Today's Letters: Leaders need to be good stewards of our tax dollars

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published June 26, 2007

Our local government representatives should take a hard look in the mirror and ask themselves what they can do to live up to the expectations of the taxpayer. In case they have not noticed, there is a rebellion going on and their constituents are storming the gates with torches. Their defense that the cuts are too deep is not going to pacify the torch bearers. There are many who say the cuts are not deep enough and there is talk of petitions to make them deeper than the state has proposed. The people are in this frenzy because the public coffers have swollen over the past few years and instead of returning the money to the taxpayer, our representatives found a way to spend it.

No one likes taxes, but we are smart enough to know that we must pay something for the services we receive. If we were so antitax, then why did the voters of Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties approve a 1 cent sales tax? What we are against is being taxed out of our homes and businesses. After all, if we can't afford our homes and we are taxed out of business, who will pay those taxes?

Local governments have an opportunity to change our opinions of them as stewards of our money. A good start would be to cut more than the state is requiring this year. Show us that you are not predisposed to spend every dime you get from us and that you do know how to give some back. Do something we don't expect and lower our taxes further than you have been required to do. It is our money and you don't want us taking it back at the polls.

Ronnie H. Holt, New Port Richey

Cut budget boldly 

City to cut 50 jobs, spending June 23, story

I applaud the layoffs and elimination of unfilled jobs that St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker proposed. However, I am certain that this is but a scratch - not worthy of a bandage (about a 2 percent cut in manpower). If our city was a corporation and revenue was projected to be down next year by 12 percent do you think the cut in payroll would be just 2 percent? Why not a cut that requires a stitch or two, like 5 or 10 percent?

Further, I'm appalled that while some will be losing their jobs and their pay, the remaining city work force will get a raise. These actions seem inconsistent.

Let's do the right thing and then do things right. In other words, cut to the muscle and then refine things as costs and revenues become certain. Why not be courageous and strong?

If Mayor Baker were the CEO of a corporation, what would the board of directors think of his actions? What would his customers think? What would we think if he acted boldly enough for our property taxes to go even lower than what the state mandates?

The hopes and dreams for our children to grow up in St. Petersburg and stay in St. Petersburg may rest firmly on the mayor's actions over the next few weeks. Godspeed, Mr. Mayor.

Tim Kitchen, St. Petersburg

Try official sacrifice 

City to cut 50 jobs, spending June 23, story

With the city of St. Petersburg cutting jobs and services, I was wondering why the mayor and council members haven't stepped up. Why haven't they offered to share the pain, with say a 25 percent pay cut?

Perhaps they are more interested in being "professional politicians" than they are in setting an example and actually helping their constituents.

Walter Staggs, St. Petersburg

Cut this

So the city of St. Petersburg wants to make cuts to the library and parks department. Huh! I feel that these services are much too important to shortchange and should actually receive a budget increase.

The cuts need to be made in the department of "leaning on a shovel, " or maybe the department of taking a city vehicle to 7-Eleven for coffee and then to a nice shade tree for lunch.

I've seen a lot of waste that could be trimmed if only it weren't for people wanting to hang on to the status quo! The cuts to the mayor's office are fine. (How many executive assistant pencil sharpeners do they need?) If these people who "milk" their jobs were on my payroll, they would have walking papers already.

Let's keep the people who help educate our kids and the people who keep our parks a nice place to escape the rat race, and weed out those who think that one man digging a hole needs two or three people supervising him.

Steve Gascoigne, Largo

Like a hungry dog 

City to cut 50 jobs, spending June 23, story

The city and county are like my old Labrador retriever Bette. Twice a day the old girl suddenly finds the energy to dance and spin. Why? Because it's time to eat. And twice a day I get those sad Labrador eyes asking: Is that all I get?

The city and county are like old Bette trying to use those Labrador eyes to get sympathy for the cause of getting more food in the bowl. Once you cut back on the food, they are sure that survival is not possible even though they are overweight.

The local taxpayers are like a dog owner that understands the need to regulate the intake of food. And it's time for the city and county to go on a fit and trim diet. Until the votes are cast on Jan. 29 we are going to see a lot of puppy dog eyes and hear many sad stories. However, it's up to us to start regulating the amount of taxes that our local politicians are able to feast on. It's time to push away from the bowl, Mayor Baker, and budget your money like the rest of us living in Florida.

R.T. Harrod, St. Petersburg

Wasteful spending

The tax cut for homeowners has produced negative responses from many government offices that claim their budgets are in trouble. But if the government would adopt policies that most major businesses have I do not believe we would have a problem. The bottom line is the state collects taxes for nearly everything we do and there is plenty of money to go around if they can avoid corruption and unnecessary spending.

A fine example is the Saturday story, Little lake, lot of attention, which outlines questionable spending on a lake where a county commissioner lives. Everyday examples like this come to our attention and it never seems to end. The fact is that when an office is allocated a budget it is required to spend the money or else risk losing some of its funding for the next year. Is that any way to manage the taxpayers' dollars?

Brandon Scivolette, Tampa

His personal pork 

Little lake, lot of attention June 23, story

Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair wants the county to stop protecting wetlands - unless we're talking about the wetlands behind his house.

The tiny lake Blair lives on has become his own personal pork project, costing taxpayers more than it costs us to maintain the entire Environmental Protection Commission wetlands division for a whole year.

If Brian Blair was truly the fiscal conservative he claims to be, he wouldn't dream of gutting our EPC, which saves us a great deal of money by protecting the wetlands that store floodwater and filter pollutants out of stormwater runoff, so we don't have to pay to artificially restore natural systems and build expensive stormwater cleanup projects and flood control systems. It is much cheaper to prevent wetland damage than to fix it.

Cheaper for us taxpayers, that is. Of course it costs developers a little extra to leave our wetlands intact. And it's the developers' money, not ours, that Brian Blair is concerned about.

Mariella Smith, Ruskin

An abuse of power

Brian Blair is acting arbitrarily, capriciously, and irresponsibly with our tax revenues. He voted to save Hillsborough County $800, 000 by eliminating countywide oversight of wetlands (Wetlands oversight to end, June 22) at the same time that he was earmarking $985, 000 to improve the water quality of the small lake on which he lives (Little lake, lot of attention, June 23). He did this in spite of the fact that local oversight of wetlands is increasingly important because federal oversight of wetlands is in flux in light of recent Supreme Court rulings. He also did this in spite of the fact that neither the county, the county's consultant, nor his neighbors believe that the water quality of his small lake is unusually impaired.

Blair is not the fiscal conservative he so proudly claims to be. Rather, he is yet another public official who wrongly equates power with privilege.

Mark Rains, Temple Terrace

[Last modified June 25, 2007, 21:35:44]