Category Archives: Our Future

AFFORDABLE, ATTAINABLE, WORKFORCE HOUSING

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The most significant item of the day wasn’t even on the agenda.

 

During commissioner comments, Ed Ciampi brought up how much the county needs affordable or attainable or workforce housing. That was precipitated by the comments made by advocates for such housing during public comment which Ciampi probably knew were going to be made. Ciampi wanted to keep the ball rolling from the joint meeting last month.

 

As usual with such a spur of the moment discussion, there were many ideas floated. Doug Smith would like to see focus groups headed by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council. Ciampi wants to use staff and existing groups and others to move it along.

 

Heard made it quite clear that taxpayers don’t want to grant any subsidies for such housing nor have it in their backyards. Then she began saying density is not the solution. Too much traffic on the roads and zoning incompatibility were also bywords.

 

Hetherington wants the private sector involved and, perhaps, the school board. She has constituent families that have had their rents raised. But she believes too much housing is already being built. And non-profits should collaborate.

 

Jenkins does want an item to come back. He is working with Banner Lake on a community land trust to foster home ownership. Ciampi made a motion to bring back an agenda item that Jenkins seconded. It passed 5-0

 

At the present, the members of all these committees who are pushing for an answer to the affordable, attainable, and workforce housing shortage have no real experience with operating, building, or maintaining such housing. I have worked with and managed this type of housing using the Section 8 program and other such federal and state programs, and it is daunting. One thing those programs did do was allow the private sector to make money. Alas most of those programs are now history.

 

On a national level, that is one of the reasons that fewer and fewer units are available at affordable rents. This isn’t the only reason. But This problem will never ever be solved without an infusion of massive federal money. Even states can’t do it, and it is certainly prohibitive for local government to do so.

 

Sybil was a book in the early 1970s that dealt with a woman that had 29 multiple personalities. Martin County may have that many or more when it comes to its affordable, attainable or workforce housing goals. It can be seen by the commissioners’ comments.

 

It is not that they are not serious about the task, but it is beyond county or municipal government capabilities. To encourage private sector response, you will need to encourage building of more housing not less. Real estate is where supply and demand make the market. As a glut happens then prices fall, and this is very true of the rental market. Right now, we have nowhere near the number of units needed.

 

The county can eliminate impact and other fees for those who will commit to a specific number of apartments with rental rates based on an AMI derived formula. They could give a density bonus in their CRAs if the extra apartments had cheaper rents using an AMI derived formula. The more apartments that came under the formula, the more they would be allowed to build up to 30 units per acre.

 

Every single-family home, regardless of where it is located even within HOAs, could have an accessible dwelling unit that, if rented, would not be subject to increased real estate taxes. The community land trust idea is a good one, but like Habitat for Humanity, it can only build so many homes.

 

In fact, all these suggestions would eventually lead to more housing options. However, these are stop gap measures without a commitment by the feds to release billions in housing dollars. And that is not likely.

 

Heard and Smith and, now to a lesser extent, Hetherington are not interested in more housing being built. The City of Stuart did approve more housing for the last few years but has now gone back into its shell and is not likely to come back out for a decade or more. Politicians cannot blame greedy developers and property owners when the reason existing prices are so high is a lack of product.

 

Government adds about 25% to the cost to build and that doesn’t consider the increased building prices due to more stringent construction codes. The private sector’s motive is profit. Local government can incentivize to some extent, but it cannot do so unless it gets behind a continuous effort to produce these units. They cannot retreat every time people complain about a new project being built.

 

So, form any committee you want. I would be glad to lend my expertise. Commissioners, just realize you can’t complain about the lack of housing and then do everything in your power to prevent new housing. And if you think by allowing more single-family homes to be developed you are going to solve the existing problem, you are not. That is what will contribute to sprawl.

clipart review

What Is The Rush

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The land development approval process has fairly rigid timelines that are set by Florida State Statute.

