City needs to pare back
To the editor:
It is a fact that Cape Coral spent 50 percent more to run its government in 2007, than it spent in 2005. In 2007, we spent $148.8 million compared to the $99.1 million we spent just two years earlier. Our Financial Services Department needed $7.6 million to operate in 2005 but that jumped to $13.3 million in 2007. Parks and Recreation went from $4.7 million to $6.6 million. Something called “Other Government” went from $16.5 million to $19.4 million. Environment spending increased from $501,000 to $3.6 million. Legal went from $764,000 to over $1 million.
Please notice that I haven’t mentioned Police or Fire which the City Manager always throws out as services which will be cut if we do not give him more money to spend. Before we go there, I say major cuts can and should be made elsewhere.
Port St. Lucie which is a city similar in size to ours, spent only $61.6 million to run its government in 2007 which is less than half of what we spent. And yes, I know they do not have their own Fire Department whereas we do. Our spending included $25.8 million for Fire Services but their General Fund had zero for Fire services. I should point out they pay taxes to a County Fire District which is accounted for in that budget. Anyhow, if we subtract that $25.8 million from the total that we spent, we still out spent them by 2 to 1. Our city finance director says this is misleading because they account for their spending differently than we do. That is questionable, But the bottom line is that we still spent 50 percent more in 2007 than we spent in 2005 and I would like to see him defend that.
I also want to know why we need over $4 million to build a Fire Station but the Port St. Lucie Fire District can build one for $1.75 million. In addition, I want to remind Mr. Mason and City Manager Stewart, that we allow city employees to double their salary by the use of overtime. A newspaper article described this back on Feb. 11, 2009. The article said the average Cape homeowner paid $939 in taxes of which $676 was used to pay city employees. With overtime, a Fire Lt. made $141,000, a Programmer made $126,000 and a Police Sgt. made $136,000 last year. That is inexcusable and steps must be taken to stop high levels of overtime pay. Either we have very poor contracts which need changing or we have poor management and no controls in place. An excellent Editorial which appeared in this newspaper on Jan 3, also said: “Wiggling around the tax cap by shifting the cost of services now paid for with property taxes into special districts and “assessment” levies will not foster recovery. Tax shuffling will only serve to keep government salaries and benefits fat. We urge the Cape Coral City Council to resist this quick revenue fix in ’09 and focus on the long-term. That means making our tax structure attractive and our homes “cheap to keep” for those who can – as we have learned – invest their money elsewhere.” I say AMEN to that.
To sum up, in this time of record unemployment and foreclosures, this city does not need new taxes, new fees and new assessments. What it needs is major changes in how we are governed and particularly in how we spend taxpayer money.
Note: All of the numbers come from the Florida Department of Financial Services Web site.
Sal Grosso
Cape Coral