NOTES
1. They went home. Yes, they went home. Did not fix a thing, and did not even understand that almost any relief would be better than doing nothing. They could have capped spending. They could have figured out something that would have leveled the disparity caused by the abuse of property tax rates by capping what could be levied on non homestead protected property. They could have prohibited travel by the County Council, Bert Fish and School Board elected officials. They could have limited the taxing authority of the School Board and Bert Fish. No, they just went home. Well they are coming back in June. How about telling our elected officials, the ones who ran up to Tallahassee and professed that they could not live with reasonable spending cuts, to change their lament and ask for these specific actions. They spent your money to pay their way to tell the Governor that they were ineffective in limiting growth of government and its attendant cost. Please tell them not to go home in June without doing something. Have they considered Seppuku ("hari-kari"), an honorable Japanese answer to disgrace? No, we think there is a better answer, act responsibly for a change.
2. What do you do with a drunken sailor? Better yet, what do you do with local elected officials who believe the local taxpayers will fade away, and there will be business as usual? The Shadow believes that some of the local governments are reacting by making an effort to cut spending and reevaluating the need for projects that are questionable. At least that seems to be the case in Edgewater and New Smyrna Beach where the City Managers have already made big cuts in management personnel, and where expenditures for all services, like 911, fire and police, are being examined. Even the money spigot at the New Smyrna Beach CRA seems to have been partially closed to slow it down, and maybe shut it off before the budget is finalized. We doubt if the County Council got the message and we are certain that the School Board did not.
1. Are there too many weeds at the New Smyrna Beach Municipal Golf Course? We do not mean overpaid personnel or marijuana growing in the gully; we mean weeds, like nut grass, dollar weed and the huge number of noxious little green things that mess up the fairways and, holy Moses, sometimes even invade the greens. Weeds it seems are in the eye of the beholder and we have a dispute among a number of beholders as to whether this is the weediest mess they have ever seen or the most polished weed free golf course in Volusia County. What to do, what to do? We think that everybody should register an opinion. If you are a golfer and not a member go and play a round and post your observations. They certainly need more green fees. Members should also have an opinion, but they play as much as they want without additional green fees, so they are not reducing the subsidy but contributing to the congestion on the tees. Please write the City Manager and your Commissioners and tell them whether you think it is or is not weedy. Do you think they could sell the weeds for a profit? It is called dollar weed, after all!
2. We were wondering for a while if it could be proved for a fact that Gracye Bark spread rumors about Gilly through her telephone clique during the last election, so we decided to track it down. Well, here is the spiel: Gilly used dope and was a drunk. Repeat the message over and over again, and stay on point. Do not confuse the voter by spreading other rumors since the more they hear, the more they, will get confused. Make sure your entire crowd stays with the same mantra, and lo and behold, people will believe it is true. Well we have an election coming up in November. Once the candidates are known, she will start up her rumor engine and go after anyone whom she and Diesen, believe they can not control. We think the rumor engine this year will throw a rod because we intend to expose her latest canard. We hope she likes breast of crow, similar to what she ate after Barbara Herrin was defeated. Bill Rogers 'withdrawing' from the Mayoral race for the time being may reflect that he would not like to run on a ticket where the team of Gracye and Jeanne can not guarantee his success. After all they do not have much to work with. Perhaps he could change gender since the teams’ primary objective is to elect female candidates, even though an easily manipulated male such as Rogers and Richenberg suffice. San Francisco is thinking of funding the operation for their City employees, so maybe if he is so inclined Rogers should run for Mayor there after a transgender change over. It would be a good thing for the City if Grayce went with him.
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May 14th, 2007
DEAR JOHN
We know of the limited resources available to John Hagood, the City Manager, and to his inability to get all of the important letters written that he would like to send. So we decided to help him and provide him drafts that will simplify his tasks and free him up for important.
May 14, 2007
Ben Johnson, Sheriff
123 W. Indiana Avenue
DeLand, FL 32721-0569
Re: 911 Call Center and Law Enforcement Services
Dear Ben,
I have noted with interest, and followed to the best of my ability, the discussions in which your office has been engaged with the cities of Port Orange and Edgewater regarding the referenced services. As an elected official as well as a dedicated public servant, I am sure you are sensitive to the need for cost containment and cost reductions as we enter these tight tax revenue times. It has occurred to me that perhaps if our three cities could come to some agreement on requirements, you would be in a position to provide us these services at an attractive price. Since most of your budget is funded by tax revenue collected by the County from all Volusia County residents, your price to us could be discounted by the amount our citizens already pay to the County for your department. In this way, we would only pay the additional incremental cost for our specific services.
