MY VIEWS

More Taxes Coming Our Way

July 21, 2010

More and more I’m convinced that our elected officials are out of touch with the residents of our county. The St. Lucie County Commission is prepared to advertise a millage rate (for FY 2010-11) that will generate total property tax revenue equal to that collected for the current fiscal year. However, this action will result [...]

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TDR’s Part 2 — Will They Work?

March 7, 2010

On March 6th, St. Lucie County sponsored the second of a series of meetings for the purpose of furthering its Western Land Study.  In an earlier post, I mentioned that this study will lead to the development of Transfer Development Rights (TDR’s), for which you and I as taxpayers will to have pay.  The sole [...]

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Government Help Through TDR’s?

January 19, 2010

Have you ever heard the saying “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.”?  That’s what the County’s Western Land Study amounts to for the agri-business community.  County Commission Chairman Charles Grande opened the January 14th session (entitled “Economic Development Tools for Sustaining Agriculture”) referring to a fellow county commissioner who  believed the [...]

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Public Transit

January 12, 2010

A few people have asked me about the Regional Transit Summit held on January 8th.  They knew I attended and sought my take from the meeting, and my opinion about the effort to coordinate and expand public transit in Martin and St. Lucie Counties.  My thoughts follow below.

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Immediate Action Needed to Address County Budget Deficit

November 24, 2009

At its Strategic Planning Budget Workshop, which concluded on November 13th, the Board of County Commissioners identified approximately $10 million in savings from several sources, most of which are one time savings.  That’s the good news.  The bad news that even with this savings and the use of $54.6 million in reserves, the County still [...]

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Are You an Environmentalist?

September 8, 2009

Some would have us think that being an environmentalist and pro-economic development are mutually exclusive.  I’m not of that opinion.  I believe most people who care about the community in which they live are environmentalists.  It is not logical to intentionally destroy the area where we raise our families and enjoy our lives. You will [...]

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