Saturday, March 08, 2014

On the County Committee Agenda March 13. By Geniusofdespair

140307 Resolution Esteban L. Bovo, Jr., Prime Sponsor

RESOLUTION CALLING A COUNTYWIDE SPECIAL ELECTION IN MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, TO BE HELD IN CONJUNCTION WITH A GENERAL ELECTION ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2014, FOR THE PURPOSE OF SUBMITTING TO THE ELECTORS OF MIAMI- DADE COUNTY THE QUESTION OF WHETHER TO AMEND THE CHARTER TO PROVIDE THAT THE OFFICE OF THE PROPERTY APPRAISER BE CHANGED FROM AN OFFICE ESTABLISHED AND EXISTING UNDER THE HOME RULE CHARTER AND COUNTY CODE TO AN OFFICE ESTABLISHED PURSUANT TO AND UNDER THE FLORIDA CONSTITUTION, INDEPENDENT FROM COUNTY GOVERNMENT EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT PROVIDED IN THE FLORIDA CONSTITUTION AND STATE LAWS

I think getting the Property Appraiser's Office out of the hands of the County Government is a good thing -- it should be more independent as should the elections department. Carlos Lopez Cantera was trying to do that before he left. He called me the other day to see how I liked the new search program. He really cared about that job. Too bad he left.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

while we did see improvements with online searches, we cannot forget that many have described Lopez-Cantera as a young Gimenez on steroids. he really wasnt all that nice and does have an elitist aura about him.

Anonymous said...

Yes to this proposal. He really did an excellent job updating the property appraiser website. Links to prior sales are easy to find along with whether they were qualified sales and other type of research data the general public can now easily access in one or two clicks. I also like the added improvement to the main search page for a property shows the permitted improvements which helps with resales when comparing properties in a neighborhood.

I don't like Scott and don't think CLC being Lt. Governor was a good idea. I certainly give him two thumbs up when he was serving Dade County and not bowing to Gimenez to inflate values not supported by sales. I didn't like Pedro Garcia for not including short sales, which inflated values.

Under CLC, more homes were able to be adjusted down saving the taxpayers/property owners. The County needs to learn to budget downward by cutting their expenses in administration, which my hair may turn gray waiting from Gimenez to cut his 29th floor multi million dollar staff and the BCC Mom & Pop grant and million dollar office budgets!

Anonymous said...

In my opinion Carlos Lopez was doing a good job. He inherited a vindictive job from Pedro Garcia who did nasty and mean things to selected property owners based on no facts Some commissioners used Garcia to get back at voters who they felt had done them wrong by having their groupies call Pedro Garcia office with incorrect information just to make their lives miserable..Pedro Garcia was a joke. Yes, Carlos Lopez was right to not having the petty BCC not involved in the property appraisers office. We will miss Carlos Lopez Cantera.

Alex Dominguez said...

As a Democrat I did not always agree with Mr Cantera's politics. However he was doing an excellent job in his short stint as Propertiy Appraiser. If here were still there, I would not be running for the position. Presently, there is over 200 million or more of Homestead exemption fraud committed yearly here in Dade County. We need to go after it! It is vital for everyone to vote to make the appraiser office independent of the county as well. I look forward to serving our residents and should you have any questions about me or my platform feel free to call me on my personal cell at 786-210-2366.

Alex Dominguez
Candidate for Dade County Property Appraiser

Anonymous said...

The Property Appraisers Office should always take into account foreclosures and short sales. Market prices take into account many factors. Pedro Garcia was "old school" or maybe he did not want to see property taxes reduced? Carlos Lopez-Cantera should have stayed in the job. Now he looks like an opportunist and worse, a liar.

Anonymous said...

To last ANOM, I agree 100% with what you said about not including foreclosures and short sales. He also did not go after fraud until it was an election year and Jim Dibernardo the former cop in charge of corruption heavily criticized him for not doing so. He had his chance, no way I vote for Garcia.

Anonymous said...

Pedro Garcia, his incompetence and his hanky panky with homeowners is a prime example of why I am supporting this item.

Anonymous said...

Talk to Pedro for 5 minutes and you can just feel the incompetence. Im not a fan of clc but will admit he had office moving in the right direction
Lets hope some competent and independent people run.

Maria said...

Pedro Garcia was a dishonest moron who refused to report foreclosure sales as sales. This blog was the first to report that Garcia's online records would show a fake sale price rather than the actual sale price if it was a foreclosure sale. He was an assclown.

I hope Lopez Cantera comes back and runs for the Property Appraiser position or something else. He was great!

Anonymous said...

Mr Dominguez on what numbers do you base your claim of over 200 million in exemption fraud? Seems a bit much?

Alex Dominguez said...

Simple math. There are roughly 450,000 homesteaded properties in Miami Dade County. The national rate of Homestead exemption fraud is 5%. That gives us 22,500 properties. Multiply that times $9000 which is the average lien levied in 2011 here in Dade County and you get $202,500,000. Keep in mind that this is a conservative estimate because we are using 5% as the rate of fraud. As we all know Miami Dade is almost always double or sometimes much higher with all types of fraud such as Medicaid, Medicare, or mortgage fraud just to name a few. If you use 10% we get $405,000,000. As I have been saying on the campaign trail...we haven't even scratched the surface in recouping these monies. We can and will do better!

Alex Dominguez
Candidate for Miami Dade Property Appraiser

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, Pedro Garcia will win.

Veteran said...

Carlos enforced the veterans exemptions. He followed through with one veteran from start to finish of the process and it was much appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Miami-Dade County does have a high rate of corruption. For example, a former City of Miami Fire Chief is in prison for four years convicted of committing mortgage fraud. Veldora Arthur was making $185,000 per year at the time. Even though she used the Fire Dept fax machine she got to keep her $135,000 per year pension. So much corruption, so little time.

Anonymous said...

Give credit where credit is due, many of us who knew his background and who and what families/network he was from did not expect him to perform as well as he did. To his credit he did an excellent job in that office and deserves praise for it.

Anonymous said...

Alex Dominguez is an interesting situation. While the Democratic party is big tent, Alex Dominguez is not particularly good on GLBT rights and women's issues. The property appraiser has the chance to forward GLBT rights in an anti-GLBT state like FL like Galvin Newsom etc. It not really clear why Alex Dominguez is a Democrat on other issues either.

Anonymous said...

Anom above. You have misinformation. Your probably confusing him with Alex A. Dominguez who is the Miami Dade Delegation president and Republican. Not the same guy. Dominguez the appraiser candidate is a Democrat who has contributed to campaigns of democrats such as Ross Hancock, Daisy Baez, Jose Javier Rodriguez and Joe Perkins to name a few. Met him at our Shenandoah homeowners meeting last year. Nice guy.

Anonymous said...

mr. garcia is too old and incompetent to perform his duties. youtube the miami herald debates with CLC, mr. garcia clearly has no idea of where he is standing.