I am anxious to discuss any proposal similar to those your office has previously discussed with our sister cities.
I look forward to hearing from you or your office at a suitable time,
John Hagood, City Manager
City of New Smyrna Beach
Administrative Office Building
120 North Causeway
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168-9985
PUNT THE PUTT PUTT
Putting aside for the moment the huge escalation in the cost projections for building the Third Avenue fire station, which the City Commission stated they could not afford, the entire project appears built on false assumptions as to need. We have examined this before, and information provided to the Shadow shows that the computer simulation used to justify its placement at Third Avenue, based on response times to various points on Beachside were doctored to produced the results desired, and guaranteed that the existing Columbus Avenue station would be shown to be inadequate. We have requested to be provided documented evidence of the parameters used but, as yet, it has not been forthcoming. Wonder why?
However, we do know what numbers were used. Fire department personnel used a medical rescue number based on the claim that brain damage will occur in case of total heart stoppage over 6 ½ minutes, and that emergency vehicles in these cases must shoot for a four minute response time. This of course is generally unrealistic and is seldom if ever used by fire departments who now call themselves fire/rescue. This is not to say that City officials could not decide that a four minute response time is something they would be willing to buy, but the trade off in expense as against what you get for that money is quite unfavorable. Worse, in the case at hand, it actually increases response time to another portion of the City---trading time to Minorca for a slightly better time to south of 27th Avenue. We do not know whether the model included a 35 mph speed limit for AIA, and further reduced the time unless a station was provided further to the south.
We have requested the so-called “save “figure from Bert Fish, but they do not keep that as a separate statistic, and have not provided us with information. The save number is the number of traumatic ventricular fibrillation cases of heart attack where the heart stops and the rescue vehicle gets to the patient before an elapse time of 6 ½ minutes, stabilizes the patient, and gets the patient to the hospital alive. This seldom happens here, but when it does, the save rate is the number of people who then leave the hospital alive. Without these numbers, the determination of whether you will save lives by reducing response time is impossible. The same analysis could also be made for drowning and choking incidents which are also both uncommon and rarely successful.
The cost of this new fire station is prohibitive. A five million dollar bond even at a low interest rate of 4% will require $2,271,760 in interest payments over a period of 20 years, plus repayment of the $5,000,000, the loss of thousands of dollars in taxes, the cost of the money paid for the PUTT PUTT, the loss of a tourist attraction, and placing a public facility forever on the main road to the beach which is not the best advertisement for the City. We doubt whether it would cost more than one million dollars to refurbish the Columbus Avenue station. If you do not cater to the questionable need for a drive through lane. That is all it would cost and you can leave the little old lady with the house behind the station alone.
Why not put this questionable decision back on the agenda?
BERT FISH HOSPITAL'S RED INK
Bert Fish Hospital tells us they are operating in the black. Well not quite in the way you may think this means, but clearly the way the hospital thinks of it, and of course, the local newspapers report Bert Fish’s prowess in not losing money this year without a thought or any research as to what that means. Therefore, when we examined this nugget of “positive” information, we were astounded to find that Bert Fish was in another year of red ink and its concept of operating in the black was that it made up the shortfall by taxing us millions of dollars. Now think of it. Your business is down the toilette, and you can not meet your obligations. You are operating in the red and must borrow money to put bread on the table or shoes on the baby. You cut back on expenses, defer buying a new car, and reduce the pay of your high paid employees. Not Bert Fish, you just increase the ad valorum millage rate as needed, and collect another $5 or $10 million from the taxpayers. Problem solved. You are now operating in the black. While you are contemplating this little nugget, think about the fact that over $600,000 dollars of that property tax went to pay for the wages and benefits of just three employees (CEO, Chief Financial Officer and Public Relations), and $410,000 of that tax money was given to the New Smyrna Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. Do you remember voting to spend your tax money that way? This contribution is a double hit for the taxpayers since the County matches it from its budget.
