I am getting to REALLY like this guy! I read this editorial today in the Miami Herald: County Hall’s tin ear: OUR OPINION: Miami-Dade's budget ploy merely earns taxpayers' distrust. I admit I was away and didn’t follow the Miami Dade budget hearings but the Herald did (except Matt Pinzur but that is a previous story). This editorial is so on target I am printing it in its entirety, something I NEVER do. I am sorry Herald, but the people need to see this for more than the 7 days you post items, I implore you to read this so you can see exactly how you get screwed from a couple of directions without knowing it:
Miami-Dade County commissioners have unwisely widened the disconnect between themselves and voters who approved a constitutional amendment for lower taxes in January. They did so by approving a $7.4 billion budget last month that doesn't deliver the modest tax relief -- about $120 for the typical homeowner -- that voters expected when they said Yes to Amendment One.
In truth, the amendment wasn't the best way to get the comprehensive tax reform that many taxpayers have been demanding from state and local governments. That is beside the point, though, since more than 64 percent of voters approved the amendment that raised the homestead exemption to $50,000 from $25,000.
With the budget approval, commissioners raised property owners' overall tax rate while chipping away at the Amendment One savings in order to produce a budget they could claim delivers lower tax bills. Along the way, they included special allocations for some commissioners, including a fireboat, a cattle show and the Miami-Dade Sports Commission, among other things. Not surprisingly, the budget passed 12-1. Only commissioner Carlos Gimenez objected to the back-door maneuver.
No doubt some commissioners think this is clever budgeting and good politics. Yet none of them needs fear retribution at the polls. Lobbyists and other special-interest groups fill incumbent commissioners' campaign accounts with enough money to defeat virtually any election challenger.
What commissioners fail to grasp, though, is that their actions fuel residents' cynicism and distrust of elected officials. Voters often strike back in the only way they can -- by approving sometimes poorly conceived amendments (less subject to lobbyists' influence), sending the message that taxpayers want leaner, transparent, accountable government.
Now citizens we must do what we do best: We need some "poorly conceived amendments" to strike back with. Send us your suggestions by comment or email.
4 comments:
Poorly conceived amendments - hmm like Hometown Democracy?
Look I'm an HD supporter - but it's flawed. This post is a perfect example of why extreme measures need to be taken when politicians don't do their job and represent their constituents.
I like Gimenez too. He is such a surprise, I didn't vote for him (Rivero instead) but I can admit now I made a mistake. Gimenez was the better choice.
Gimenez is right on target. He kept trying to warn people, over and over, and no one was listening. This man should be our Mayor.
I have an idea, why don't we start a recall of all the Commissioners (except Gimenez and Sorenson), and RECALL ALVAREZ!!! We cannot wait 4 years to let Alvarez continue his reign at the County, with Court Jester, George Burgess!!
Ok, maybe that is too much, lets think about Amending the Charter. The reason the County adminstration was able to make this work, is that they have the unfettered ability to transfer what should be only UMSA, or Fire District or Library District costs into the Countywide milage. They reduced every singe one of the districts, except the Countywide. WE need to impose stringent accounting standards on the County to ensure that those who pay for the services, get the services, not what we have now, were municipal residents are paying for services that they will never receive, supplementing the services in the UMSA.
Another potential solution: Incorporate all areas!!! Lets get the County out of delivering municipal services, and start focusing on purely regional concerns, like the Airport, Seaport, Transit, etc. Those functions are big enough by themselves, without entrusting zoning, planning, etc., to the County. As for planning, I think the County should play a role in regional planning, but, I think better results come from local decisions that are not reviewed by the BCC. Look at all the recommendations of denial that come from the community councils that are just reversed and approved at the BCC level. Anyways, with everything, the devils are always in the details, and we will have to work them out if we want to make the proposal.
I am very happy that the Herald acted in this fashion, by reviewing the work of compromised journalist (don't think he even deserves that title anymore) Matt Pin-head Pinzur. What I am disappointed about is the fact that the Herald has yet to reprimand Pinzur's actions!!
Here is another Herald article I found on the subject. This article is a bit more descriptive as to the particulars. Interesting, Gimenez is pointing to these "earmarks" as the sweeteners that "pursuaded" the remaining 12 to vote for the Administration's bogus budget!!
Political deal gave rise to Dade tax twist
BY CHARLES RABIN
With Miami-Dade County commissioners accepting the mayor and manager's budget last month, taxpayers will be able to see the result in black and white on their tax bills.
What they probably didn't see: the political deal-making between commissioners and administrators that resulted in a final budget accord.
That balancing act modestly reduced tax bills for most homeowners thanks to the doubling of the homestead exemption -- while actually raising overall tax rates. It also allowed politicians to say they cut tax bills when actually they raised rates.
Commissioners who endorsed that balance won some riches, too, using their leverage over the budget to win projects for their districts.
Among the items in the $7.4 billion budget: $300,000 for an agricultural cattle show in County Commissioner Javier Souto's district. Commissioner Sally Heyman's northeast enclave finally got its fireboat, at a cost of $675,000.
