Like it or not, the City of Kissimmee is now the Central Florida poster child for "revenue neutral" fees as a replacement for property tax income loss. Kissimmee was the featured fee-passing municipality in the Sentinel's Sunday article about such fees. In the same article, they noted that the Volusia Property Appraiser has been trying to get an opinion as to whether such fees are legal, and after the state Attorney General declined to weigh in, has now asked for an opinion from the Department of Revenue.
We suspect, and some of the folks on the Topix discussion board seem to agree, that fee adjustment is far from over. Last year it was to overcome "what Tallahassee did to us." This year it's going to be because "property tax revenues declined."
We know the folks in Tallahassee have their hands full with something, but we might have a solution. Require all public safety costs to be payable from the municipality's general fund, as law enforcement services are today. We suspect that elected officials are going to find that their constituents aren't quite as likely to swallow add-on fees that aren't related to public safety.
P.S. There is still time to implement the "out-of-state blogger fee" to recoup some of the costs related to responding to allegations from bloggers who no longer contribute to local tax revenues.
We suspect, and some of the folks on the Topix discussion board seem to agree, that fee adjustment is far from over. Last year it was to overcome "what Tallahassee did to us." This year it's going to be because "property tax revenues declined."
We know the folks in Tallahassee have their hands full with something, but we might have a solution. Require all public safety costs to be payable from the municipality's general fund, as law enforcement services are today. We suspect that elected officials are going to find that their constituents aren't quite as likely to swallow add-on fees that aren't related to public safety.
P.S. There is still time to implement the "out-of-state blogger fee" to recoup some of the costs related to responding to allegations from bloggers who no longer contribute to local tax revenues.
9 comments:
It appears that the out-of-state blogger who is the namesake of your site is acting like the campaign manager of Tony Ferentinos. Maybe he could afford the blogger fee. ;)
Actually, if you look at what they have been talking about with KUA and with what you have been talking about on the fees, you do have to wonder if KUA is just a new taxing arm of the city.
Merry Christmas Wayne Who!
AND WOULD YOU PAY THOSE FEES WHEN COMMENTING ON VOLUSIA COUNTY, TALLAHASSEE, WASHINGTON, D.C. AND THE LIKE? I THINK NOT. GET OVER YOURSELVES.
It looks like "fees" are taking hold even in national politics, and it is Republicans pushing the idea. President Bush actually called for a 'User Fee' for road infrastructure because the are starting to realize that as people can not afford gas, the federal gas tax is not bringing in the same amount it once did. Guess our local boys are onto something!
For a non profit utility company,
It sure looks like KUA is making a profit$8.5 million in 2006. Let's see what 2007 brings in. I know Tony personally and I know he is doing this because he believes in what he's doing, or he wouldn't be persuing it. Talking to him last week he said that the outcry from the people who use the utility has been pouring in continuously. He said he would try his best to make the difference as a citizen and as hopefully a Commissioner.
"WHYNOTNOW said...
AND WOULD YOU PAY THOSE FEES WHEN COMMENTING ON VOLUSIA COUNTY, TALLAHASSEE, WASHINGTON, D.C. AND THE LIKE? I THINK NOT. GET OVER YOURSELVES."
With the way the greedy way in which Kissimmee is run, they could probably come up with a way to charge for exporting blog comments. Maybe some type of special assesment blog fee that is passed on to all the residents who might read or contribute to the blogging community. Of course if you delete a post, the Waste Management gets its cut.
Maybe we could charge user fees for the fountain. Every homeless person who takes a bath would be required to pay upfront.
I WISH YOU WOULD CONSIDER PUBLISHING MY COMMENTS WHEN I SIGN GRAFFIX. OF COURSE I WISH ALL POLITICIANS WERE HONEST.
Rumor has it that Jim Welsh of KUA has had a meeting with Osceola Commission Cadidate Tony Ferentinos.
Hmmmmmmmmm, I wonder what's going on? It seems like Mr. Ferentinos is really trying to help the people who are using KUA. Interesting, let's see where this goes. So far it seems like there are a few people a little nervous over at KUA since this Town Hall meeting last Saturday. From what I heard it looks like there might be another one only a lot bigger turnout thanthe last one. By the way, they wer seen having lunch yesterday.
"By the way, they wer seen having lunch yesterday."
There is no problem with Ferrentinos and Welsh having lunch. I would just like to know who paid for it?
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