Today's Letters: Dunedin leaders open ears, minds
By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published July 19, 2007
Dunedin lets residents take free swings!
For decades, the Dunedin Building Department has had the reputation of being unfriendly, unfair and hard to deal with.
Things are about to change! This past Tuesday evening, contractors, builders, architects, developers and regular folks had their chance to vent years of frustrations and offer positive solutions.
I must praise our new city manager, Rob DiSpirito, who took a proactive approach and opened his ears and mind to real problems facing this department.
DiSpirito was carefully listening to each speaker. He came across as legitimately wanting to identify the problems and correct a bad situation.
More than 40 people attended and spoke their minds. With city staffers, building department heads and three of the four city commissioners in attendance, they heard what has been pent up for more than 25 years.
Dunedin didn't need to hire high-priced consultants or hold months of meetings to identify the problems. It was done in two hours with virtually no cost to the city.
Never before has Dunedin stuck its chin out and said, "Take your best shot; I won't hit back."
I'm proud of my town. Keep listening to residents.
Bill Coleman, Dunedin
Re: Dunedin softens cuts for groups story, July 12
On the right track to trim budget fat
I am very happy to see the Dunedin City Commission take a thoughtful approach to the budget process. It is never easy to determine where to cut spending, especially with how dependent officials (in all levels of government) have become on a simple incremental funding process for each budget.
The slate is never just wiped clean and each program is re-evaluated for its merit and need. Granted, this complete re-evaluation option would be incredibly inefficient. However, in the face of a sizable decrease in revenue, a significant amount of work should end up going into investigating every possible program that could stand to have funding rolled back.
The result of this will be a service to this community, forcing officials to take a closer look and to trim some of the fat within the budget that has likely just been receiving increases from year to year.
In the end, I believe the Dunedin City Commission will come up with creative and responsible solutions.
The greater issue here is the hysteria over property taxes.
Granted, I'm a younger person who hasn't had to pay property taxes yet. We have significant protections in Florida that limit the rapid growth of property taxes. But I guess less money in the hands of government (even a responsible city commission) means less money to waste and a greater degree of scrutiny when appropriating the money the governments do have.
Troy Irwin, Dunedin
Re: Tax amendment would help all homeowners and buyers guest column by Carolyn Kling, July 17
Why not defer taxes on homes?
Ms. Kling, a Realtor, in her guest column supporting the property tax amendment to the state constitution scheduled for Jan. 29, fails to mention an $8-billion cut in school funding.
The proposed amendment is actually a "pig in a poke."
It is confusing and there is a court test to strike it down. The schools and everyone else would be vulnerable, not knowing what would happen if they give up the Save Our Homes cap.
More innovative thinking is required, as people are caught in a Catch-22. They have a lot of gain in the value of their property, but for now, it is only to pay taxes on.
Gains could be treated just like capital gains or losses. This way a person could keep his business/home.
The details of a "tax deferral" system could be easily worked out, such as, freeze the taxable base and recalculate at the time of sale, then pay any additional tax.
If you have a loss, then pay no tax.
This would free up the real estate market and create tax flow; tax flow would level out.
Even if owners decide to keep their cap, because of the intolerable inequities it has created (people paying twice the tax of their neighbors), it is likely to be struck down.
Florida spends too much time trying to stick it to the tourist, stealing from the poor in lotteries, caps and exemptions for residents and sales tax exemptions.
Just get rid of all of this "cheating" and give the people an honest, fair system. Plenty of money will flow.
After the Jan. 29 vote, another costly legislative session will likely be required; hopefully, they will put on their thinking caps and not be bamboozled.
The people are tired of the uncertainty of their future.
Henry L. King, Clearwater