PERCEPTIONS
Park the Sports Utilities Vehicles (SUVs) at the motor pool and let City personnel use them when necessary for official business. They have become the symbol of major waste. They have also become the symbol of an unnecessary and unjustified benefit to handsomely paid City employees who the average taxpaying stiff believes should not receive free transportation. Having an SUV in the driveway does not make a statement like a police car where an argument can be made that its presence helps law enforcement. An SUV in the driveway with a City tag represents waste. In fact, it represents waste with a capital “W” because a Yugo with a City tag would be waste with a small “w.” We also are curious as to how a police car parked in DeLand helps New Smyrna Beach and where the gas for the commute comes from. However, our main concern today is those pesky SUVs.
We were surprised when the last two were purchased this year. In our opinion, the reason for buying an SUV rather than another Grand Marquis rang hollow. The reason given was that someone might need to deliver extra gear to one of the officers on the beat. What could possibly be carried as extra gear in an SUV that could not fit in either the body or trunk of a Grand Marquis? The other SUV was purchased as the K9 vehicle, but think back to the number of times you have seen someone in a Camry or Honda with a German Sheppard or Rottweiler in the front seat with its head out the window enjoying the breeze. So, even the K9 vehicle might be more of a status symbol then a need.
No money would be saved by selling the existing fleet of SUVs. They are used vehicles, and probably lost about 20% of their value the minute they were delivered. They were purchased through the State contract with a large discount and are likely than not, there are restrictions on their sale or disposal. It is not the money, but buying more fuel efficient and smaller vehicles in the future that is imperative.
NO MORE SUVs!
The perception is awful. The Mayor might need a car, he is underpaid for the time he puts in, and he travels a lot on City business. He also lives less than a mile from the office and there is no big cost for commuting. But he does not need a SUV, nor do any of the other Directors to whom they are assigned. Those SUVs are a constant reminder of what is wrong with City government.
DISCUSSIONS WITH THE SHERIFF COULD FORETELL
A BALANCED BUDGET
Following is the response by the Volusia County Sheriff's office to inquiries from Port Orange and Edgewater as to what the County would charge for providing 911 call center services, and, additionally for Edgewater, what the County would charge for law enforcement service. While these are tentative figures and the total package may be some what higher, the price is 30% to 40% less expensive than either City is currently spending on these services.
● Edgewater would save about $1,500,000 on its law enforcement service for comparable coverage of its two zones and about $150,000 on the 911 call center service.
● Port Orange would save about $500,000 on the 911 call center service.
● If one calculates the same savings for New Smyrna Beach on the 911 call center service, since both Edgewater and New Smyrna Beach have about the same population, New Smyrna Beach would save $630,000 ($980,000 in 2006 minus $350,00=$630,00). If New Smyrna Beach used the same number of patrol zones as Edgewater, two instead of five, it would save about $4,400,000. ($6.1 million minus $1.7 million=$4.4 million). If the same formula used for Edgewater’s two zones were applied to NSB for four zones, the savings would be about $2,700,000. If we insist on five zones, only $2,000,000 will be saved. Moreover, why we need five zones is a mystery. Why we need more than two zones might also be a mystery. More about “zones” next week.
We do not know if the City of New Smyrna Beach has asked for such a proposal, but it would seem prudent to do so ASAP. Of course, this assumes that our elected officials care more about their constituent’s tax bill than maintaining the current management structure at the police department. Discussions concerning consolidation of law enforcement services should certainly be on the table.
LEADERSHIP
Definition: To show the way to, or direct the course of, by going before.
Need: Spinal implants for at least three of our elected officials so that they will assure that the City Manager can clean house (Richenberg, Plaskett, and good old “Jack”).
.We have been waiting for over a year for our elected officials to take positions on key issues such as taxing and spending. We do not mean waiting for a budget to be proposed and then listening with the rest of the audience to a few proposals here and there as to whether cuts should or should not be made to the subsidy at the golf course. We mean big statements like “I intend to vote against any increase in the millage rate and, in fact, propose to cut the millage rate by 30% to lessen the burden on business, second home owners, and new purchasers of houses as well as homesteaders.” Maybe one of them could say, “It is impossible for me to support spending money for any project for the CRA that is not focused on redevelopment of declining neighborhoods, which is why I did not support tearing down the Pavilion and refused to support dredging in front of the Captains Quarters.” Wouldn’t it be nice if even one of them said, “The fire department used questionable criteria for selling us the need for a new fire station and I intend to sponsor a resolution that directs the Third Avenue site to be sold, and only $500,000 spent to fix up the existing Columbus Avenue Station.” Can you imagine any of the Commissioners saying, “We made a terrible mistake in removing the competent management at the Utilities Commission, and we are going to fix it now.” On the other hand “ Let’s announce that we are prepared to negotiate with anyone who wants to build a fiber optics network in the City and see who raises their hand.”
