A dollar down
To the editor:
Anyone who does not hook up to the utilities by the deadline faces a $50 to $100 a day fine. That would be $18,000 to $36,000 after one year. Why would anyone put themselves in this situation? There’s only one reason, “They Don’t Have The Money.”
There are 2,069 improved properties in SW-4 that were assessed for utilities. Five hundred and four of those properties have not hooked up to this day. That’s a whopping 24.3 percent.
We are told by Mayor Burch that a fix is being put into place. Is he talking about a payment plan so the residents don’t have to pay the impact fees, hookup charge and the meter fee up front? We now have a simple solution, put it on your Cape Coral Charge Card. This is the same kind of flawed thinking that put us into the financial dilemma we’re in today. Your can’t afford a home, take out one of those new-fangeled mortgages. You know a dollar down and a dollar when they catch you. I would like to ask, where does the mayor think that the people will get the money to pay the assessment charges added to their property tax bills? Where will the money come from to pay off the monthly utility bills? How are unemployed people going to pay the extra expense? Why are we not getting grant money to pay for the assessments? Why do we take a Band Aid approach when we need major surgery?
My property tax bill has increased by $1,525 for a two-lot site because of the assessments. The average monthly utility bill is around $75 a month. That’s around $2,425 per annum or roughly $200 a month. Now you will have the added expense of paying off your Cape Coral Charge Card (impact fees, meter fees and hookup) which will be in addition to the above charges. You don’t put a Band Aid on when you get hit with a shotgun blast. The people here are decimated financially while Nero fiddles and plays his tune. How many more residents will be run out of their homes before common sense prevails?
John Sullivan
Cape Coral Minutemen