Big Win In Brevard County Florida against sales Tax

11/7/2003 | Al Gutierrez

[alfons]

Recently, the Brevard County commission had voted to put a ballot initiative asking the voters as to whether or not they wanted a one percent sales tax hike which would go supposedly for capital improvemnets.

For the last seven years, the county has seen an increase in building of new homes and subdivisions. Resale of existing homes would have trheir assesed value increased. The result had been a big revenue windfall for the County. Then like all Big Governments, they decided to go on a spending spree even violating the CAPIT provisions that had been approved by voters two years earlier. By the way these forces are challenging CAPIT in the appellate courts. The result has been expenditures were higher than revenue. They went ahead and placed it on the ballot which included a one percent referendum for building of schools which were not necesary. One For Brevard the prosales tax group used questionable figures to justify their sale of the ssales tax to the voters. Citizens For fiscal Responsibility, a PAC that I helped found along with five other concerned citizens was started. We disputed all the figures and statistics by both the achoolboard and county. A wishlist was created and had the tax passed, there would have been for example nine million dollars for a botanical gardens, twenty million dollars for the expansion of a stretch of road that only had less than five hundred cars traveling on it. Another fifty million would have been used to buy up more land for environmental purposes. Two years earlier the voters had approved a parks referendum The schoolboard wanted more schools built. However figures from the Citizens annual Financial Report published by the county and schoolboard revealed that the population of school age children grew only .78% or less than one percent Then the One For Brevard crew tried to scare the voters by stating that if the sales tax was defeated that due to overcrowding of the county jail, a federal judge would order out inmates due to overcrowding conditions. what they did not tell the citizens is that 1) they could have built minimum security barracks to house those accused of misdemeanors to alleviate overcrowding. Yet the county spent seven million dollars for a new facade to the courthouse. The major newspaper the Florida Today was all for the sales tax increase. When we voted on this referendum last week the results were as follows: 65% against the sales tax and 35% in favor. Ctizens For Fiscal responsibility spent for signs and some radio spots the sum of $5,000.00. Yet the One For Brevard crew spent the sum of $200,000.00 Our group Citizens went to any and all forums sponsored by the sales tax group and county managers even though they did not want to have opposition, we weere there at all of them questioning all their figures. We handed out printed fliers that were printed at Staples to convey our message. The voters did hear our message loud and clear. They were not going to reward the county for their fiscal irresponsibility.

[balrog666]

Score one for the voters.

[XBob]

Keep up the good work.

The crooks are still at it, LOL.

"Yet the county spent seven million dollars for a new facade to the courthouse. The major newspaper the Florida Today was all for the sales tax increase. "

Wow - a NEW Facade, for the NEW courthouse. Only about 10 years ago, they pumped high pressure air to give an asbestos problem so they could rebuild the whole courthouse for millions of dollars.

Watch and read carefully, all the proposals. They are mostly lies. And keep the 'new' taxes, limited in time and money, for specific projects, like we used to do, for example to build a new library, a 1/2% tax in Merritt Island limited to 2 years, or a toll on the Bennett Causeway, only until it was paid off, then the toll was removed. Only a few years ago they were shutting down schools, and closing them up because there weren't enough children to keep some of the schools going. Watch out for new projects in Vierra - they just built it in the swamp in the 80's, and it is facing Orlando. One of these days they are going to try to build a road across the swamp and Saint Johns, (a very expensive road), and the rich will get very rich, particularly the Duda's. - Look at the buildings and layout of Vierra, and notice their alignments - they are facing Orlando, instead of Brevard. The main entrance now, from US1, is really the back door.

Watch closely on the property taxes and the millage rates, or they will screw you there too.

XBob from MI