We were dreaming, of course! Of all the qualities we associate with our current elected officials, no one would ever accuse them of leadership. That seems to be a dirty word. It would appear that they are happier watching the wind sock out at the airport than in expressing opinions that might alienate a small contingent of City employees even if it means selling out their constituents, the taxpayers. We took a deep breath and in the euphoria caused by the rush of extra oxygen thought we heard one of them whisper that it was time to look at police and fireman pay and pensions. Then we woke up.
What about spinal implants? It isn’t necessary to contact all of the orthopedic surgeons in a ten state area to see if any of them are willing to operate, taxpayers are the surgeons when it comes to politics. This has been done before in other jurisdictions, such as California, Maryland, and Massachusetts. We believe the right “doctors” can be found. Someone suggested that politicians could be given a backbone if enough voters make it clear that leadership is needed, and the cost of not leading will be replacement by someone who will commit himself or herself to lead. Interesting theory. In other words, shape up or ship out!
“Best Blog of the Week”
(Edited for grammar and punctuation)
A POTPOURRI OF CITIZEN COMMENTS IS
AGAIN PROVIDED THIS WEEK IN ORDER
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MOOD OF OUR READERS
Monday, 5/7/07, 9:03 AM
During the last City Council Meeting, Port Orange Councilman Steindorfer noted that the City received "such a low bid" on providing 911 service from the Sheriff's Office that he though the City couldn't possibly stay in the RCC between Port Orange-NSB and Edgewater. If that's the case RCC is dead!
Monday, 5/7/07, 4:51 AM
Consolidation of services is the best way to keep everything organized. New Smyrna and Port Orange don't even use the same EOC and radio channel as the rest of the county. Why? Who knows? Maybe it makes them feel special, having all their own crap...that we all pay for. If the Sheriff's Office takes over, you will see heads roll, but they'll have had it coming.
Monday, 5/7/07, 1:03 PM
In order to form a more perfect union, we must pay taxes. It costs money to run our government. Protection, education, health, transportation and sanitary services. No one complains about needing the police and fire service to protect us from harm. If our children are not educated our society will not sustain basic needs and wants. If there were no health, transportation and sanitary services our life spans and quality of life would surly suffer. Paying a fair share of the tax burden is just being a good citizen. As good citizens we have to figure out what is done by our leaders with the tax funds. What we all pay can no longer be tolerated. Basic service is not a cheap round of golf! Basic service is not allowing city management to hire unnecessary staff. Basic service is not allowing the decisions of a former city manger to drain the life blood from New Smyrna Beach. Basic service is not wasting tax funds of circus projects in the name of Community Redevelopment. Basic service is not paying twice as much as most citizens for 911 calls. By continuing on a failed path of nepotism, opulence and the arrogant leadership, we continue to spend unnecessarily the hard earned dollars of our citizens. The Council is suppose to look out for us. Assess what has transpired under our collective noises. NSB was going to spend $300,000 to dredge for a private owned dock; NSB was going to spend $1,000,000 to rebuild Flagler Pavilion because it was ugly and had birds crapping on visitors. NSB was going to build a police and two fire stations with gaudiness amenities that most of us can not afford in our houses. NSB has spent well over $3,000,000 on a municipal golf course without a prayer of being paid back. NSB has hired a greens keeper for $35,000 over salary and raised the salary of the Golf Pro so he will make more money than the greens keeper. NSB has built a new park that was over spent and not completed as contracted, a year late opening and the major section is unaccessible to all but those who live in the neighborhood. As Rip pointed out, those who are responsible for these decisions are still in charge. The Council does not seem to be concerned by any of this. You can tell by Council voting to keep the greens keeper at only $16,000 more than top salary. Remember who voted for whom in the nest election. Everyone else that starts for the city is never at anywhere close to top salary. Verify the above by going to the city administration building on the North Causeway and asking for an organizational chart, pay scales and actual salary levels, Greens keepers application and resume. Go to the city web site and read the minutes. It is all there, in living color. Evidence is all there for every tax payer to see. When is the Council and Mayor going to protect our investment in our community? Our tax funds! For God's sake, the Mayor can't even get the security lights turned down in a city parking lot?
