NOTES
1. When will the real cost of the Municipal Golf Course loan be revealed. Will current income from the refurbished course amortize the loan? For years, this municipal golf operated in the red and the recent increase in membership and greens fees did not seem enough to let it operate in the black. There are increased expenses, for salaries, and materials, and these increased costs are likely to erode the small increase in revenue. The payback costs for a 20 or 30 year bond seem well beyond what these modest cost increases to the patrons can support. The law of possibility says anything is possible but the law of probability is less forgiving, and we do not expect a proposal will be unveiled to make the City whole. Commissioner Hathaway asked for this months ago. Construction costs are not all in and no final costs have been assessed. This looks more like a $3 million dollar loan than $2.5 million, a 20% over run, so what’s new!
2. How about going back to a reasonable management structure at the police department? We do not understand why a small police department needs four Commanders, except for grade creep, instead of one Chief, a deputy, maybe two lieutenants, and several sergeants. The military uses a one to twenty ratio, but we agree that an occasional lieutenant and a number of sergeants are needed for supervision. However, we have never reconciled the need for nine detectives. Port Orange also has nine detectives, but it has 58,000 residents, we have 21,000. Does that mean that we have twice as much crime in New Smyrna Beach, or are our detectives half as effective as those in Port Orange are? Now there is something to think about! One less unneeded commander would let the City give 50 City employees earning less than $35,000 their cost of living adjustments this October. What could we do with the windfall from THREE less Commanders?
3. We never considered overtime as the second job for either police or fire personnel, but when you do, it is the perfect second job. First, the pay is 1.5 your base pay, adds to the value of your pension, and requires no greater effort on your part since it is your regular job and do not have to learn any additional skills. For the fire department on a 24/48 schedule, it could not be better since most of the time you get a good nights sleep. At the police department to generate the need for overtime is to not fill entry level openings in a timely fashion. It looks like half the police department availed itself of more than $9,000 in overtime. We calculated that 15 police officers earned more than $15,000 each. Yes, it is the second job. What a sweet deal!
1. Remember when the clowns at the Utilities Commission with their Rodi Charlie McCarthy announced that fiber optics would not work and was not profitable? It was less then three than years ago. Please Google fiber optics under either Bell South or Verizon and read the articles you find there. After you do, you will see why Bell South, Verizon, and Brighthouse do not want the Utilities Commission in the fiber optics business. Money! When you pay your Brighthouse and telephone bill, think of them. Do not forget to think of them when you pay your utility bill for the profits from fiber optics were to be used for offsetting some of the costs reflected in that bill. Of Course, your current Utilities Commissioners and their General Manager are averse to reducing your rates.
2. We do not like the idea of sending tea bag tabs to the Utilities Commission. If everybody drank tea, and if those who drank tea all used tea bags that are shunned by purist tea drinkers, it might work. As it now stands, however, most Americans drink coffee. Perhaps a teaspoon of used coffee grounds put in the envelope would also work. Please use dried grounds because we have no gripe with the post office.
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May 7th, 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.
Jon Williams, City Manager
City of Edgewater
P.O. Box 100
Edgewater, FL 32132
Re: Meeting with Sheriff Johnson
Dear Jon,
I am aware that you are scheduled to meet with Sheriff Jonson today concerning his 911 call center and providing other public safety services fro Edgewater. If possible, I would like to be included in that meeting as well. If our schedules are incompatible, perhaps you could provide me with the minutes of that meeting so that New Smyrna Beach can benefit from your discussions.
