Volunteer Fire
Department
Not long ago, our
town had a Volunteer Fire Department. This was good
for our community in many ways. Not only did it directly
involve our local residents to play an active part in
the safety and protection of our community, but it also
provided a large financial savings for Lauderdale-By-The-Sea.
Despite many attempts
to prevent BSO from taking over our Fire Department
from our citizens, we now have a county-run fire department.
Our fire assessment is 2 to 3 times higher than our
surrounding communities, which is unacceptable. A return
of our beloved Volunteer Fire Department, with the assistance
of professional fire fighters, will save over ONE MILLION
DOLLARS, and return this important local service back
into the hands of our own residents.
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Town Meetings
Currently, our town meetings allow
for only 10 people the opportunity to be heard, and
are allowed to speak for a maximum of 3 minutes. This
is unacceptable. If the City Council is to know exactly
what the needs and concerns of our citizens are, ALL
residents that wish to speak should be allowed to be
heard before any other issues are discussed. If as a
result of everybody being heard, the time allotted might
extend several hours, instead of the current 30 minutes.
When this happens, it means that we are not doing our
job of listening to the residents and addressing their
concerns prior to our Town Council meetings. As most
of you already know, I am very approachable, and spend
a great deal of time talking directly to Lauderdale-By-The-Sea
residents.
"We The People..." still means something
to me. It is the very cornerstone of our great nation
for the people to be heard - all the people. This is
why we have town meetings in the first place. As your
mayor I will make absolutely certain - without exception,
that every resident will have a voice at our town meetings.
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Roll Back Taxes
The property tax situation in
our town is out of control. We are paying more taxes
now than ever before. Are we really benefiting with
better services as a result of all the additional
money our government is receiving? With an increase
of our population, our community will receive even
more tax money. I believe the fairest is the "Roll
Back" taxation. What that means is as the tax
base increases with new residents moving into our
community, taxes must be reduced across the board
to all residents. It is just plain unfair to see an
increase in tax revenue because of an increase in
population, yet we all still pay more in taxes. There
is absolutely no need to increase our taxes when our
population increases, which brings in new tax revenue.
I will fight hard to reduce property taxes equally
for all of us.
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