- May 3, 2024
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+ Electric tax unfair; media reported only the drama of the meeting
Dear Editor:
Perhaps you were not aware of the fact that I sent a memorandum and unit analysis recap (houses, condos, lots, etc.) to all council members and the city manager which offered alternative solutions to the electric “forever” tax well before the City Council meeting.
Fact: 151 out of 154 municipalities use stormwater fees to fund stormwater operations. Source: Florida Stormwater Association 2011 Survey.
This prompts the question: Why is Palm Coast deviating from standard practice by resorting to taxes that have nothing to do with stormwater? Also, what’s fair about eliminating fees on vacant lots and large parcels and replacing lost revenue with ad valorem dollars? Double taxation.
Oh, let’s not overlook Florida Power & Light’s request for a $690 million increase in electric rates and that the city needs $50 million to refurbish the entire stormwater system.
I am proud of the citizens of Palm Coast: Enough is enough. Yet, when citizens express their opinions, the media reports the drama, not the input. The present stormwater fees should be reworked to find a solution that is consistent with stormwater standards. Inequalities can be overcome via innovation.
My closing statement to the council was: “There’s always a better way. Let’s find it together — the city, the county and the citizens. Here’s my suggestion: Allow citizens the right to be placed on the City Council agenda for meaningful presentations. The present procedure is to ask for an additional two minutes and maybe someone will approve.
Apparently, the Arbor Day presentation was more important than stormwater and taxes.
Oh, my three minutes are up.
Vincent A. Liguori
Palm Coast
+ In response to “The Full House Effect”: Taxpayers are not the enemy
Dear Editor:
I read with interest your lead story this morning called “The Full House Effect” regarding the 6% utility usage tax which was tabled by the council Tuesday night. “Complaint after complaint, threat after threat”? When did the taxpayer become the enemy for exercising our rights and speaking out?
We were in agreement that the stormwater system needs to be repaired; we were not in agreement in the means to get there — taxing our electric rates.
Also, you failed to mention that as soon as the new Environmental Protection Agency rules go into effect on coal mining in two months, electric rates are expected to rise approximately 10% and continue to go up.
Nowhere in your article did you mention that one of these speakers, Vince Liguori, presented a plan which works and will fund $50 million for stormwater repairs, and I am wondering why? It is a good a viable plan which all could afford. Frank Meeker even told me later it works. Why did you leave it out?
One minute the 100-year flood is going to take us out at 50 years and the next the council wants to build a $15 million new City Hall. In case you are wondering, this is not how good government works.
Linda Hansen
Palm Coast
+ School Board’s view on high-stakes testing is troubling
Dear Editor:
In the wake of the disappointing results achieved by our children in the recent series of FCAT tests, and in the wake of the glaring and very negative national publicity directed at Florida as a result of the State Board of Education’s decision to lower the passing grades for the FCAT reading tests, at its June 5 meeting in a 3-2 decision — with board members Dance, Fisher and Conklin voting in favor and Dickinson and Tucker voting against — the Flagler County School Board passed a resolution put forward by Conklin expressing the board’s strong objection to all further “high-stakes standardized testing.”
I am deeply concerned about their decision.
Frankly, I cannot think of a profession that does not carry with it the expectation that standardized testing will be required to secure licensing or the necessary credentials to work in that particular profession — and let’s not even talk about the rigorous standardized testing in which students must engage to secure placement in the colleges, universities or technical schools of their choice.
How, exactly, does the board propose to assess learning progress, if not with testing? Regrettably, the board seemed to be absent without leave on that issue! How in the world are we going to help our children if we’ve taught them to be scared of standardized testing?
I would respectfully suggest that at this point, we simply don’t know what the problem is — is it the tests, is it the curriculum, is it flawed or incomplete teaching or some yet-to-be-determined combination of any number of these factors? We simply don’t know, and to engage in that sort of irresponsible decision-making without the benefit of serious in-depth, multi-disciplinary research to get to the answers in advance of the decisions-making in which they just engaged is simply wrong-headed and potentially very injurious to our children.
Deborah B. Laury
Candidate for District 3 Seat on the Flagler County School Board
