Thread: Bankrupt Miami in Fiscal Emergency, Breaks Employee Contract

Monday, August 30, 2010

Bankrupt Miami in Fiscal Emergency, Breaks Employee Contracts, Hikes Property Taxes; What You Can Do.

Miami is bankrupt. Unfortunately the city refuses to admit it.

In an enormously foolhardy attempt to make ends meet, in spite of the fact that Miami home prices have been hammered and 1-in-8 are unemployed, the County keeps pouring on the painful tax and fee increases. http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/1008 ... oint.shtml

As you recoil from your tax warning notice today, ponder this: those multiple tax hikes aren't the only charges set to rise. Besides Miami-Dade County's plan to raise every taxpayer's rates 12.2% for operations and an incredible 56% for capital spending on undisclosed projects, it also plans to raise retail water and wastewater rates 5%.

And though County Manager George Burgess proposed the 5% water and wastewater hikes, that's not because water and sewer are running in the red. They're already quite profitable. But by raising rates, the county can dip into water and sewer cash and add $25 million to its operating spending cache while claiming it's keeping our cost down. And for that $25 million slice the county would be right — unless you happen to drink water or flush a toilet.

"If you keep taking money it just goes to reason you're going to be charging more so all the residents are paying more," Commissioner Carlos Gimenez told us. "It's actually a hidden tax. You're just hiding it in water and sewer."

One Miami-Dade worker in eight can't get a job and commissioners don't seem to notice. Instead, as the economy strangles the public and values of homes fall, the county plans double-digit tax hikes on every dollar of remaining value. Before the commission finally clamps the screws on taxpayers or, as it should, relieves pressure by backing off its massive increases, it will hold budget hearings at 5 p.m. Sept. 13 and 23.

What can we do?

One suggestion: Let your commissioner know you'll be taking names of those who vote to raise tax rates even a penny in today's economy. Remind them that the purpose of government is not to remain bloated. Another suggestion: Wear a red "Cut Tax Rate" T-shirt to the hearings. Have your friends do the same. Remember, commissioners only count the hundreds of votes in the room, not the hundreds of thousands of suffering taxpayers back home fighting foreclosure.

Miami Breaks Employee Contracts

Inquiring minds are reading Broke City Breaking Employee Contracts http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/politics/c ... 30903.html

The city of Miami is so broke it's forcing employees to take pay cuts, even though they're under contract. Mayor Tomas Regalado said he's never seen a financial mess like this before, and his options are grim.

“It's either that or we layoff 1,000 employees or we raise taxes to the max, and we're not raising taxes to the max,â€

Yet they are paying to build the parking garage for the Florida Marlin's ballpark. Miami is more corrupt than most people realize. Cuban politicans are some of the worse and have been taking the taxpayers to the cleaners for years. Broward County has clamped down on corruption and passed rules to end it. What corruption cases they have are minor copmaped to both the City of Miami and Miami Dade County.