 

What made me do some research on the subject was a column written by Blake Fontenay in TC Palm regarding Atlantic Fields also known as Discovery. Depending on the type of proceeding that is before the commission, there are definite time frames that must be followed under statute. The county just can’t let things go on indefinitely. In my research I spoke to both the county attorney and the City of Stuart attorney beside reading the statutes cited.

 

How many of us have been involved in a civil lawsuit? The continuances and postponements are legendary. Sometimes, years go by before a court rules or, more likely, a settlement between the parties is reached. It may not be swift justice, but it is due process.

 

I believe that the project in question is a good one. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the Atlantic Fields developers decided they needed a new land use in the comp plan instead of the development plan that was explained to me. Originally, they were going to come in and ask for approval of their PUD as an exception. If that had occurred, two of the commissioners who now oppose the introduction of the “rural lifestyle” use would have probably approved the development.

 

Once the very favorable project became the subject of a new land use introduction, everything changes. Such a change requires more scrutiny and public outreach and education. The new land use would apply to more than just the one project.

 

On the first hearing date in the spring, almost everyone who spoke wanted to receive more information. There were some that were not in favor. At that point most of us wanted to have our questions answered in more detail. It didn’t help that the presentations given by the staff were not meant for civilians that need more basic knowledge and delivered with more enthusiasm.

 

Now the entire thing has been hanging around for far too long. Positions begin to harden. In my experience, the longer it takes to obtain an approval, the more opposition will develop. This is what has happened with Discovery.

 

The agenda for June 21st had three different public hearings regarding this project. The first one asked for approval to create a new future land use designation of rural lifestyle in the comp plan. If that were approved, then the second hearing would allow the Discovery property to be assigned the future land use of rural lifestyle. And then the third hearing would have been to have a PUD agreement and site plan for the property. Each hearing could only happen if, at the hearing before, the commission approved the action.

 

The first postponement was initiated by the BOCC and was tabled to a date uncertain. The second was requested by the applicant to table the three hearings to a date uncertain that the commission voted to approve. There is a 180-day time frame under FS 125.022 for quasi-judicial public hearings which would apply to a hearing for a PUD agreement. It can be extended by mutual agreement.

Comp plan amendments must be approved by the state. Under FS 163.3184, there is a 180-day clock from the time the state comments are received. Martin County received the comments on March 31, 2022. While there can be postponements, the 180-day time frame is not stopped. The clock ticks down to zero on September 27, 2022. The only way the time can be extended is by mutual consent of all affected parties including those who provided comments.

 

Would the commissioners like to have only non-controversial land use changes come before them? Sure, they would. But that isn’t what they signed up for. In my experience, the commissioners are genuinely concerned with what the public is saying. They may even agree with the prevailing view and do not like a project, but they just can’t vote no. They have a responsibility to vote yes if state statute and local ordinances dictate that the developer’s request is within the scope of the statute or ordinance.

 

If at some point this ends up in court, the county will have to prove that it did follow state statute and gave every opportunity to the applicant to be able to make their case. The price of that is sometimes having adjournments or postponements. Property rights are taken very seriously in Florida and a government violates them at some peril.

 

Deliberative consultation with as many residents as possible should be the goal. The notion that things such as this should be rushed ultimately benefits no one. In my opinion, at this point not enough is known about the classification of rural lifestyle to make a good decision.

 

Those that are in favor of the classification would probably find very little development that they would not support. And those who are adamantly opposed are no-growth adherents. Most of us just want more information and outreach. I think Martin County deserves it.

 

That educational responsibility clearly falls on the party that is proposing the change. Until the developer is ready to hire a third-party facilitator that is neutral to go out into various communities and hold informational meetings, this land use change should not move forward.

 

Public comment is important, but even more important is that the public comment be given by a fully informed public. When the public speaks their opinions should be based on facts not supposition. A reasoned argument is more important than a rushed one. Commissioners are more apt to listen.

