The Political Whore

Photo: City of Somerville/Jonas A. Kahn

The National Civic League ’s 2009 All-America City Awards gets in full swing tomorrow morning in Tampa. We’re highlighting one nominated project from each of the 30 competing cities (10 will be named AAC’s). Here is Somerville, Mass., a Boston suburb:

Somerville, Massachusetts
Improved Communication

Over the past several years, the City of Somerville has increased its focus on creating a transparent, inclusive form of municipal government for all community members and through a variety of media, to create a more inclusive and responsive community. This idea includes the creation of a government management model that not only tracks administrative trends and constituent requests to increase accountability, but also provides the City’s residents with the opportunity to respond to and provide feedback on City initiatives and the annual budget process, to create an inclusive, transparent form of government. To that end, in 2004, Somerville adopted the CitiStat model of management, dubbed “SomerStat,” which institutes a series of regular forums with all City departments and key decision-makers to identify problems, assess success of service delivery and track constituent concerns, determine opportunities for improvement and, along with the City’s 311 Customer Service Center, provide data on departments’ service demand and delivery, as partially determined by residents. Somerville’s goal is to build and sustain a continuous, positive relationship and ongoing conversation between City government and community members, and all of these tools have increasingly made that goal a reality.

Thirty cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-19 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best. Tampa is one of the finalists.

Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean took more than a few stutter steps last week when the discussion at the budget workshop finally addressed the earlier article in the St. Petersburg Times about her issuing fat raises to a handful of her BFFs. Commissioners are in the middle of a budget nightmare, up to 900 jobs could be eliminated and Bean is passing out up to double-digit raises to some of her faves, including the bean counters.

So at the end of the day’s budget workshop last Thursday, Commissioner Kevin Beckner acknowledged the elephant/s in the room and brought up the subject to Bean newspaper in hand.

I had my own concerns with two of her minions getting these raises. Lucia Garsys is listed in the Times article as a “former planner,” yet she makes even more money than the head of The Planning Commission. How can Bean justify this, and more importantly how can Commissioners let her get away with this? (Especially with elections nearing?) Read the rest of this entry »

Should local governments have spent your tax dollars in campaigns for referenda such as the Penny for Pinellas?

Senate Bill 216 is now law, and its top advocate, St. Petersburg state Sen. Charlie Justice is pretty happy about it. SB 216 bans local governments from spending tax dollars to educate voters about referenda, a process that is both defended by government as a necessary means of explaining tricky civic issues and criticized by those who say it is merely advocacy campaigning with taxpayer money.

I’ve got both sides of the issue on it. First, Justice, who issued this statement upon Gov. Charlie Crist signing the bill:

Read the rest of this entry »

Former state Rep. Carlos Lacasa, a Republican from Miami, is making a quick tour through Tampa Bay on Wednesday and Thursday in a scenario that, at first blush, resembles a discussion of the best way to shut the barn door after the horse has already escaped: Lacasa is soliciting input on reforming Florida’s tax system from local governments.

But even though the Legislature completed a substantial (if flawed) reform package in special session last week, Lacasa believes the visit is still timely and necessary.

I talked this afternoon with the Miami lawyer about why he’s coming, given that the Legislature has (to some degree) preempted the work of Florida’s Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, of which Lacasa is a member. Lacasa said the issue is neither over nor cut-and-dried, and additional work by the Commission could be needed to gauge fully the impacts of what the Legislature did last week and (if needed) to recommend some tweaks for possible unintended consequences.

Those problems could include, for instance, the fiscal impact on a poor, rural county if most of its homes are under $200,000 in value?  In the proposal that will go to voters on Jan. 29, a super-homestead exemption would leave 75 percent of that value untaxed.

“Based on what I have read so far it is my impression that there may still be some work to be done,” Lacasa said. “I don’t know what that is yet. I’m looking forward to hearing what the city of Tampa and the county of Hillsborough has to say about it.”

Read the rest of this entry »

From the Hillsborough County legislative delegation comes notice of a public hearing on property tax reform next week:

 Senator Arthenia Joyner, chair of the Hillsborough County Legislative Delegation, has announced that the Delegation will meet on Tuesday, June 5, from 6 until 9 p.m. at the University Area Community Center Complex gymnasium, 14013 North 22 Street, to hear from local governments and the public on the issue of property tax reduction.

In announcing the meeting, Senator Joyner said, “Members of the Legislature have been hearing from our constituents about ad valorem taxes; however, we now also need to hear from our four local governments and the program and service cutbacks or the creation of fee-driven programs and services that can be expected under the various scenarios which have been advanced to date.”

With all the dire warnings/bellyaching coming from the local governments, you can expect some lively and impassioned pleas.