Current Cape budget philosophy lacks compassion; vote accordingly
To the editor:
Cape Coral does not have a budget, it has a spending plan and this is how it works. If you recall the tabloid, “On the Move” the city in a front page article said they were giving property owners $16 million dollars of property tax back. It was a lie, nobody is getting a penny back, they cut the property tax to a lower millage rate. Now they have the “fire tax” and this is how it works, they take the new lower millage rate from your tax rate (the total of what the city will receive), they already have a total of how much they want to spend (their wish list), they then take the difference of our property taxes to their total wish list and that is what we will pay through our new fire tax. If you think our new fire tax will be around $100, think again, it will be closer to $200. There is no ceiling to this new tax, it is whatever the city wants, their wish list.
We have two women running for city council. They both have made the comment that we have property owners that are not paying any tax and they think that is wrong. These two women have no compassion whatsoever for those less fortunate. We have many very proud senior citizens living here that have earned their retirement, their pension might be quite a bit smaller than those retiring from Cape Coral’s retirement program. A program that is underfunded, and pays out more than what they earned when working. These seniors just might be living in a “multiple unit complex” that under the regular property tax would have exemptions that would zero out any tax due, they are living within their means. Just maybe because of our new “fire tax” they are having a hard time paying for their high cost of drugs along with our over $100 water bill along with our new electric tax and they just might lose their home to foreclosure if they are part of the utility expansion.
This city does not have any compassion whatsoever concerning the residents living here. There are many young families just starting out with young children, military veterans just returning from active duty and persons with disabilities. These and our senior citizens make up a large segment of our population and yet our city manager and council, along with these two women running for council, could care less.
We have a very important city election coming up in November. Please vote for those that believe in a democracy, Kirk LaGrasta, District 2, Chris Cammarota, District 3, Timothy W. Barrier, District 7. We now have a “rubber stamp” council that does not dare speak out on any issue along with a city manager that has hired more consultants without a word from any anyone on the council, costing this city millions of dollars and, yes, without ever letting the residents have a vote.
There was a very nice Guest Opinion in last week’s Cape Coral Breeze by Cecil L. Pendergrass about Lee County’s Budget and moving forward. I did not find any “3 legged stools” and any new fire tax. The county hired their manager about the same time as Cape Coral hired a new manager. The County hired from within, he went to work finding ways to save. Cape Coral manager started hiring consultants, finding new ways to spend. Also Bonita Springs recently gave their employees a 3 percent raise because they are moving forward and can afford the increase, again no word about a “3 legged stool” and a new fire tax. By the way, The city manager for Bonita Springs used to be an assistant city manager here in Cape Coral. I guess the then city council for Cape Coral didn’t think he was qualified to be a manager here.
Richard C. Perry
Cape Coral