AUTOCRACY OR DEMOCRACY

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It looks like almost every local seat on any local board drew a challenger for the upcoming election in Martin County.

 

However, in the Florida legislature, there were many incumbents who drew no opposition and have therefore been automatically re-elected. On the Treasure Coast, both Erin Grall and Gayle Harrell drew no opposition for election to the Florida Senate. Three other senate seats in the rest of the state had none either. In the Florida House, 25 seats will have no opposition. What gives?

 

While there are a couple of Democrats for those unopposed Florida House and Senate districts, Republicans are the ones that have benefited the most from having one party predominate. Republicans hold a slight majority in voter registration. But because of gerrymandering, there are just more and more districts that have or will turn red.

 

For all intents and purposes, the Democratic Party is consigned to be in the minority for at least the next decade in the state. The fewer Democrats there are in office, the more the party becomes even less effective. This is not good for democracy.

Our system unfortunately depends on both political parties being robust. When one party becomes so dominant as to have seat after seat unopposed, then we no longer have democratic elections. This is bad for Florida and the nation. Just ask those who oppose the government in China or Russia.

 

In economics, free markets are a good thing. The same kind of freedom applies to ideas and political thought. When only one party dominates and monopolizes, then the marketplace for thought is compromised. Just look at the spate of recent laws that have legislated what people can openly espouse.

 

It doesn’t matter if the party is Republican or Democrat. If it dominates a city or state, ultimately, we don’t have a democracy but an autocracy. That is not good for the nation or its democratic traditions.

 

Indiantown Contemplating Debt For A New Vilage Complex

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COUNCIL MEETING MAY 26, 2022

 

A public comment delivered in the form of an email was read. In it, the writer stated that the village has moved away from the government lite approach that was promised by the incorporators. There is no doubt about that.

 

The elected council is in the big government camp. It has been the same five council members since incorporation. Together, they hired someone as their village manager that is carrying out the big government vision of the council. Everything points to a continuation, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see another doubling of the village’s employees to 70 or more in the next three years.

 

The ones who were elected to the council were not those who were instrumental in incorporating the village. The incorporators ceased to matter when the voters chose the current council. Susan Gibbs-Thomas could have been a government lite member, but she is constantly a lone voice in that direction.

 

That belief in small government has been left for dead. The only question is whether, at some point, the village goes whole hog and has its own police and fire departments. For most other village departments, bigger is better. Big government also means big flash and subsidization of costs by their fairy godmother, FPL. Which brings us to the new village complex.

 

Conceptional plans were rolled out at the meeting. The administration building, along with the community building, will be over 39,000 square feet. A water park is also being considered located between the two buildings, but no price was given for it. Also contemplated is a fire/rescue station, police station, and aquatics center in the future.

 

There could be a third floor for the administration building for future growth adding an additional 10,000 square feet. The cost of the two buildings currently planned would be $15.3 to $18.7 million and if the third floor is added, $3.8 million more. While building costs now range from $300 to $475 per square foot, the architect consultant believes it will be brought in at $375 per square foot. It takes 33 months from council approval to completion using the consultant’s timeline.

 

This is not government lite. I would suspect that the council will approve the plan and add a considerable amount of debt to the village. There will be some talk about grants paying for some of it.

 

Is this project necessary? Depending on who you ask, village government is growing at a speedy pace. Is this what was intended when people voted to incorporate? Is it time to have a vote to see whether the citizens want to go into further debt? There was some rationale for the water and sewer plant. The numbers that were given to repair the facility were proven incorrect. To bring the waterworks up to speed will cost many millions. Now many more millions are being thought about for a new city hall and gym.

 

This should go to the voters to decide. They can overwhelmingly support this or reject it. It is too big to entrust to the council. Let’s see if there is a mandate to appropriate this money and continue with big government or look at government medium as an alternative. Lite is past coming back.

