North Bay Village residents and property owners lose again!

North Bay Village residents and property owners lose again and will continue to lose until this commission realizes that raising taxes is not the answer to the Village’s financial troubles.  The commission needs to learn that over spending is what got us into our financial problems. Shuffling money from one department to another, giving raises, adding positions and adding police personnel is not making sacrifices and cutting the budget. Fear tactics of increase in crime, increase police response time and decrease services are not balancing the budget! Nor is it fiscal responsibility! We expect more of our elected officials.

I guess we can consider ourselves lucky that the original mileage proposed increase of 6.2719 % from 4.7772 that would have a total increase of 7.5% including the debt service down to 5.4720% plus the debt service mileage of roughly 6.5 %.  What does this mean to the average homeowner of an assessed house at $ 240,000.00? It means that your real estate taxes will be roughly $ 125.00 more per year. It could have been $ 600.00 more per year.

Our unreserved reserved to begin the fiscal year is $ 338, 553.00. Subsequently any unplanned expense or any additional legal expense we will be in the red again! Our commission will have no choice but to revisit raising taxes for 2015.  Commissioner Chervony and Commissioner Duval’s financial recommendations are falling into deaf ears.  Mr. Rollason did a phenomenal job for the short time he has been here. I urge him to continue to look at every dime expend and see where else we can cut. I implore Mayor Connie Leon – Kreps, Vice Mayor Eddie Lim and At Large Commissioner Jorge Gonzalez to pay attention to the writing on the wall; Election time is around the corner.

Honestly Opinionating

PUTTING NORTH BAY VILLAGE FIRST

September 26, 2013

Mario Garcia

 

 

Real EstateTaxes are going up in North Bay Village!

Residents of North Bay Village if you missed yesterday’s budget meeting do not despair, next Wednesday September 25, 2013 at Treasure Island Elementary School Auditorium/Cafeteria at 6 PM is the final budget meeting; be there! We had new faces at the meeting but the turnout was not large enough to make an impact.  To those that were at the meeting I thank you. Please attend the next meeting September 25 and bring as many neighbors as you possibly can.  If you cannot afford any tax raise I urge you and implore you to be there and plea your case. Once the millage for the 2014 is set it cannot be changed nor turned back.

Commissioner Wendy Duval was impressive and expressed her disapproval with the presented cuts. Commissioner Duval and Commissioner Chervony were the only ones asking for further cuts. The police budget continues to be a big item. Commissioner Gonzalez, Vice Mayor Lim and the Mayor used their time to make useless comments and really did not offer much. One thing that really bothered me was when Mayor Connie Leon-Kreps attempted to defend the roughly $ 500, 000.00 increase to the Police Budget and alluded to wanting to keep crime down. Like anyone of us wants crime to go up. Here is an idea Mayor, lets keep crime down and still cut the increases to a reasonable millage rate!

The questions of having performance measured for each of the department heads that are measurable and accountable attached to the budget was too much for Commissioner Gonzalez, Vice Mayor Lim and Mayor Leon Kreps to understand and support.

Our Interim Village Manger Frank Rollason and our Finance Director Bert Wrains were absolutely transparent, clear and detailed on their tentative 2014 budget presentation.  If there was ever a chance in North Bay Village Budget History to make things right it’s now. I am sure that with the continued leadership of Commissioner Chervony, Commissioner Duval, Finance Director Burt Wrains, and Interim Village Manager Frank Rollason and his North Bay Village staff we will come up with a 2014 budget and performance measures that we all can live with! North Bay Village residents you can make the difference be there Wednesday September 25, 2013.

Honestly Opinionating

PUTTING NORTH BAY VILLAGE FIRST!

MARIO GARCIA

September 18, 2013

Residents of North Bay Village roll up your sleeves and get ready for the biggest conflict of the year.

 Mark your calendars for Tuesday September 17, 2013 and Wednesday September 25, 2013 at 6 pm Budget Hearings at Treasure Island Elementary School Auditorium.  Our Village Budget is out of control and may cost our home owners as much as $ 600.00 to $ 1,000.00 more in real estate taxes depending on the assessed value of your home.  In today’s economy this may have a big impact on many of our North Bay Village home owner’s budget.  You can ask yourselves why? Is it the out of control police budget? Could it be our very expensive legal Department?  Or is it just the inability of our commission to control expenses? Mr. Kevin Vericker’s gave you the details and figures of where the money went and will continue to go if the hard decisions are not made.

 Many of us would want to blame our legal department. However our unplanned legal costs stem from our administration and department heads picking and creating legal conflicts that are impossible to win!  The lawyers that represent North Bay Village don’t work for free and charge by the hour for work not anticipated on their contract.  We all know how expensive legal fees can be. If you stop these legal conflicts you automatically reduce the legal cost.  You ask what is left?  Some of us will say control the police budget and you can save more money.  Furthermore stop the frivolous spending such as the Fourth of July celebrations and any other non-necessary expenditure and you will see our taxes roll back to 2012 rates.  Many of our municipalities are reducing their millage while ours want to raise it to historic levels!  North Bay Village Residents on September 17, 2013 at 6 pm and September 25, 2013 Budget Hearing at Treasure Island Elementary School Auditorium, be there! to voice your opinion and raise your concerns!!!!!!

Honestly opinionating

PUTTING NORTH BAY VILLAGE FIRST!

Mario Garcia

September 8, 2013