Thanking you in advance fro your assistance,
John Hagood, City Manager
City of New Smyrna Beach
Administrative Office Building
120 North Causeway
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168-9985
DIESEN/PARA
ELECTRIC RATE TAX
Those of you who will receive their utility bill from the Utilities Commission of New Smyrna Beach this month should think of what their bill would have been if Diesen and Para had not raised your rates by destroying the telecom business, abandoned the plan to implement a fiber optic network, and systematically spent all reserve funds established to preserve your lower rates. One of their most recent follies was to pay an outside consulting firm to purchase electricity, something its in house staff has done for the last 20 or 30 years. That is only the last $100,000 of your money they wasted, but paying twice for the same service seems dumber than usual. Furthermore, do not forget the $250,000 they paid to buy off a disgruntled employee’s litigation for improper removal even before the motion for summary judgment had been ruled upon, or, even more outrageous, probably paid out more than any similar suit for lost wages in Volusia County ever. Ask any attorney if they have ever heard of such a thing. And do not forget, then the audits and private instigations to try and show that money was stolen from operations. This blew a couple of hundred thousand to the accounting firm and the private investigator who told them nothing was amiss. But then why should an auditor with two big clients like the City of New Smyrna Beach and the Utilities Commission for over ten years that is directed to redo their audit for @200,000 say “no, no, do not throw ( me in that briar path) that money at me”. And, then he played his role well. Start every paragraph with something that sounds dicey and you have to wait 'till the end to find the big “zero”--nothing here to hang a hat on. And after the vaunted Florida Department of Legal Enforcement finds nothing after a two year investigation, still say that someone stole the money you lost through mismanagement. And then they hired Rodi, the CEO who had been let go by two other utilities, who was a consultant for Bell South, and has declared that fiber optics was never going to work which has to be one of the most uninformed remarks made in the last five years. This appointment made in an emergency meeting called during a hurricane alert was Diesen's best moment. Hire a competitor's consultant with a lousy track record and let him wreck the joint.
Open your bill from the Utilities Commission and then look in the mirror. You are the sucker that pays for the gross mismanagement and the bills you get are the way they take your money and laugh at how easy it was to pull off the destruction of what was an efficient and low cost supplier. Politicians make mistakes, and we are a forgiving bunch for the most part. But this was a deliberate effort on the part of the City officials to force the Utilities Commission to give all the money made on land investments to the City---$4.5 million from the Sugar Mill property and another $15-20 million from the property near the corner of SR 44 and I-95. Frank Roberts wanted some of it and it is rumored that a Commissioner or two wanted it all. So they canned, in a rather unfair and maybe illegal matter, three of the Utilities Commissioners who refused to knuckle under to their wishes. Diesen, who is associated with a DC lobbying firm that receives money from two of the Utilities Commission's competitors, and Para, who is inarticulate and has little to no knowledge of the issues confronting the Utilities Commission were appointed to make this happen. The politicians should now fix this travesty. Both Diesen and Para have served their terms. The City Commission should reflect on their passed failures in judgment and appoint competent replacements. They may have only wanted the money, but they put in place a wrecking crew that apparently had other objectives. If Ms. Diesen asks to be reappointed, she should be asked to explain her “H.R. Block Overseas Trust Fund” which is reported in her annual financial statement. We know no one that has such a fund and are simply curious. Regardless of what she says about this fund, she should be dismissed as a disaster. Her dismantling of the UC has cost you dearly. She should also be asked who brought Mr. Rodi to her attention as a possible replacement for the then CEO. We think it was someone from the Bell South conglomerate.
Current elected officials can now begin rebuilding the UC. Bill Rogers who appears to have been the facilitator for putting the wrecking crew in place is gone. So is good old Larry Sweett. If the current Commission does not clean house, the Shadow suggests that you think about this mess every time you open your utility bill. It should be a once a month reminder for you to ask them to tell you how they plan to fix it. If we are lucky, there will be a cool August through October. Then, maybe it will be a hotter than usual August for some elected officials.
Remember, the Mayor, and Commissioners Hathaway and Plaskett must stand for re-election this fall, or withdraw from the scene!
FUEL ADJUSTMENT CLAUSE
Fuel adjustment clauses were introduced to limit the number of rate cases filed by either a utility or its customers when the cost of fuel either rose or fell rapidly. In the former, to protect its investor's rate of return as set in the rate structure, the utility would file for a rate increase whenever its fuel costs rose. It would be in no hurry to reduce rates if the costs fell, so the customers would file to reduce the rate. This resulted in what was called “pancake” filings since these would pile up one on top of the other and would have to be noticed and hearing dates set for disposition of each in turn. Not only cumbersome and inefficient, but also unfair in a rapidly changing energy market where day to day fluctuations caused the computations to be both imprecise and generally stale.
The answer was the fuel adjustment clause that took the most volatile element of the rate and made it into a formula that would only change the rate to reflect the change in this one volatile element and to compute it on an equitable and predictable schedule that would make it acceptable to both the utility and the customer. A rate of return would not materially change under this formula and because it was adjusted on a scheduled basis, no one would suffer any adverse effect.