 

You can see the presentation here https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:94dcd5fd-53ab-3bc8-b5da-9bdd74978094

The Four Hundred of Martin County

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TC Palm had a column recently that stated the BOCC had received emails from celebrities writing about Atlantic Ridge/Discovery. Those emails were in favor of the project. No surprise there since they would be the ones buying multi-million-dollar homes in the proposed development.

 

The entire controversy was never about that project but rather introducing an entire new land use category. Martin County residents care about these things. And most of what I heard was not that people were against the land use as much as they didn’t understand it.

 

It appears that the county commissioners and the administration thought that a public meeting or two would suffice. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Kiplinger took years of explaining to groups of residents what was special about his project. Why that project deserved its own classification. I guess, in this instance, no one wanted to do the work necessary.

 

Another “community group” wrote a series of emails outlining why the “rural lifestyle” should be adopted. Some of the reasoning made sense and was spot on. What didn’t was writing how those who are not in favor are just wrong. That is just the opposite of the Kiplinger approach.

 

I was at the annual Martin County/Stuart Chamber of Commerce Leadership Dinner this past week. I am a graduate of the program and I volunteer to help put it on throughout the year. Many of the graduates and students are government employees. Most others are those that are very involved in Martin County non-profits and the life of the county. The attendees were a connected group.

 

                Mrs. Astor & The Four Hundred (Pinterest)

In 1892 The New York Times published a list purported to be based on Mrs. Caroline Astor’s “The Four Hundred.” She was the doyenne of High Society. Anyone who was anyone in New York Society was listed. Martin County also has a group of people who similarly are very influential. It has been my experience that there are locally influential people in every place I have ever lived.

 

Sometimes just normal work-a-day individuals become involved in what their government is proposing. This is what happened with the rural lifestyle amendment. A few of the “no growthers,” who believe in freezing development entirely, instigated, and made people aware of the amendment and described it negatively. Though the majority of those that came out were just looking for information.

 

Unfortunately, the longer that the rural lifestyle classification remains clouded in suspicion, the greater the likelihood that the support of some individuals will be lost who would have seen the benefit. And yes, there will be some that no matter how much outreach is done will take the facts and bend them to their own pre-conceptions. That should not stop this issue being thoroughly and publicly vetted.

 

Like Kiplinger, Atlantic Ridge/Discovery wanted to introduce a new land use. Unlike Kiplinger they didn’t want to spend years getting Martin County residents to buy-in. The entire concept was staff and consultant driven. When and if that project comes back for approval, if it is done as an exception then it would pass 4-1or perhaps 5-0.

 

Should the rural lifestyle amendment be ditched? No, it has some great benefits. What needs to happen is the county needs to hire an organization like the Planning Council to take further public comment and to run community meetings. This is not complicated, but it takes time. But, without investing the time, this will be one more debacle for the Martin County Four Hundred.

Where Have All The Environmentalist Gone?

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“Where Have All the Flowers Gone” is a folk song by Pete Seeger, written in the 1950s. It reached its height in popularity during the Vietnam War protest movement.

 

The last time I was driving from Trailside back to Stuart, that song became stuck in my head. I was thinking about the plight of the Trailside residents and Pal-Mar being ecologically destroyed by supposed owners of the tiny lots that now make up much of the Pal-Mar property.

 

I began singing the song to myself and substituting Martin County ecologists in place of flowers. Like the soldiers dying in a war mentioned in Seeger’s song, places like Pal-Mar that disappear can never be replaced. So far in this tragic plight, not one environmental organization or so-called environmentalist has said a word about this destruction.

 

Everglades Foundation, don’t you care about wetlands or is it only when some landowner wants to build a project on his property that you pipe up? Sure, there is no massive housing project going in at Pal-Mar, but there are trailers and campers being brought in and shacks being constructed one at time in violation of the rules and the comp plan that you claim to want to uphold and preserve. Dragging a trailer across ecologically sensitive lots not even owned by the miscreant is an egregious violation of our environmental laws.

