This Post Is A Lie

It's August.  It's hot.  I've been busy.  I haven't been blogging.  Sorry about that.  I was actually thinking that like our commission I would take the month off but the most interesting thing happened today.  

I got a call today, actually two calls, from the US Postal Service.  

The subject was the rotted out mailbox at 7525 East Treasure Drive.  You see, I had submitted a question on the USPS website about how this might be fixed and replaced.  And the people calling, Paula from the Miami Beach 33141 Post Office and Jim Croce from the district office,  with the same message that the Post Office is aware of the problem and the boxes are scheduled to be  repaired and replaced before the end of the year.  They also added that it was not true that they do not replace street mailboxes and couldn't understand why anyone thought that. 

Good news, right? 

Why though, you might wonder, did I take my time to do this? Well I'll tell you.  

You see on July 30, there was a meeting of the Community Enhancement Board where the subject was brought up.  Our Village Manager, Rootin' Tootin' Straight Shootin' Son Of A Gun Frank Rollason told the Board and the people in attendance that he had personally talked with the Post Office and the USPS would not for any reason fix or replace the mailboxes and if the village did, the USPS  would take the mailboxes away and then we would have no mailboxes.  (He speaks in bold font when he's condescending to people he doesn't seem to respect.)

Except, I kind of knew that couldn't be true.  I'm actually a fan of the USPS.  They've been reliably delivering my VISA bill every month since 1975 or so and I've worked in places where there is no effective postal service and I see how it hurts the quality of life, so I thought, "that's not true".  And sure enough, a few internet clicks away I found out "that's not true."  

 

So why the weirdness?  I mean even if somebody told Rootin' Tootin' Straight Shootin' Son Of A Gun Frank Rollason that, why would he accept it as an answer and think the matter was closed?  

In the same meeting, Rootin' Tootin' Straight Shootin' Son Of A Gun Frank Rollason also explained that Howard Tonkin of Urban Habitat, who did the native plantings at our "monument" signs, had dropped out of sight and the village had no way to contact him and that's why the native plants are being butchered by SFM, Rollason's favorite gardening partner.  

Also, There Are These Signs Around The Village

Except that's not true either.  Howard Tonkin is easily contactable at his email, phone number, number on his signs and in Facebook.  In fact, when a member of the Community Enhancement Board reached out to Tonkin, he explained that Urban Habitat had tried to take care of the plants and was ignored.  No return phone calls, nothing.  

What's going on here?  Why is the manager lying on things that are so easily caught out?  And when there's no purpose to be served?   I mean, look, Rootin' Tootin' Straight Shootin' Son Of A Gun Frank Rollason was never a real municipal manager and he has a dismal record in his current position but man, how dumb does he think we are?  

Oh wait, Mayor Kreps recruited him so maybe Rootin' Tootin' Straight Shootin' Son Of A Gun Frank Rollason thinks that's the norm.  Yeah, maybe. 

Kevin Vericker

August 26, 2015

Spending Money

If Only The Tax Hike Were 7%

The 2016 Budget is being worked on as we speak.   

You've already heard the news, supposedly good news, that the Miami-Dade Property Appraisers Office said our values went up  last year.  

What that means:

2015 Spending Money $4,041,217 

2016 Spending Money $4,329,530 (if we don't change the millage rate.)

Now I sure we all got 7% raises this year and heck, we know inflation is eating up some of that.  Oh what's that?  Inflation so far this year is in THE RED and running at -.08%.  Well, still, it's getting more expensive somewhere, like fuel.  North Bay Village costs for fuel keeps rising because they buy at special places or something.   

Anyway, with its new found money, the Village can do a lot of things.  It could for example, fund all of the resident requested new programs like:  

Animal Control

Halloween

Winterfest

Egg Hunt Spring

Scholarship Program

4th of July

Dog Park Run

Senior Programs

PAL

Causeway lighting

Plant Maintenance at Entrances

Basketball Court

Holiday Lighting

Deco Bike Program

For about $211,000 of the increased tax revenue.  

But that's not what happening.  

First of all, the Village Manager and the Commission proposed new programs totaling a cool $1,473,000.   That's right 26% more spending.   And just to put that in perspective, only 3% for things that we either used to have (Animal Control, PAL), things we like to have (Holiday celebrations) or would love to see (Deco Bike)  

Well, when Rootin' Tootin' Straight Shootin' Village Manager Frank Rollason presented his list to the Commission on July 28 and the Commission in turn said "Hey, we should totally do something for the residents." he came back with the bad news that if the village does stuff for the residents, then the tax rate has to go 6.29, plus the water and sewer have to go up because our costs dropped.  

A 26% Tax Hike

The Mayor and Commissioners Lim and Chervony were all "No Way! How come?" and told the manager to go look at what he could cut so Mayor Crazy Eyes can run for a fourth term the residents aren't taxed out of their own homes.  

Vice Mayor Jorge Gonzalez likes when other people pay taxes (he occasionally pays his own taxes in fairness) and only was worried that there might be pedophiles riding around in cars.  

So  Rootin' Tootin' Straight Shootin' Village Manager Frank Rollason is sitting down now and thinking about how he could finds cuts in:

Animal Control

Halloween

Winterfest

Egg Hunt Spring

Scholarship Program

4th of July

Dog Park Run

Senior Programs

PAL

Causeway lighting

Plant Maintenance at Entrances

Basketball Court

Holiday Lighting

Deco Bike Program

The Cuts being discussed Categorized by impact

 Because clearly there's nowhere else to look.  The key thing is to punish the residents and make life less enjoyable for them.  Surely you don't expect him to find the savings by carefully evaluating the value of the marginal spend?  He doesn't even know what that is not being a professional city manager.

This cost cutting will go on throughout August.  Our commission is super bored and disengaged exhausted and so is taking the month off and the new budget will be presented in September to the Commission on September 8.   By that time, the current village manager will either be a memory because the mayor is determined to get rid of him, or the mayor will be helpless because she lost.   

But it doesn't matter.  Your taxes are going up and your services are being cut.

I'm sorry I don't have any funny graphics but I thought I would show you in a chart how little the cost of the services we want are.  A mere $211,000 out of a budget of over $5,000,000.  

Total Budget on the Left, Increase in the Middle, Resident Services on the Right.

 Kevin Vericker
August 4, 2015