Now, understand this is not a voluntary adjustment. It is dictated by the tariff and the adjustment, either up or down, is not something that any party can contest other than it was not accurately computed. As it applies to the latest adjustment by the Utilities Commission, its vote was a public acknowledgment of what is required and ultimately must be put in place by laws and regulations governing its operations. Stating that they were voting a reduction is a fraud. THEY COULD NOT HAVE DONE OTHERWISE; THEY HAD NO CHOICE, UNLESS THEY COUNTENANCED STEALING FROM THE RATEPAYER. We think they just put on a show for the public, but fooled no one. They simply could not legally collect any more money than permitted by the adjustment clause without risking sanctions by the public service commission.
How about a little more honesty Utilities Commissioners. We do not expect much, but it should be clear that when your tariff mandates adjustments and you must report how those adjustments are made, either up or down, that you do not announce at a public meeting that in your sense of duty to the rate payers, you have “decided” to reduce rates. They decided nothing, the fuel adjustment clause did. The Utilities Commissioners did not reduce your rates; the softening of the natural gas market that in turn reduces the cost of electric generation did it. Since he hasn’t a clue, this would explain why Rodi paid to a consultant firm $100,000 to tell us how to buy future supplies. You just can not trust your own employees to do things against their customer's best interest, but outside consultants, just like auditors, who want more of your business in the future, are another animal, and many of them will do exactly what you tell them.
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REGISTER TO VOTE, VOTE, VOTE
THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE CANNOT MAKE A DECISION ABOUT HOW TO COLLECT AND SPEND YOUR TAX MONEY. YOU CAN MAKE THAT DECISION BY VOTING FOR REFERENDA AND YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS. HOWEVER, YOU CANNOT VOTE IF YOU ARE NOT REGISTERED. REGISTER TODAY. IT IS EASY. CALL ANN MCFALL,THE SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS IN NSB AT 423-3311, OR GO TO HER WEB SITE AT http://volusia.org/elections/reginfo.htm#voter TO FIND OUT HOW. THE SHADOW KNOWS! HE, HE, HE
CONSEQUENCES OF TAX CUTS
There is imminent action by Governor Crist and the State legislature to reign in profligate tax and spending by the Counties and municipalities. It is not that we are being taxed at too high a rate. Florida is in the bottom half, percentage wise, in taxing its citizens. The problem is that their elected officials have not been spending their tax revenues on goods and services that benefit the common good, but rather the “who do you know good.” Because of the way in which property tax is assessed, a category of the taxpayers are punished in a way never envisioned or intended by the homestead provisions of current property tax laws. Let us assume that the so-called Rubio bill is adopted, since it is the most Draconian in reducing the property tax. Let us also assume that our City Commissioners do not impose other taxes to offset the direct property tax loss—such as lighting districts. With these assumptions, the City believes it must reduce spending by 14%, but we do not know 14% of what. The City budget is about $45 million, but about $20 million of that are obligations not subject to a discretionary cut of 14%, therefore, the 14% is probably applicable to only about $25 million. If you add in a 3% inflation factor for 2007, the cut is 17% of $25 million or $4.25 million.
We think this a painful number, but interestingly, not one that will adversely affect service or harm any of the City workers that do the work. On the other hand, if I were a superfluous manager, I would be concerned. Of course, we all know that the current department managers’ immediate task is to figure out how to cut their last year's budget by 14%, and we are not privy to their preliminary efforts. However, we have decided to help, and offer the following suggestions to achieve the goal of $4,500,000:
It should be the policy of the City Commission that no additional future obligations should be incurred for the 2008 budget.
It should be the policy of the City Commission not to incur additional debt to build police and fire facilities buildings. Alternatives using currently approved finds should be sought.
Do not fill current three senior management positions $300,000
Reduce fire department overtime 
$300,000
$300,000Reorganize fire department, reduce number of BCs & LTs $300,000
Reduce police department overtime $300,000
Eliminate four police Commanders $300,000
Appoint a deputy chief of police $?
Reduce 911 payments to Port Orange by $300,000
Reduce subsidy to golf course by $100,000
Reduce CRA projects except west Canal $500,000
Combine City Public Works & Parks & Recreation $200,000
Reduce City Attorney’s budget $100,000
ESTIMATED TOTAL $2,700,000+That is over half the worst case scenario of $4.25 million, and we have no insight into where the reserves are hidden.
These suggestions may be enough for the best case scenario.
It is food for thought!
The Shadow does not have the ability to generate the correct numbers, and there are those who differ with us offering suggestions like that of combining Parks and Recreation with Public works. We are sure that the City Manager will compile a better list of savings. However, if asked, we will work with City management and staff to achieve an acceptable budget.