 

The Guardians and Director Braun Trailside residents would like to ask if the destruction of native species by four wheelers only counts when the rich say it does. Where are the 1000 Friends of Florida complaining about unregulated hunting that goes on out-of-season and for species that should be protected not slaughtered? How about all the usual suspects who call themselves environmentalists and come to commission meetings to bemoan any change in land use even on an old farm site, while earth moving is going on at Pal-Mar without the benefit of any permits.

FWC has jurisdiction but apparently it is too hard to make sure that their own rules are enforced. It is ludicrous that they do not give out gate keys only to legitimate permit holders, but they leave the gate unguarded and unlocked for anyone to call Pal-Mar home. South Florida Water Management District is one of the largest property owners in Pal-Mar yet seems incapable of making sure that the land will be used to clean water headed for the Everglades and Florida Bay as it is intended to do instead of being a race track for four wheelers.

 

Where have all the county commissioners gone? I know they claim they can’t talk about anything because of pending litigation. The litigation concerns dues that should or should not be paid to the Pal-Mar Board. I am tired of listening to that same refrain in the county’s songbook. They simply won’t enforce our building codes because they are afraid of the big bad men defying their rules.

 

Lastly, where is the law? The duly sworn sheriff and deputies who have pledged to enforce all laws. We hear about the helicopters and how they can swoop down and make sure that lawbreakers are caught in the act. Where are the drones paid for by tax dollars patrolling the skies looking for those not obeying the law? Would it be different if the Pal-Mar gunmen belonged to a Broward street gang coming here to do bad?

 

How do you think the landowners of Trailside feel when confronted with the lack of responsibility by all these elected and appointed officials? All of whom are on the government payroll yet won’t lift a finger to do their duty. Just another day in the life of a fool…but that is a different lyric from a different popular song…though it could apply to the governments here.

The Mouse, The Governor, And His Legislative Dwarves

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The governor decided that it was going to show Disney who was in charge!

 

By an act of the legislature and signature of Governor DeSantis, the Reedy Creek Improvement District will cease to exist as of July of next year. Disney has been very measured in its response. If it gets into the courts, Disney’s position is going to be that because the district has debt, it cannot be dissolved until the debt is paid off under Florida statute.

 

There have been statements made by some Florida officials that Disney is not paying its fair share of taxes. Last year, Disney paid $780 million in state and local taxes according to Reuters. Included in that figure are property taxes paid to Orange and Osceola Counties. It also pays for the Orange County Sheriff to provide law enforcement. Reedy Creek provides water, sewer, fire and emergency services which are all functions that local government would have to pick up.

 

The Disney Company is much more than amusement parks. They own ABC, ESPN, Fox Networks Group, Hollywood Records, National Geographic, A&E Networks, Touchstone Pictures, Blue Sky Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, 20th Century Studios, Lucas Films, Hulu, and dozens of other companies including a cruise ship line. Does this sound like a company that is trembling over Ron DeSantis and his legislative dwarfs?

 

When Disney came to Florida, the state was known for oranges and vacations on Miami Beach. In 1965, the population of Florida was less than 6 million and the Orlando metro area’s population was 250,000. A good deal of modern Florida is based on the “Mouse” for good or bad.

 

The reason to establish the district was never to allow Disney to not pay its fair share of taxes. It was to allow it to skip the bureaucracy of dealing with local building permit departments and politics. The company still must comply with the Florida building codes, safety codes, and all other state statutes. It can just knock off the interminable bureaucratic and political delays when building a theme park or hotel.

 

If I had been an adult and living here, I would probably have been against granting the special district. I believe that government should tend to its sector and business its sector. But Disney created their theme parks (and really their theme parks with the hotels are small cities) under the auspices of the Reedy Creek District. It seems the company did nothing more than express an opinion about a law and a politician. It seems to me that is clearly allowed in the American constitution.

