‘Did You Know’ political mailer rebutted
To the editor:
I received a political mailer today titled, “Did You Know.” In reading the falsehoods, innuendo and personal attack on Council Person Carioscia. I knew who sent it before I saw it was former mayor Sullivan. It’s exactly the kind of unacceptable political diatribe that ended with his and the FAB Five’s demise.
I will address some of the former mayor’s DID YOU KNOW:
EMPLOYEE RAISES:
In these last two years since the former mayor’s ouster, the employees, some in unions, some not, received a raise. The former mayor used to refer to some of these employees as thugs, including public safety. Our employees had been denied raises by the former mayor for his entire term. They had gone without raises for about seven years by the time this council voted to give them a raise. It actually saved the city money. How? Twenty-eight police officers left the job in the prior year due to the lack of compensation. That is about $100,000 per officer in hiring and training costs not to mention experience. However, even though the former mayor’s council did not provide raises and they had finally come, this council negotiated and the employees agreed to millions in pension reform which will greatly benefit the taxpayers of this city.
The former mayor presided over cuts to police officer personnel to dangerous levels, detrimental to safety of the citizens of this city. He advocated buying used vehicles for police units. He also advocated disbanding the police department and hiring security guards to protect us. Regardless of this negative attitude toward the police, the officers maintained this city’s position as the safest city in this state, where it has been for years. The former mayor wanted to make even more cuts that would have made that impossible to maintain.
UNION CONTRIBUTIONS:
So why wouldn’t a labor organization or anyone contribute to council persons who support them in a period where they and their families had seen their compensation stagnate and affect their livelihood? Just as important, why wouldn’t a labor organization or citizens like myself contribute to and support council persons who acted to stop the exodus of experienced employees who help to serve us and those who keep us safe?
MILLAGE RATE CAP:
The former mayor speaks of circumventing the cap on property tax. During the former mayor’s and his cronies’ terms, the rate climbed from a little over 4 percent to over 7 percent.
UTILITIES EXPANSION
The former mayor speaks of the Utilities Expansion Project (UEP) and its cost. That would be the UEP that the mayor and his cronies stopped when the labor and material costs for such a project were at rock bottom prices, which are now higher. A project that was going to come regardless in the future, due to anticipated changes in EPA codes or laws regarding septic and well systems.
CURRENT CITY MANAGER:
The current city manager was hired, after a nation wide search, because of the termination of the previous inexperienced manager, crony of the mayor, who had never been a city manager. That previous city manager had enacted, among other detrimental things, procedures that discouraged contractors from even wanting to do business in this city. After the new manager’s employment, long over due raises were given to employees. Would you stay employed by an entity who hadn’t provided a raise for seven years, constantly berated you, when surrounding communities had provided raises to employees? Communities who would and had hired Cape Coral employees for their experience level and at a higher wage?
RAISES FOR COUNCIL:
Long over due for a job that IS NOT part time and requires long hours. It was brought forth in a referendum so the public would have a voice.
PUBLIC SERVICE TAX, FIRE SERVICE TAX:
It’s part of the diversification process to put the budget on solid ground. A difficult process to explain but easy to attack. The former mayor and his cronies sued to fight the fire assessment. The city had thoroughly vetted this process but as usual, the former mayor and his cronies felt they knew better. This suit cost us, the taxpayers, again while the city defended its position in court. The former mayor and his cronies lost, again.
Here are some DID YOU KNOW from me.
This council and my District 2 Council Person, Mr. Carioscia, have done the following, among other positive things;
UEP: Lowered the base water rates and locked those rates in for 10 years.
PENSION REFORM: It saved taxpayers of this city $800,000 the first year and will save us $186,000,000 over the next 24 years.
MILLAGE RATE: Continually raised by the former mayor’s council, it is now at its lowest rate in six years.
CHIQUITA LOCK: An engineering firm has been hired and $200,000 has been appropriated to obtain the permit necessary to remove the lock which serves only as a barrier, maintenance money pit and detriment to the boating experience in our city.
This council has brought not only diversification of the revenue stream but forward thinking expansion of the commercial base to take the burden off the residential property taxpayers. The former mayor and his cronies were anti growth, leaving 92 percent of revenues coming from us. Have you been to the Boat House at the Yacht Club? The former mayor lobbied against it and other like projects.
Another thing this council has done is return civility and respect for the citizens of this city, especially at council meetings. The former mayor would personally attack a citizen for stating their own opinion during public input. I know because the former mayor attacked me at a council meeting and had to be called to order by other council members. .
Given the above accomplishments of the current council, why would we remove any experienced incumbent, like my representative Mr. Carioscia? Why would we accept anything the former mayor says when he stoops so low as to make an uncalled for cheap personal attack on Mr. Carioscia and his family?
This former mayor’s DID YOU KNOW, is not worth the paper it was written on and just more of the same from a failed political career.
On another subject, here’s my comment on LCEC and its service to this community. It is a cooperative. This means that each of us receiving service from them already own it. Why would we buy something from ourselves? Why would we, in a city already digging itself out of a mountain of debt, want to issue millions in public bond debt and add to that mountain? LCEC has the experience and resources to deal with catastrophic events and has done so, very effectively, during my 25 years as a property owner here, especially through the last two hurricanes. As I will in this election, I am sticking with experience, LCEC must stay.
John Miehle
Cape Coral