Tuesday, 5/8/07, 6:39 AM
No more staying the course here in NSB. "Where Have Our Leaders Gone" as Lee Iacocca asks in his new book? Where are our people of character, courage, conviction, competence, integrity, and especially common sense? We people want new leaders to run who will add all the above criteria to operating NSB. We need all of this right now before our ship sinks right in front of our eyes!
Thursday, 5/10/07, 6:17 AM
The permit for 112 boat slips for the ISLAND TOWN CENTER has been APPROVED. Now let me get this straight, they DID NOT help pay for dredging the mouth of CANAL CALORE but that is the way they are going to bring all of the equipment needed such as barges, dock supplies, etc. to their property to build and dredge the area behind the high school. They could not have brought their equipment to the site without the mouth being dredged. Didn't they promise to help the 38 home owners who paid the full assement? WHERE IS THE MONEY and does any one really believe they will pay. CANAL CALORE will be like 1-95, forget the safety of the wild life. Oh yes, they are calling it a MARINA, in violation of the City Commission decision; we all know what that means. After payola to Commissioners, who did they bribe at the permitting agency?
TAX SURVEY
Our Florida Representative, Dorothy Hukill, who used to be Mayor of Port Orange, conducted a survey on the recent proposal of Representative Rubio, leader of the State of Florida House of Representatives, to abolish property tax and substitute sales taxes instead. She received back about 10,500 responses. About 10,100 favored Representative Rubio's solution and 400 opposed it. Obviously property tax relief is on a lot of voters’ dinner plate. If it is on your dinner plate, register and vote. We think she should tell State Senator Evelyn Lynn the results of her poll.
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY—YOU PAY
Hey Big Spender, what did you come up with today? Well it seems converting a simple repair job that at worse would cost about $25,000 to $30,000 into a $100,000 refurbishing job at the Pavilion on Flagler is occurring before your very eyes. The Public Works Director has had a bid for the last several years to fix the superficial rust on the Pavilion's stainless steel bolts for $25,000. With inflation and all it would probably be re-bid today for under $30,000. However, that doesn’t sit well with the “Creative Ways for Wasting Money” Agency, mis named the Community Redevelopment Agency. They have decided to spend your tax money to let a contract for sandblasting the structure before painting it, replacing the gingerbread trim, some of which is deteriorating and needs either removal or replacement, and who knows what other work that will drive up the costs. It could be accomplished more cheaply, but no matter the bid, and they will approve privately negotiated change orders, the final cost will significantly exceeded because of large cost over runs.
The Shadow, with the help of many friends, has a few suggestions as to how this could all be accomplished for much less than the potential $100,000 price tag for the work that the CRA Board thinks should be done.
No one at the CRA seems to remember that the kids' playground at Riverside Park was done as a City project by volunteers who built it in a couple of days, had we are told a glorious time doing it, and probably had a party eating donated hot dogs and hamburgers and soft drinks. Today we would have to add veggie burgers.
Here’s what they could do:
1. For about $500 dollars worth of rust color paint from Southern Paint in a color that matched the rust, and a day of volunteer labor, the Pavilion would be made spiffy. Total cost would be about $1,000, assuming the Chamber of Commerce refused to chip in for the hot dogs, hamburgers, and veggie burgers.
Cost: $1000
2. Another alternative is to paint it rust color, but have the City employees do it. If we use the lowest paid employees for the task, and pay them overtime to augment their limited salaries, we would still save a ton of money and bring the project in for under $2,000. This still contemplates the Chamber of Commerce providing the hot dogs, hamburgers, and veggie burgers. The overtime could be recovered by not spending gas money on those needless SUVs that some of the mucky muck managers drive. Park the SUVs at the motor pool for a month or two and you break even for an overtime payment to a $20,000 a year employee who needs the money.
Cost: $2000
3. Rent sand blasting equipment for a day or two and have City employees sand blast and treat the miscreant stainless nuts. Bishop's or one of the other auto body shops might even lend the sand blasting equipment in a moment of generosity, just as we think the Chamber of Commerce might provide the refreshments. Did we forget the soda? Cost with City labor would still be under $3,000 even if the stainless steel coating were $200 a gallon—like bottom paint for a boat.