 

Perhaps some would like to lock up Democrats for not going along with the governor. Our history has always prided itself in having a loyal opposition thankfully. We shouldn’t penalize free speech because we disagree with the message. The governor should not have businesses or individuals serve as his enemies to rile up his base. This is the stuff of Putin not America.

 

We are becoming very illiberal in our politics (and, no, it has nothing to do with being either right or left). We are not heading to a good place. Once we lose our democracy, it may never come back.

They Should Have Seen This Coming

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The April 19th BOCC meeting regarding the Rural Lifestyle amendment to the comp plan was one where the outcome was no surprise…at least to a few astute observers.

 

What made Becker Farms believe they could get this passed in fearful Martin County? Where was the constituency for this change which might have been a good idea with a ridiculous name? More importantly, where was the outreach?

 

Photo From Conservation Fund

We heard from Becker that they held meetings onsite…a couple of hundred in fact. But were they with regular Martin County citizens? No, they were with the usual suspects including me. They won me over for their specific project, but we never spoke about applying a new land use category countywide.

 

That was one of the problems. Was Becker Farms speaking for the Discovery Project or for a countywide land classification being created and applied? This confused people more than it should have. What a waste of time and resources this foolishness became.

 

Of the more than 50 people who spoke at the commission meeting, by an almost 3-1 majority, it was in opposition to the amendment. A distinct minority were in favor of the project even if they opposed the countywide land designation. This was a colossal failure on the part of Becker but much more so on the part of the county’s growth management department.

 

Perhaps the department was right that doing projects by exception is not the best planning tool. That does not mean you can ram a poorly named new land use classification down the public’s throat. What the county, Becker, and Becker’s consultants did not consider was that this was not about land planning but a vision of what the western county is going to look like.

 

Their vision was about maps and not open land which is what Martin County wants to see. They spoke about color squares representing tens or hundreds of acres, not the pictures of homes that could go there if it were mishandled. Preachers paint pictures using cadence and words…staff drone on to make sure even those interested lose the ability to care.

 

The commission voted to table the matter and allow Becker to come back without paying additional fees. I hope Becker comes back with the land use amendment of rural lifestyle changed to the name of rural resort but to be applied only to their project. Having the 800 acres in conservation is a good step. Allowing public access to the Atlantic Ridge Preserve Park is a great public benefit and all the rest outlined in the original proposal for the 313 homes to be built there is a home run.

 

Once Discovery is approved, there should then be charettes and meetings, etc. to discuss what to do with our western lands. They should be conducted throughout the county by using an organization such as the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council and not the Guardians. If the public’s questions could be answered and consensus achieved, perhaps this Becker land use could be applied to several more properties.

 

Smith mentioned buying more land to connect and create an environmental flow way which is a great idea. Funding needs to be secured for that, but Ciampi also had another great idea to dedicate a percentage of the increased real estate taxes from Discovery and apply it to buying environmentally sensitive lands. If pledged, it could result in obtaining a loan or bonds.

 

Government has a proclivity for screwing things up. They certainly did so in this case. Yet there is still time to right the ship. Just don’t believe that elites or the moneyed are always going to do it for you.

 

 

What Is Supposedly A Native Prairie

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Some people believe that when a parcel of land doesn’t have tall buildings on it or other dense uses, it should be pure and pristine and the way that God intended.

 

That is usually not true. And that is particularly untrue of the property known as the Kanner PUD. The Kanner PUD was an old farm where tons of debris were strewn and buried. Perhaps today farmers are good shepherds of their land, but that is a recent phenomenon. For years, farmers would throw their old machinery, garbage, and chemicals in unused sections of their property. They didn’t care that those chemicals would leach into the ground water and pollute. Perhaps, at an earlier time, they didn’t even know about such things.

 

More recently after farming on that parcel ceased, others who owned the property didn’t seem to care about rusting cars with crank cases full of oil, gas tanks with fuel, or other old machinery strewn about that had been improperly dumped there. Some with the loudest voices against building the Costco PUD are those whose relatives made a fortune by selling off the land but felt no compunction at not having cleaned it up to be good shepherds to our birds and animals.