The county ponied up $250,000 to keep the Miami-Dade Sports Commission afloat. Its co-chair: Commissioner Jose ''Pepe'' Diaz.
Chairman Bruno Barreiro got in on the action.
When documentarian Cork Friedman caused a storm by releasing a video of rotten food and broken glass he observed during a morning jog in South Beach, Barreiro, whose district includes the beach, was stung.
Now, Miami Beach residents have six new full-time positions for beach cleanup at a cost of $543,000.
County Manager George Burgess called the deal-making just one piece of an intense budget puzzle.
''Some of these things are projects raised by individual commissioners,'' he said. ``Some were on our radar screen.''
Commissioner Carlos Gimenez had another take: ``It's the equivalent of earmarks.''
POLITICAL PORK
Earmarks are Washington's political pork -- special payments crafted by one politician to benefit his or her district.
Several years ago, after a series of contentious budget battles, Burgess began to meet individually with board members, smoothing the process as budget meetings shortened and public input diminished.
The lack of public input doesn't sit well with Miami Beach Vice Mayor Richard Steinberg, former president of the Miami-Dade League of Cities.
Steinberg said he asked for meetings with the county for more than a week prior to the final budget meeting, and was finally granted one the morning of the vote.
''The bigger issue is one of transparency,'' he said. ``At least give the public the opportunity to digest the budget, and comment on it.''
A peek into the budget battle shows that commissioners were well aware they had a small window to secure money for their districts as the budget plan flew through last month.
At a hearing two weeks before the budget was adopted, Commissioner Joe Martinez spoke directly to Burgess and said he would air his concerns.
''If you go along with them, I'll support your budget,'' Martinez said. ``If you don't, I won't.''
In the end, Martinez supported the budget.
Souto defended the cattle show, saying it creates jobs. Sosa pushed for funding for the Quality Neighborhood Improvement Program, saying residents care most about issues closest to home.
Heyman said she helped revive five jobs in the county's Animal Services department, and saved cuts from the county's 311 information line.
As for the fireboat, ''that was a breaker for me,'' she said. ``But it runs the entire coastline and Intracoastal.''
The budget was adopted 12-1, with Gimenez dissenting.
While it's true that the tax bill for most county homeowners will go down this year, it's also true that it is the first increase in the overall tax rate that was not forced by the state in five years.
The county's operating budget increased by $30 million, money that enables Burgess and Alvarez to save some popular programs like a boot camp for wayward teenagers and the county's ethics commission.
''We made some pretty surgical adjustments,'' Burgess said.
`TAX RELIEF'
The mayor and manager took advantage of a January vote by residents that cut taxes as a way to increase the countywide tax rate just enough so most homeowners still get a savings, however modest.
''We want to provide tax relief,'' Burgess said. ``We still passed on savings.''
The increase in the countywide tax rate will cost the owner of a home valued at $250,000 a little more than $53 in lost savings. Because of the doubling of the homestead exemption, the homeowner still saves between $91 and $129.
Renters and the owners of commercial properties are likely, however, to feel an increase in rent and taxes, as they were exempt from the January vote.
The county was able to increase the countywide tax rate -- which everyone in Miami-Dade pays -- because a super-majority of commissioners voted for a hike over the state maximum, a number set by the state that it believes should not be crossed.
That's not what some state legislators had in mind when they decided last year to let the county's registered voters decide whether they wanted to double their homestead exemption to reduce their tax bill. Almost 70 percent of the voters said yes.
''They used it to their advantage. Our intent was to give relief,'' said state Rep. Julio Robaina, R-South Miami.
Robaina spoke with Burgess during the budget process to express outrage at the county's attempt to increase the tax rate. Burgess notes that the county and 26 of its 35 municipalities had super-majority votes from their councils or commissions to raise rates over the state's so-called ''maximum'' rate.
Said Gimenez: ``This is a straight tax increase on those properties. People went to the polls asking for relief, and this is what we did?''
The budget places a heavier burden on residents of the municipalities with their own library and/or fire departments, including Hialeah, Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables and Key Biscayne.
That's because those communities are now stuck paying for about $8 million worth of communications costs from the county's fire department -- the only one that has its own taxing district. So, residents in municipalities with their own departments are paying for fire services they rarely, if ever, use.
Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina took issue with the fire-service swap and countywide increase.
''When voters go the polls, and people vote for it by 70 percent, we have to respect that,'' said Robaina, no relation to the South Miami state representative.
Burgess counters that everyone in unincorporated Miami-Dade and 30 of the county's 35 municipalities use the county's fire rescue district.
JOB CUTS PLANNED
Despite the $30 million in additional revenue expected this year, the county still plans to reduce its employment ranks by almost 800 positions. Most of those positions, though, are now empty.
Burgess said that if commissioners had not chosen to raise the countywide rate, less garbage might be picked up, roadways might have deteriorated, public parks might have closed earlier.
''There would have been a lot of service cuts,'' the manager said.
Post a Comment