In Your Corner

A senior public official recently asked one of our Board members: “What do the Taxpayers want?” Our answer is simple. We want respect for our local taxpayers and the resources we provide. We want those running our schools and governments to show their respect for us by treating those dollars as if they were their own. Every time they make a decision to spend our money we want them to think: is this an efficient and cost effective solution to a real requirement?

To attempt a few analogies: Were you upset to learn about the executive that spent 1.2 million dollars to remodel his office while his company asked for a federal bailout? How about learning that our federal tax dollars went to save banks that now refuse to tell us what they did with our money? What about appointments to important federal positions going to those that did not pay their own taxes until considered for the job? These are National examples, but they all indicate how the individuals responsible for those situations view taxpayers: No respect.

Locally we feel the same frustration when we see our money spent to build new buildings at high prices while we have a growing inventory of existing buildings available for use. We don’t want to go out and borrow money in a recession to build a new multi-million dollar replacement for the current Emergency Service vehicle maintenance facility – while we had the old one plus three others already supporting local government vehicles. We were asked to cut our water usage. We did and were rewarded with higher utility bills because the government had debt to service and could not stand the loss in revenue. We approved a sales tax increase to buy land and build parks. Our reward? The County closes existing parks because they couldn’t maintain what we already had.

Another question we have heard from senior government officials: “Do you expect us to fire everyone?” Again the answer is simple. No, but we do expect government to do the same thing we have to do: reduce spending, cut overhead and make do with less. Instead we hear of plans to raise taxes, fees going up, services cut and reports from citizens being harassed by code enforcement officers with time on their hands due to a lack of new construction. We want less government that does more with what we give it. We do not need a fleet of new white trucks and cars sitting idle at the Building Department and County Administration Center. We don’t want expensive Fire Engines going to every health emergency – or publix and the bank. We don’t need for a deputy to have a separately maintained personal cruiser. We don’t need so much administration in our Schools, or in our local governments. Just respect your taxpayers and the resources we provide you.

In a positive closing on this subject, we want to thank the County Commission and Administration for providing video coverage of their working session on the 2010 budget. This crucial annual meeting (held Feb. 4 th) was open to the public, but has received little attention in the past. This year it will be available as a Channel 20 delayed broadcast or in the video library at http://www.martin.fl.us under “Department” then selecting “MCTV Channel 20”.

There is no better example of why we continue to push for TV/video coverage of ALL public meetings of taxpayer-funded organizations than the January 20 th School Board meeting. It would be impossible for a concerned taxpayer to read the minutes of that meeting and understand what actually occurred and why. A Stuart News editorial characterized the meeting in terms of a soap opera. We will leave evaluation of the meeting and the “actors” up to our readers. A short video is now available on TCPalm http://www.tcpalm.com/news/news/martin-county/ and the full meeting will soon be archived on the MCTV. All taxpayers / voters / parents / concerned citizens should take the time to watch the “performance”.

We encourage your comments, criticisms, ideas, or any questions about how your taxes work; call or fax 772-288-0474 or write to us at PO Box 741, Stuart, FL 34995 or e-mail us at admin@mctaxpayers.org or visit our WEB site, mctaxpayers.org.