Just like a spoiled kid, sometimes crying works especially with a weak parent.After listening to the Commission Meeting last night on the Fire Rescue going to Palm Beach County, one thing became very clear—the Commission received a lot of boo hoo hooing behind the scenes from some CRA members on the proposal from Finance Director, Mark Bates. Heaven forbid that the CRA would have to bite the bullet just like the City government and the city taxpayer. They didn’t want to lose one dime from the money they have been getting.
Why? They have a vision that our city needs a Transit Oriented Development as well as becoming an Artist’s Center. They want that dream to become a reality and know it will be very difficult if they lose any money. Even one member of the CRA Tuesday night decried the fact that the Pugh property project was stopped after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on it, another ill conceived deal. Boo hoo.
Of course, if our Fire Dept is merged to the County and the CRA gets to keep its budget, that would mean our taxes would be raised accordingly to accommodate their selfishness. The money that they would lose goes to help a lot of people who live only in the CRA District and who are just plain helpless and in many cases don’t even deserve it. WE are the people. What has the CRA done for you? Does our City look any better? Any less blighted? Oh, yes, 6th Avenue South and 10th Avenue North. Paying $13 million on roads to attract development, and they (really us) still will owe this money for a decade.
To cry the blues as did the CRA on Tuesday night and then the Commission totally acting confused last night by bringing up the poor CRA’s budget on dozens of occasions, is another attempt by the CRA to hold on to its power. The residents are already paying more than ever before with the police merger costing us $1 million more a year, with the storm water now off our utility bill and on to our ad valorem, at a higher rate mind you. Did our taxes go down then?
We pay 7.65 mils right now, not including the debt service, and the Fire would cost us 2.95 mils on our tax bill. Does anyone really think that the City will reduce our millage to 4.7 mils? Now with this proposal, it will cost us, Joe Blow Taxpayer, again, if the Commission’s interest is with the CRA and not with every taxpayer in Lake Worth.
Personally, I would like to see the CRA taken over by the City Commission. We could then go to an immediate vote to raise the salaries of each Commissioner and the Mayor to a livable and decent wage. We need fulltime people up there on the dais to devote the necessary time to make these important decisions. Perhaps then we would not have them voting on bad Contracts for which they have no understanding.
The CRA Board is directed and driven by Staff. This is a Board that is becoming more and more marginalized…more and more powerless. When you can’t even have a member request and get something put on an agenda six days before a meeting, then there is something very wrong with the power structure of this Board.
Let's all thank Governor Crist for his legacy, Amendment One. Every taxpayer in the State who voted FOR this amendment got fooled for a lousy $280.
