Cape can control its destiny
To the editor:
The recent history in our Cape cannot be altered, but some in our city government apparently believe the public will accept it as destiny that is solely the product of our current economy. A city, however, to a large extent controls its destiny and status. It is all too common and easy for public officials to blame problems from matters over which they claim they have no control. The matters hereinafter set forth are the product of city government’s past actions.
The Cape’s continuous annual increases in spending for general government operations beyond the combined rate of increase in population growth and inflation was the factor leading to higher property taxes that was accelerated by our economy. The bloating of the number of city employees, including an additional or second assistant city manager following the over 60 percent increase in our general government operations budget in 2006-2007 was clearly wrong. Our Cape government’s remedy for subsequent “savings” to lay off a number of employees that should never have been hired. In addition we were told that we also had additional savings by the buy out of 247 employees. In those buy outs the city taxpayers paid both the employees and the city contributions to their pension fund for four years.
The city’s excessive use of short-term promissory notes to pay for many millions of dollars of UEP capital improvements without an agreed plan for the ultimate bond financing is also another Cape disaster. We now will be required to pay a gigantic increase in our monthly utility bills to pay for future services to others.
We have had our city government advocate for, paid design fees for a lavish $110 million public safety building that our voters had to vote down. We have had the on-again off-again utility projects that had no leadership or direction by our city government.
In our UEP we are working under a most costly management contract. We have had over $700 million in projects under that contract and our future UEP will cost the city hundreds of million dollars more.
We now have a government that proposes to help solve our problems by having new taxes. I believe the new taxes, the so-called public service taxes will foster increased spending in the future. I believe the focus is to collect revenue that is less seen because it is on the monthly bill of LCEC, a cable company, the telephone etc.
If one has not learned from the past then one is doomed to re-live it. I believe most have endured enough. Vote Nov. 3. When one votes one does not always get the government one wants, but when we don’t vote we sure get the government we deserve.
Arnold E. Kempe
Cape Coral