The Poorer you are the more things Cost

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To the few out there who have told me that I write in a negative tone, (only when they don't agree with me) I say it is pointing out the obvious. Do you really want to live in a vacuum? La La Land? The cost of everything is up. Only the government and our CRA don’t understand that it seems, because all of them only know how to do one thing—SPEND and give away money.

State School Board up 6%

Local School Board up 6.2%

Children’s Services up 14.8%

Health Care District up 14.8%

PB County Fire Rescue up 17.2%

Lake Worth taxes up by 1.7981 mils when you factor back in the Fire Rescue

We still pay for the Florida Inland Navigation District, interest on the 2002 Recreational Bond (the $5 mil we have NEVER BEEN GIVEN), Palm Beach County taxes estimated at a 15% increase, PB County debt, the Public Schools debt, South Florida Water Management District and Everglades Construction.

Then we have to pay increased fees from Lake Worth on waste and stormwater. Up the ante for Solid Waste Authority and Solid Waste for Lake Worth, we are paying a whopping $24.80 for every $1,000 of taxable value.

Right now Belle Glade and Pahokee can’t make their budgets that are directly caused by plummeting property values and the increase in PB County Fire Rescue. They are asking for relief from the County to pay their budget shortfall. No sooner does the Lake Worth City Commission elect to go with the County on Fire Rescue, we get stiffed 17.2% overnight for that service. Our property values decreased much more than did Belle Glade and Pahokee. We were affected at 24.3 percent drop in value, 2^nd only to Loxahatchee Groves at a loss of 26.3%. Neighboring cities that also have similar population problems, (I'm trying to be kind here) Greenacres (-23.8) and Palm Springs (-23.6%) besides the Glades, are ranked right next to us with the biggest drop in property values. So there you have it. Not a pretty picture.

Lake Worth has raised fees on everything imaginable. Now they want the Lake Worth Museum to pay rent! Our own Museum!! I don't know whose idea this is but I can say that we have employees who don't even live in this city who have made the recommendations on increases for just about everything here in Lake Worth and the Commission has agreed. This is another reason why we need our City Manager to live here and I am happy that Susan Stanton moved here immediately upon employment and did not circumvent our Charter like the last CM we had. If we are lucky, perhaps she will get a better understanding of our city and address the root causes of our problems.

One faction here in the City believes that by charging more to the residents for whom they feel are the cause of our problems, will make things so expensive that they will eventually move on. Price them out. Some think that the disabled and seniors should be dropped off at our beach and shuttled up the dune and charge everyone a fortune just to use God's beach. Then there are others who still have the build at all costs mentality for the tax base and hell with a single family neighborhood. I dropped in on an 87 year old man the other day and his dinner was a banana, a glass of Ensure and a cookie. Seniors don't have public transportation that is affordable. They can't get to the grocery store and the Publix on Lake Worth Road charges more because they cater to the poor on food stamps and the illegal alien. So many of the elderly are trying to hold on to their independence and won't ask for help, unable to really clean, shop, or put food on the table. They are citizens that have been sacrificed--they have never really asked for a thing...a different generation that has paid their dues.

It just gets “whackier and whackier” as everyone comes up with solutions for all of us to pay more, for less, to be inconvenienced more and pay for that inconvenience. In the meantime certain commissioners pat themselves on the back, say a hail Mary or two, for being so caring to our poor, our helpless and "our" illegal aliens while charging the citizens more for everything and then worry about trees at our beach and spending $5 million dollars to re-configure parking lots.

Before long, we won't have a middle class--those who still have some money to pay the bills. The poorer you are the more things cost and we must tackle the cause before we will ever turn Lake Worth around.