have been following the issue and I have written a few posts about it.

Key West voters made the right decision here.  There were too many unanswered questions.  Too much conflicting information.  Too many unexplored options.  Peary Court supporters simply didn’t make a clear and convincing case to the public.  And the public rightly responded with a “no” vote.

We can’t ever forget that affordable housing is a Keys-wide issue and a comprehensive approach is the best way to ensure the most effective solutions.  Here is a letter from a woman in Key Largo, who is struggling to make it there.  Key Largo citizens deal with the added burden of a wastewater funding disparity that is costing them $25 million – or almost $2,000 per household.  Not only that, but Comm. Carruthers is pushing an additional sales tax that is harmful for most local residents, but especially harmful to folks in Key Largo.

The Keys success in meeting the challenge of affordable housing, or any other challenge, depends on a county government that is committed to fairness and is willing to take a fact-based approach to problem solving.  Right now, no such animal exists.

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Animal Control – Public Pressure is the Key

Posted on March 16, 2016 by M_Blank

cat-278187_1920It’s nice to know I’m not alone in being disgusted by the high kill rate in the Upper Keys.  Maybe if enough people speak up, things will improve.  There’s no doubt that in the short-term any solution will have to come from the citizens – private donations, private volunteer efforts.  Monroe County has made it crystal clear that they intend to do nothing to improve the situation.

When asked about the high kill rate last year, Monroe County Commissioner Sylvia Murphy said that she is “perfectly happy” with the services provided by the shelter.  Murphy “represents” the Key Largo area – if you can call her long history of inaction “representing”.  There will be no improvement on that front unless Robby Majeska defeats her in the Republican primary in August.  Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Shelter | Leave a comment

Florida Keys Stewardship Act – Editorial

Posted on March 15, 2016 by M_Blank

beach-16698__180Update:  The KeyNoter turned out to be right.  The Florida Keys Stewardship Act (FKSA) is pretty questionable overall.

I ran across this editorial at KeysNet.com:  The Keys get $5 million for water and land, but calling that a success is a stretch.

I disagree.  I think it is a success.  I won’t lie, I was a little disappointed in certain respects, particularly by the fact that the Keys wouldn’t be receiving recurring funding.  As stated in the newspaper article…

[I]t turns out the money would have to be requested — and approved — every legislative session; it would not be a solid cash commitment for 10 (or 20) years.

If the Keys, particularly Key Largo, had a dependable funding stream, providing needed financial relief to the ratepayers would be an immediate possibility.

It’s important to remember though, that the Keys have some self-imposed challenges.  I talked about those in my comment on the editorial. Continue reading →

Posted in BOCC, Florida Keys Stewardship Act, Media | Leave a comment

Animal Control – County Response Part 2

Posted on March 14, 2016 by M_Blank

monkey-557586__340_croppedThe saga continues!  I’ve been attempting to fact check claims made in the 2015 State of the County report regarding the animal shelters.  On page 37, the county claims that the Upper Keys animal shelter handled 736 animals, the Middle Keys shelter handled 800-1000 animals, and the Lower Keys shelter handled 1,888.

Only the number for the Upper Keys shelter is supported by the monthly reports submitted, and that number only includes cats and dogs.  The Lower Keys shelter submitted an annual tally that does support the number of animals served (1,888).  But that report includes all animals served (not just cats and dogs) and includes numbers for all services provided by the shelter – not just those monitored by the monthly reports.  In other words, this was not an apples-to-apples comparison.  Not even close. Continue reading →

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Emergency Services Surtax – Monroe County

Posted on March 11, 2016 by M_Blank

New Monroe County Logo2At this point in the discussion, it would probably be a good idea to revisit the map of emergency services providers.  It helps to keep track of what is going on where.  Monroe County serves the unincorporated Lower and Middle Keys.  They also serve the unincorporated portion of Tavernier and the tiny city of Layton.  Key Largo is served by a special district, and Ocean Reef has its own volunteer fire department.  The larger municipalities, Key West, Marathon and Islamorada have their own fire departments.  Key Colony Beach is served by Marathon.

At present each area pays for its own fire service out of ad valorem taxes.  Comm. Carruthers has proposed that fire service be paid for with another sales tax instead.  She’s made some dodgy claims to support her proposal. Continue reading →

Posted in BOCC, Bubba System, Fire and Ambulance, Taxes | Leave a comment

Emergency Services Surtax – Key Largo

Posted on March 11, 2016 by M_Blank

pinocchio-560653__180I think I’ve made a very strong case that Carruthers didn’t propose the Emergency Services Surtax (ESS) out of the goodness of her heart.  It’s not a “tax shift” that’s meant to benefit locals.  Clearly it is designed to help large property owners like those who donated to Carruthers’s 2012 campaign.  It is the locals who will pay more, including and especially the locals in Carruthers’s own district.

Key West has a very high proportion of renters, far higher than the county average.  While the Key West City Commission is pushing for a huge $55 million purchase to “preserve” workforce housing, here’s Carruthers trying to add an additional tax burden on those very same residents.  How does this make sense?  It doesn’t, of course, but then Carruthers is the queen of wasteful spending in Monroe County.  She’ll take money wherever she can get it, I suppose.

Locals in Marathon, Key Colony Beach and Islamorada won’t make out too well either.  But let’s focus on Key Largo for minute.   Continue reading →

Posted in BOCC, Fire and Ambulance, Key Largo's contribution | Leave a comment

SMART Districts – Following Up

Posted on March 11, 2016 by M_Blank

I votedThere’s a group exploring the idea of single-member districts.  The idea is that each district elects its own county commissioner.  Right now, the commissioners are elected by voters county-wide.  And that leads to some odd situations.

The name of the group is SMART Districts.  They have a website and a Facebook page.  I checked out both today to see if there was anything new and saw a post on their Facebook.  Here’s an excerpt. Continue reading →

Posted in BOCC, Elections, Single-member Districts | Leave a comment

Animal Control – County Responds

Posted on March 11, 2016 by M_Blank

monkey-557586__340_croppedMonroe County partially responded to my request for information.  Three things seem to be very helpful in eliciting a response.

  1. Publish the request on the blog.
  2. Use the phrase “please consider this a formal public records request”.
  3. Copy the county attorney, Bob Shillinger.

Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Shelter, Public Records | Leave a comment

Tallahassee Happenings

Posted on March 10, 2016 by M_Blank

Update:  Stewardship bill goes to Scott.  If the $10 million survives, we know that $5 million of that will go to Monroe County for “land purchases”.  The other $5 million is for “water quality projects”.  The need is still huge for the sewer projects.  Hopefully, those will be the first “water quality projects” in line.  If Monroe County was playing games behind the scenes we’ll know it very soon.

I saw this news item about Sen. Gaetz’s corruption bill which I wrote about here.  While handcuffs-354042__180the bill has been stripped down somewhat, its most important provision still stands.

The proposal, HB 7071, passed on a 39-0 vote. The measure lowers a legal threshold for prosecution from “with corrupt intent” to “knowingly and intentionally” engaging in a corrupt act.

According to a grand jury report on corruption, this was one of the biggest impediments to prosecuting public officials for corruption. Continue reading →

Posted in Bubba System, Florida Keys Stewardship Act, State government | 1 Comment