Cost: $3000
4. As a last resort, if they just have to spend the money, let the contract for the bolts. $25,000 to $30,000.
Cost: $30,000
Now the best way to save money, which is clearly not in their lexicon, is to paint it and forget it. Along the English coast, they see nothing wrong with rusting bolts. After all, what do you expect a structure at the sea shore to look like? Every few years they paint over the rust and admire the structure as it rusts once again.
Cost: $0000
We thought a few ideas that in a bad budget year could save between $75,000 and $99,000 was our civic duty. It‘s your money, why don’t you tell them where you stand?
TAX REFORM IS HERE
As we discussed last week in the first of these articles, the tax issues in Volusia County are directly related to the huge increase in the number of local government employees, and the increased spending by elected officials. It is not because taxes are too high which is a debatable issue in a State having no income tax, but it is clear that certain property tax assessments are inequitable in application, and that the spending spree by elected officials has dissipated funds which either should not have been collected or spend, or if collected, should have been put into reserves for a “rainy day”. Worse, since there was no discussion of the issues that ended up in a long term commitment of future taxes, there was no opportunity for taxpayers to be involved in the decision making process. It is not that the elected officials were or are evil, it is that they seem to have forgotten that the people they represent have more than a passing interest in how their money is spent, and they get upset when they find out that they were not asked if it was appropriate to build a new facility costing $20 million for the County Sheriff, the new executive office building planned for DeLand, or the Taj Mahal facility for school board administrators---particularly while school kids are in temporary trailers all over the County. Most taxpayers might find it more appropriate that the administrators be in trailers and the kids in real buildings.
The use, or some might say abuse, of the taxing authority given to Bert Fish Hospital is also a sore point. Look at their top three administrators who are paid handsomely with your tax money. The officials who approve these taxes and pay the large salaries to the administrative staff are appointed by the Governor not elected or responsible directly to you. Moreover, the pay outs are significant, $250,000 for the administrator, $165,000 for the financial officer, and $110,000 for the public relation officer who has an assistant administrator. Considering only a 30% benefits package, that is $682,500 of your tax money for just three employees and you have no recourse against the people who voted for this. Perhaps it is. Nevertheless, the hospital states that it operated in the “black” last year, which we believe is dissembling. We suggest that you go on the net and try to examine the Bert Fish financial statement. Good luck. We tried last week and found an invitation to the April 26 Board meeting. We could not find a financial statement.
The Shadow believes that elected officials have now been sensitized and that County government and the Southeast Volusia County cities must now be concerned about how they conduct their business, because the electorate is now watching and listening. The secret of their “success” in the past has been an uninformed electorate. It is frustrating however to talk about Bert Fish and the School Board. They too have taxing authority, only the School Board is directly accountable to the electorate, and no one wants to harm the hospital system or the school kids. On the other hand, why shouldn’t they be accountable? It is simply claptrap to talk about cuts in teachers' pay when the discussion might better be how many administrators should be eliminated.
The major issue to be debated is what will be the elected officials' response to a 20% shortfall in the tax base on that portion of the appraised property value that is not protected by the homestead exemption. The Shadow will make a continuing effort to ferret out the percentages of homestead versus non-homestead taxed property, and how many homestead properties turnover in a year. Currently both Edgewater and New Smyrna Beach seem well on the way to reducing their spending, and have begun to address what has gone wrong over the last few years and how to fix some of the worst excesses like the 911 RCC service. The meetings scheduled with Sheriff Ben Johnson concerning police services will bring a sense of reasonableness to negotiations about pay or pensions when they begin. The Shadow believes that both Edgewater and New Smyrna Beach can live on the reduced revenue. We are not sure about the County Council and its bureacracy. Several Council members told the governor that they could not cut a dime. With reduced indirect taxes, such as property transfer fees because property is not selling, and the decreased property value, they will have to raise the millage rate, and you will not keep a cent. Higher millage rates could collect the same amount of money as a lower millage rate on a higher appraised value. Volusia County Tax Reform has its work cut out for it, and we wish them well.
Last, and on a sour note, we have no doubt that Bert Fish will probably raise their millage rate. Unless they cut spending, Bert Fish will need the same or more tax money to stay in the “black.” Help them out, paint your wallet black!