TAX REFORM IS HERE
It would be helpful if the State Legislature passed a property tax reform bill, but the fact of the matter is that tax reform, and particularly property tax reform, is here whether they pass legislation or not. The reigning local governments, who have been on taxing and spending spree for the past few years, have begun listening to the electorate and modifying their actions in response to voter demands. If an elected official is too dense to understand that business as usual is unacceptable, we doubt they will survive the next election cycle. It is one thing to claim a sinecure (look it up) when no leadership qualities are necessary and elections are beauty contests with no issues being discussed. The defeat of Jay Crocker and Gilly in our last election here in New Smyrna Beach was such an election, a snow job by a small clique where the winner was served up, as an environmental guru rather than an ordinary guy with few views that would benefit the city, and a few that are down right detrimental. Either Gilly or Crocker was more qualified.
However, a large segment of the population is now paying attention to government operations. They are not happy with what they have learned, and are pressing for real change. The recent departure of two senior level employees in the City of New Smyrna Beach management and the apparent decision not to fill these positions and the one vacated by the City Manager is indicative of a big change. Edgewater has recently abolished the position of Assistant Manager. While offered other suitable positions, the incumbent chose to retire and the City of Edgewater will save over $110,000. Talks are underway with the County and Edgewater over RCC 911 service, police service, and we expect fire services. While none of our elected officials seem willing to take a position publically on almost any subject, the ones who intend to run in November will be forced to if any credible candidate runs against them.
Discretion is the better part of valor, so we do not expect the City Manager of New Smyrna Beach to take the lead. For example, we know that the RCC 911 operation has responded to what the Shadow believed to be top heavy management and disproportionate billing. We are sure there are explanations, but we have not been able to understand why this service is so much more expensive, per resident served, than the comparable County service. The point is that this billing has resulted in a hemorrhaging of funds from the City, the overcharging is now being investigated, and that decisions about our participation will be made in the City's best interest. These costs are no longer hidden under a rock from public view. No one envisaged these unreasonable charges when Frank Roberts agreed to the billing. Nor do we expect an open discussion on pensions at the fire and police departments. These discussions to some extent are best done behind closed doors, but that they are taking place we do not think is in doubt. Since the pension issue is one of contract, bounded by some minimums set by the State, there are limits to what can be done. One immediate possibility is to not include overtime payments as a part of the pension calculation, and only use base pay.
Nevertheless, the point is that even without tax reform passing at the State level, tax reform is happening all around you. The appraised property value is likely to go down from 20% to 25% this year. The issue will not be rollback; the issue becomes whether your elected Commissioners will raise the millage rate to increase spendable revenue. The City provided 100% rollback with little to no pressure. On the other hand, the County provided a modicum of relief when they could have taken up to a 27% tax hike by doing no rollback. Their rollback action only occurred after serious pressure by taxpayers. In 2007, they were flush with indirect taxes, to that extent that the City voted a 2 ½ % across the board pay increase for all employees in addition to cost of living increase of 4%. We think those days are over. We do not think that this would be done today without a full public discussion, and to the best of our ability, the Shadow would not let them!
THE REGIONAL 911 CALL CENTER
If you will recall, the Shadow published an article entitled “911 CALL CENTERS AND TAX” in its January 29 issue. Subsequently there were a number of discussions about the charges from the RCC to the participating cities. At the time of our article publication, the RCC personnel were reluctant to talk about how they arrived at the assessments for the various cities. Below, we have provided memorandum excerpts from David Bubb, the executive Director, to his executive board. Note the membership. Additionally, we have also republished our original article. We hope you will read, analyze, and decide for yourself whether this operation is efficient and more cost effective than the Sheriff’s 911 Call Center. FYI, the Shadow hears that Jon Williams, City Manager of Edgewater is discussing this and other public safety issues with our Sheriff today.
