Citizens for a Healthy Miami Dade is a PAC with the purpose (they say) "To Advocate for Jackson Health Systems to enhance its programs and facilities in order to compete successfully in an evolving healthcare environment." In other words, they want to collect money in this PAC to pay for commercials and flyers to convince you to vote for their BOND. Don't vote for anymore Bonds. You are breaking the bank. It says on their website:
On November 5, Miami-Dade voters will be asked if JHS should be allowed to access an $830 million bond for a comprehensive upgrade...Just say no to all these stupid bonds or stop complaining about your taxes.
26 comments:
The problem is that most people around here are so ignorant that they don't realize that a bond results in a property tax increase. thye think that it is free. These same people would say hell no to increasing the library millage to its former rate. The proponents of this bond know this.
Just see the boondoggles that are resulting from the most recent county general obligation bond and of course the 1/2 cent transportation tax. Until we get some real movement against the entrenched corruption in this county (and a new State Attorney)I will vote against all new bonds.
What about the Marlin's bonds? Aren't we paying off enormous amounts of interest?
I am voting NO on the bonds. When the JMH hierarchy cuts their salaries and benefits like the have done with the rank and file, I may consider. All they are going to do is hire a friend to run the program and pay them an enormous amount of money.
What happens if Jackson doesn't get the bond money? Do the operating rooms grow mold and the light fixtures fall from the ceiling? Will children die? Anytime a group uses children for a bond offering I have to chuckle. Lame.
Will all the Tea Party and Republican politicians in Miami Dade County, including el jefe Carlos Gimenez and la Jefa Rebecca Sosa ask their friends in the legislature and Rick Scott support Obamacare? Oh no? Then forget about the bond to help Jackson raise money. Getting people on health care would help them and help Jackson's finances. Until Florida gets with the program, reject the hypocrisy and the bond.
What would the $830 million fund? If approved, the general obligation debt would fund $129 million of new software, a $65 million overhaul of operating rooms and other upgrades, a new rehabilitation hospital, improvements and upgrades to buildings, some of which are almost a century old. Why is it needed? The improvements are the best chance to draw privately insured and cash-paying patients, who defray the costs of caring for poor people and the uninsured. Somebody has to pay for medical care for the poor and uninsured. We could keep pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the JMH system to cover the cost of treating the poor ... or we could just let the poor die. It will cost the average homeowner $20 per year during the life of the bonds. That's the choice. Nobody bitches about the cost of care when it is their child or loved one who is helicoptered to the Ryder Trauma Center. Victims are asked for insurance information as they are pulled by MD firefighters from a car wreck. But maybe the readers of this blog think we should. Sometimes you're right, Genius, but on this one you are wrong.
We fund the Children's Trust, Jackson, the Marlin Stadium, Transit... What exactly do we pay taxes for? If we are going to do everything with bonds I don't just don't get it.
Genius again you are right. I have never voted for a bond of any kind. The school bond which floated thirty years ago was misused. The Health Trust bond twenty years ago for Jackson was suppose to last 7 years only and we still have it. Mr. Clarke The JMH CEO purchased expensive marble top tables, plush chairs etc with the money. Any Bond is more and higher property taxes. The mentioning of the children, elderly and disabled is the new buzz for higher property taxes. Let's stop raising our taxes.
We learned that in Detroit irresponsible leaders were borrowing more and more, and their debts were higher than their income. We know already on some of our debts we now can only afford to pay millions of dollars in interest only, nothing on the principal. We also know that to fund the bonds, Detroit kept raising taxes to pay the bond payments. Exactly how much will taxes have to go up to pay the bonds? Would this tax increase only cover interest on the bonds? How will the principal ever be paid off? Given our fragile financial state, how much will be the interest rate on these bonds? Do we have that kind of money to throw away? When added to the debts we already have, what will be our total indebtedness? What would be our total debt to income ratio? If we go broke and default on our debts, will the state of Florida bail us out, or will we end up like Detroit?
NY Times article from August 2013, "In Need of a New Hip, but Priced Out of the U.S." highlighted that people from United States are traveling to other countries to get cheaper medical procedures. Miami will not be a spot for cheap destination health care.
Total outstanding property tax-backed bond debt:
$1,189,921,000
plus $830,000,000
equals ... Ta Da!!
$2,019,921 in property tax backed debt.
I'm voting against it and when it passes, I'm selling and leaving this pit of ignorance and corruption because I refuse to pay property taxes to support it any longer.
I don't like Cato II very much. Cato I was funny.