 

This “range” is not full of antelope and deer that play. The Kanner PUD has been used as a dump and, as the pictures show, they even discarded things into the wetlands and supposed ponds. Most of those ponds were dug by the “farmer in the dell” not to attract native species but to drain the land and hold the water for irrigation. There are 130 slides showing the degradation to that property. It will all be cleaned up before the PUD is built but isn’t it a shame that it is not in the pristine state claimed.

 

Let’s not have a holier than thou attitude toward this mess which was created by the past owners and not the present ones. There is no good stewardship by anyone except the current owners. You look at the photos and you decide. Pristine Florida prairie or exotic toxic dump? Don’t be fooled by silly platitudes.

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We need to move on and have actual people living there and businesses operating. This is an urban area, and the land is owned by a responsible party that, rightfully, wants to make a profit. After all the additional money they will have to spend on this “Garden of Eden,” they are entitled to it.

 

Please carefully look at all 130 photos received through a public records request which are attached. It is important that we all understand what is at stake. Don’t be fooled by a group of people who want to prevent a cleanup because they want you to believe that there is only goodness and light on the property now.

 

You can find the photos here. It had to be in four files because of the amount of detail:

HERE

HERE

HERE

HERE

Martin County Taxpayers Association on the BDB

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The MCTA has reviewed the last year’s audit for the Business Development Board which was on the April 19th BOCC meeting.

 

It was not a clean report since the auditors pointed out accounting policies not in line with best practices. Among the discrepancies found by the auditors were that there was not timely reconciling of accounts, and that one person is performing too many accounting functions. We do not believe there is anything being done at the organization that would rise to the level of malfeasance or misfeasance. Perhaps, at worst, there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

 

We have for some time believed that the board is much too large to do an effective job in oversight. The board is a political and insider who’s who of Martin County elites. Everyone seems to have a seat, but no one has much responsibility.

 

Further, their budget is composed of $450,000 from Martin County taxpayers with another $35,000 from Martin County municipalities. Government handouts make up $485,000 of the nearly $519,000 in total income. In effect, it is a creature of government without the oversight that the taxpayers deserve. This is nothing new and has been going on for years. It just appears that the BOCC does not have the political will to bring this function in-house.

 

The audit uncovered improper bookkeeping procedures. Another area of concern was that the employees lacked an understanding of accounting. A direct quote from the audit: “We strongly suggest that a better understanding of not-for-profit accounting principles and QuickBooks would significantly benefit the Organization not only in terms of internal controls and related processes but also with regard to financial reporting and the accuracy of related financial statements. In our opinion, this is a significant part of the basic foundation of knowledge that must exist within the Organization in order to overcome many of the issues cited in this correspondence.”

 

If the financial responsibilities of the BDB were brought under the county’s finance department, it would be a step in the right direction. But that is not the real problem with this organization. Unlike the St. Lucie County EDC, the BDB suffers from a lack of focus and dynamism. St. Lucie County knows where it wants to go. Martin County doesn’t want too much business to disrupt the nature of the county and then only want what the elites consider the right types of business.

 

Because there is no strategic vision, we are wasting the taxpayers’ money on halfway measures. A review of what businesses the BDB played a key role in bringing to Martin County, would be the same ones that several other organizations would also take credit for.

 

When we had an independent tourism board, it too was a waste of taxpayer dollars. Once the BOCC brought that function in house, there was a concentrated effort to determine how we should go after tourism dollars. It is time to stop spending our tax dollars so that the political and current business elites can have a place to call home.

 

With nearly a half a million dollars of government money, the results should be measurable and quantifiable…not what the BOCC currently receives in the form of Rah-Rah pep rally speak. Every taxpayer should demand accountability which is sadly lacking in this situation.