THE 911 CALL CENTERS AND TAX
(Published January 29, 2007)
A 911 call center is a world unto itself. It must operate every day of the year and, since week-ends, and holidays are its busiest time, new employees seldom see family or friends on weekends or holidays. Civilians staff some centers and police or fire personnel, who may or may not have emergency medical training, staff others. A well run facility in a big city can handle 200 to 250 calls per shift before the number of “dropped” calls reaches above 8% which is considered in the profession as above an acceptable limit.--- cutely called a benchmark and not a standard by its own trade association. Dropped calls, or abandoned calls as they are sometimes called, may have a different definition for different call centers but they are taped and are supposed to be called back within a short time. The ubiquitous nature of cell phones has complicated the job of call centers, in that multiple reports of the same event, called “bursts,” can be directed to the center. For instance, a highway accident will be called in by a succession of motorists until an emergency vehicle is on the scene. Cell calls are handled differently from land line calls by various centers, since the likelihood of a serious situation requiring emergency help may be more likely where a land line is involved. A recent study performed by the association of emergency call personnel, located by chance in Daytona Beach, was mostly crafted, personnel tell us, from the City of Phoenix. It sets out the problems and suggests levels of personnel necessary to provide public safety. Of course, not being a member, we were told that we taxpayers who paid for it could not get a copy upon request. Perhaps the City Manager can obtain a copy.
There are actually two major call centers in Volusia County. When 911 is dialed from New Smyrna Beach, a call center in Port Orange designated as the Regional Communications Center (RCC) will answer. This RCC serves Port Orange, Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach, and, recently, Ponce Inlet, Wilbur by the Sea, and South Daytona Beach. There are four other small call centers, but essentially the County center run from the Sheriff's office serves the rest of the County. It appears that all land lines and cell phones pay 41 cents and 59 cents respectively each per month for the privilege of supporting these centers. Or, as it turns out, a total of $3.467 million collected by the County (about $2.1 million per year with a reserve accumulated because there were no hurricanes this year). This is supposed to be distributed on an equitable basis to the call centers. All the money from this fund is distributed for equipment. The operating budget of $2.8 million of the RCC, however, is split among the three cities. Port Orange pays 44%, New Smyrna 34%, and Edgewater 22%.
The RCC organization is run by a committee of the three mayors, and the last minutes we have are from August 29, 2006. The three city managers hold monthly meetings. Ostensibly, they control how the RCC functions. The RCC has fewer than 40 employees plus their administrative staff: An Administrator, Assistant Administrator, Comptroller, Record Keeper, 2 IT persons, and a Training Specialist-----seven administrative people for a ratio of one administrative person per 4.5 workers. Analyzing the statistics supplied by the call center may be unfathomable by persons other than those who created the tabulations, but what is apparent, is that these are police and fire department expenses that have been rendered opaque and are not in the public eye.
Then there is the question of how the calls are labeled. A look at the printouts for police and fire reporting for our three coastal cities (we think of coastal and intra coastal as sort of similar) shows that a large number of calls are labeled fire calls which are really not house fire calls at all. “Structure calls” are fewer in the RCC report, for example, than what the fire departments label “house fires.”
We now look at costs. In addition to the tax on telephones, New Smyrna Beach paid $980,000 to the Port Orange center for its share of the costs to establish the RCC 911 center. This is a hidden expense for both the fire and police service we receive, and there is no question that everyone wants an emergency response number to call if needed. However, costs are essentially hidden and, trust The Shadow, it was hard to discover them until just the right questions were posed. The question is, however, whether the service is cost effective. Would it be cheaper to purchase service from a private company, or from the County who serves the other 350,000 residents of Volusia County? They may be totally justified and cost effective, but they should be easily and readily available for tax payers to examine, in order to determine whether they are reasonable, and whether the level of service is worth the expense.
The County center has 84 employees. There is an additional secondary center for calls that the central 911 service refers for fire and medical emergency. The principal call center, and the equivalent to the RCC, has 96 employees with a budget of $3,798,000. The County call center provides several services under its contracts. For example, it not only refers calls, but also dispatches the fire trucks in Daytona Beach. There is a separate call center for Ormond Beach, and two other small subsidiary centers. The County also has a secondary call center that dispatches the fire and medical EVAC vehicles operated by the County in the unincorporated areas. The costs for RCC as compared to the County seem to be very much higher. Beginning in October 2004 the County contracted to supply Daytona Beach 911 call service, and entered into a new contract in 2006 to provide the 66,000 residents service for $1.348 million a year through 2007—or a cost of $20.42 per person excluding equipment money that is supplied from the telephone tax. The cost for RCC that serves 102,000 people is $2.8 million, which is $43.27 per person on the average, again excluding the amount spent from the telephone taxes. See the chart below for the cost per person per year by city. Interesting, what? Why is New Smyrna paying almost double the cost of Edgewater for the same number of people? Could it be that his wife, the City Attorney for Port Orange, or his old friend the former City Manager of Edgewater influenced Frank Roberts, who was instrumental in setting up the RCC? Furthermore, the financial people at the city tell us that NSB actually paid $980,000, not $952,000 in 2006, and that equates to $44.55. Enjoy!