If you leave, that is exactly what happened in Detroit. They borrowed, and borrowed, and borrowed. Then kept raising taxes to pay the loans. People couldn't pay the taxes and left for areas with low taxes and low debt burdens. Their credit got worse and worse, eventually Moody's rated their bonds as junk bonds, interest skyrocketed on the bonds, and they had to lay off loads of staff to use that money to pay interest on the bonds. Eventually, revenue became less and less as people moved out, they laid off thousands, upon thousands of more workers, and still could not meet their debt obligations. So now we have an American city that is broke, and everyone gets penneys on the dollar.
Miami Dade has borrowed for stupid crap, unnecessary crap and unjustified crap. Port tunnel and other expansionis a big one since there is no way it can ever generate enough revenue to pay back the hundreds of millions in loans it has taken on. Sports stadiums are the other. Parrot Jungle. Arts and Science Museum on the bay are more crap we borrowed for.
Meanwhile, health care, sewers, bridges and basic quality of life items like parks and libraries go begging or are shortchanged or privatized.
Mismanagement. Corruption. Stupidity. Those traits in elected officials is what will drive us into the ground. And the gambling interests will step on our grave.
The Marlins Stadium and Garage will cost the taxpayers over $3 Billion when you include the junk bond interest rate we must pay. The Marlins have lost 94 games this year, so far. Bonds? Just vote No.
Details on the Marlins Stadium and Garage bond issue, please? I got my information about total County debt from Suzi Truti and there was no breakdown of what the debt was for. Are the bonds you refer to backed by property taxes or revenue from the Marlins Stadium and Garage? There is a difference - users only vs. property owners in general. Inquiring minds want to know ...
In principle, I don't have an objection to publicly funded hospitals. But when a figure like $830 million is bandied about, it gets my attention. When a commenter says that of that amount, $129 million is going for new software, I start to get very concerned. When another commenter says that the bond issue improvements will "draw privately insured and cash-paying patients, who defray the costs of caring for poor people and the uninsured" I get even more concerned. Since when is it my responsibility to make JMH competitive with the private sector? And when the same commenter says that it will "cost the average homeowner $20 per year during the life of the bond" some facts are missing. How does this commenter know the duration of the bond before it is even issued? And where does s/he get the figure of $20 per year when the bond issue hasn't even passed and the millage rate increase calculated? Smells like a troll from the PR firm that is touting the bond issue. How about coming clean?
At the very least, we should be given the option to pay more property taxes for a fixed period to address real needs at JMH. I can't imagine how a figure of $129 million can be justified for a software upgrade! Somebody is getting really, really rich with that scam.
Yes, you are right about the software. That is robbery!
That's okay, Genius. There are days I don't like you very much and think Gimleteye is funnier.
The Marlins Stadium and Garage. The County taxpayers owe about $2.4 Bil and the City taxpayers owe about $250 Mil but of course City taxpayers are County taxpayers too. Then you must add in the $40+ Mil value of the Orange Bowl site and the $50+ Mil the City taxpayers owe on repairs to the Orange Bowl made PRIOR to the Orange Bowl being demolished. Yes, the bond payments continue. After various refinancings the cost will well exceed $3 Bil. Vote No on bonds to make Jackson Hospital insiders rich.
When the Jackson issue comes on the ballot, we must force them to put cost, interest rate, and when it would be paid off.
The Marlins Stadium and Garage. I did a little research and it seems that there is an $80 million bond (backed by what revenue, I don't know) that will cost $1.3 billion by the time it is paid off. That bond cannot be refinanced or retired early. A sweet deal for bond holders. The other bond, for $406 million, is a Miami-Dade County bond and it is backed by hotel bed taxes. The City of Miami issu1564ed a bond for $100 million (I don't know what it is backed by) and the Marlins kicked in $128 million out of the total $634 million deal.
The problem that I have with bonds is that they are like mortgages - you end up paying far more over the life of the bond than the face value. The $80 million bond is instructive: the payoff of $1.3 billion is 16 times the face value of the bond. Why do people fall for these scams??
The Marlins deal everyone knew was a scam from the get-go. One writer noted it was like someone raping a child in full public view and there was nothing you could do to stop it. A lot of people made money off the deal and hopefully we will eventually find out who.
At the County Bruno Barrerio and the then Chair Dennis Moss were suspiciously aggressively pro-Stadium and anti-taxpayers. At the City Disgraced Ex-Mayor Manny Diaz and disgraced ex-CFO Larry Spring were suspiciously promoting the scam. Spence-Jones and Marc Sarnoff provided the crucial YES votes. The SEC is still investigating. Hmm.
Already voted NO!
Already voted NO for this scam!
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