Having two separate call services appears to be nothing more than another expensive turf war between the County and the Southeast Coastal Cities, and the determination to have a separate service has been costly. Quite frankly, the Shadow's conclusion is that the extra expense which we all pay does not seem worth the price for a separate 911 call center to serve our needs. You have the facts and could reach a different conclusion. There have been no complaints that the County service is inferior, although its number of dropped calls may be slightly higher on average than that of the RCC. However, keep in mind, despite a lower annual average of dropped calls at the RCC, last December the RCC dropped almost 10% of its calls for the month. Switching calls from one center to another is simply a matter of reprogramming the settings on the transmission towers, so that either service is available if a jurisdiction wants to switch. How about asking the County what it will charge for handling all calls for the 22,000 residents of New Smyrna Beach
“Best Blog of the Week”
(Edited for grammar and punctuation)
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RipSunday, 5/6/07, 11:17 AM
Sunday, 5/6/07, 11:17 AMThe ties that bind us all together are the same that produce the waste of public funds. Accountability by politicians, government workers, and contractors is non existent in NSB. Frank Roberts supported, then our city commission voted to LEND the municipal golf course $2,500,000 to renovate the course. Frank Roberts hired John Yancey for $35,000 additional salary over top of the former Maintenance Supervisor. Work completed how much money has the Golf Course paid back into the general fund? How much of John Yancey's inflated salary did the Golf Board (according to members they approve of the additional salary and support John Yancey) paid back to the tax payers of NSB? We have now renovated the golf bathroom faculties, put up a new fence and purchased new maintenance equipment. Without being reimbursed. Who is responsible? The golf members benefit so they surly must pay back the loan. The Council approved the loan, why aren't they making the members reimburse the general tax fund. Hagood has the helm, what is he doing to get our hard earned money back into the tax fund? The entire event is recorder in minutes from city meetings. Raise the membership, increase green fees, privatize the management of the course, and pay back the city. MR Vandergrifft, what is your problem and why are you not leading the charge? Instead, you want to cut out Meals on Wheels? MAKE THE GOLF COURSE MEMBERS ACCOUNTABLE BY PROTECTING YOUR VOTER BASE, THE TAX PAYING CITIZENS OF NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FLORIDA!
NSB Concerned CitizenSaturday, 5/5/07, 4:01 PM
Saturday, 5/5/07, 4:01 PMHere come the Threats. Here come drastic cuts that will play on the sympathy of the Tax payers. Cuts in Fire support, cuts in police and motorcycle police, etc. - how about cutting the salary of the Golf Course Greens Keeper again, how about reducing the Orange St. upgrade, how about getting rid of the City SUV Gas Guzzlers, how about cutting back on the City Attorney salaries or extra City Attorney etc. It is time to stop the THREATS and cut expenses in the general high cost of excessive salaries or other City perks or unnecessary expenditures.... From:NSB Beach Side
Saturday, 5/5/07, 1:03 PMDoes the 7.3 million Jeannie Diesen and her friends looted from the UC include the sweet heart power contract with FPL and the loss on the land that the UC did not sell to developers when the market was hot?
Friday, 5/4/07, 3:58 PM Today, the News Journal reported that Volusia County's total spending in 2006 equaled $498 million dollars, while its population grew 10 percent from 459,000 in 2002 to 503,000 in 2006. It also reported, "Fishkind and Associates, an Orlando consulting firm, performed a study for the Florida Association of Counties as part of the tax- reform debate going on in Tallahassee.” Among the findings in this report was that Volusia County had the Third-lowest in total spending at "$776 per person compared to 16 other counties. However, if you divide $498 million dollars in total spending by 503,000 in population, you arrive at a figure of $990 per person! Lets do the math!; 498,000,000/ 503,000=990. Questions; 1. Where did the other $214 per person go? (990- 776=214)..........Maybe this is the Problem? 2. Did our County's Consultants go to school? 3. Since this "study" is obviously useless; can the taxpayers get our money back? 4. Would the News Journal please run a correction on this issue?
LEGAL REPRESENTATION
We are providing you with a memorandum from Doran, Wolfe, Ansay, & Kundid for your reading pleasure. Read it carefully and draw your own conclusion as to whether this legal advice is in the best interest of taxpayers or elected officials. This firm claims New Smyrna Beach as a client. Do you want them representing you?
