MARK SCHUMANN
Taken to its logical end, the rationale offered by Councilwoman Pilar Turner for slashing 10.9 percent out of the city’s budget, regardless of if and when the electric system is sold, would lead to the disincorporation of Vero Beach.
Turner seems to have concluded that because the majority of city residents support the sale of Vero Electric, they must also be in favor of emaciating city services. Never mind that the sale of the electric system was promoted on the premise that any needed increase in taxes would be more than offset by saving on electric bills.
In fact, when utility activist Glenn Heran, now president of the Taxpayers Association, first began building support for the sale, he offered a financial model projecting the transaction would net the city $156.5 million and would boost the General Fund by almost $600,000 a year. That seemed like a no-brainer. The reality, though, is that the city will be fortunate to net $3 million from the sale and is loosing more than $7 million in transfers to the General Fund. This is the same kind of “voodoo economics” Turner must be buying into when she meets with her limited-government supporters.
Turner isn’t necessarily arguing for better government, just less of it, less police protection, less of lifeguard presence on city beaches, less recreation programs, less and less and less.
Just as it is pure folly to believe that if some is good more must be better, it is equally absurd to argue that if less is good then none is better.
Whether Turner is a member of the inner circle of the limited-government crowd, or is simply taking her marching orders from the local Tea Party and Taxpayers Association is not clear. What is obvious is that she has no grasp of or concern for the harm she will do when she starts hacking away at city services.
Granted, Vero Beach’s city government was once overweight and needed to go on a diet – and it has. Since 2007, the city has cut some 25 percent from its General Fund budget while laying off approximately 20 percent of its workforce.
Figuratively speaking, the city’s government has dropped 25 percent of its body weight, and now has a waistline resembling that of a runway model.
Turner, receiving at least moral support from the Taxpayers Association, continues to insist the patient needs to drop still more weight. Pushing for budget cuts in the coming fiscal year of nearly 11 percent, she is essentially proposing to start chopping off limbs.
Despite her claims to the contrary, it is hard to believe Turner has any motive other than to force the eventual disincorporation of Vero Beach, at which point she may gladly hand the keys to the city over to the County Commission.
Fortunately for those who care about the city’s future, at least a few chinks are now appearing in Turner’s armor. Her two allies on the Council, Craig Fletcher and Tracy Carroll, face a possible recall initiative as a result of recently having made outrageous and bigoted statements during a Council meeting.
To survive the recall vote, if it comes, and to improve her chances of reelection, Carroll may try listing to what the public wants, which certainly was not the approach she took when she tried to hand over the Riverside dog park to a rowing club.
The Councilwoman may even decide to begin complying with city code, and stop allowing to be leased for short-term rental a central beach home jointly owned by her and her husband.
Fletcher, who has said he would like to see the city cut another 15 percent from its budget over three years, has at least acknowledged that it makes little sense to plan on deep cuts now. “I don’t see any reason why we should be doing that, since we haven’t got a sale yet,” Fletcher said during last night’s Council meeting.
Indian River Guardian 
“Turner seems to have concluded that because the majority of city residents support the sale of Vero Electric…” This would be a good starting point for the budget reduction except for the fact that over half of the residents of Vero Beach did not vote and has not voted in the past few, if ever, elections.
The simple truth is either the city residents don’t understand and are unwilling to participate or they just don’t care.
So let’s say it for what it is – the voter, all somewhere around 2000 plus, out of approximately 15,000 residents – has determined the future of Vero Electric and all that goes with that.
And the selling point was the simple on & off switch from Vero Electric to FPL that prevented drastic budget reform.
If such a switch exists – where is it and why haven’t they used it?
At some point one could hope the residents of Vero Beach will stand up and take notice of how their city has been hijacked by the few.
The majority’s destiny is controlled by the few.
Deb, The majority should vote. Do we have to beg people to vote.
Why the apathy? Here’s an idea.Develop a voting app for smart phones. Save all those stamps, half of us that do vote do it early,
Or just dial vote, like American Idol. Although its hard to imagine for some, getting to the polls on a given day is not always easy for those with jobs, kids, etc.
I wonder if people who are not voting have given up. How many times have we heard people say “What’s the point? My vote is not going to make a difference. Why should I bother?”. I think they may feel so powerless and pessimistic or just confused and unprepared.
When I was living in Chile, citizens were required to vote. This is true in many democracies around the world. They were given time off with pay so that they could go to vote. I’m not sure that that is the best way, but it would be interesting to learn who really gets the majority vote if we all HAD to vote.
In some countries you get your annual health care card only when you vote. That gives you access to health care. That could be a good way to get people out to vote. It might even make people more interested in learning about the issues knowing that they will have to vote..
Vicky Gould – Personally, I don’t want apathetic people to vote. If they don’t care enough, then they should not have a say. I think many younger people think their vote doesn’t really matter and with the far right and far left, there is very little middle ground (or moderates) anymore.
I worked as the Voter Outreach Coordinator for the local Elections Office and we all worked hard to get people to register to vote. However, you can’t make them go to the polls and vote. The Motor Voter Law has made it easier to register, but we need to give people a reason to get out and vote. I try to impress upon my children how important it is to take part in our precious democracy. It’s a sad commentary when people don’t care enough to vote.
Somehow my mom and dad found the time, took the time, and voted. I truly believe some people use the excuse “what difference will it make” as a reason not to stay in touch with what is happening in their community/county. And yet these same people can recite the stats on a favorite ballplayer or team. My dad worked in another town–about a half hour away. He still managed to take the time to vote. My mom didn’t always have access to transportation. But she always figured out a way to get to the voting place – which was usually the school. Yes, we got a day off from our classes on election day. If we don’t speak up – one way or another – we are making ourselves doormats for whoever is in power. Our silence speaks volumes.
When there is a clear choice between good and evil, people will vote.
When its a question of the lesser of two evils, they tend to not vote.
Young people, STEP UP.
Good and evil are not as ‘clear’ or apparent as we would like. Folks are constantly bombarded by ‘salespeople’ of all venues.
We also have a media black-out in that the only news printed is what the press wants you to know about or consider when voting.
Just looking for someone ‘new’ or ‘young’ will not fix the situation.
It would be difficult for a voter to know how to vote or who to vote for unless one has followed the issues.
There are approximately 10, 000 voters in the city limits of Vero Beach. Out of those registered voters 1800 to 3000 vote depending on the issue.
Unless the voter knows or knows about the candidate the voter will base their vote on issues important to them.
We can hope the voter will actually want an elected official familiar with local government procedures and functions. Otherwise that newly elected official will spend the majority of their time in office ‘learning the job’.
May I suggest that a bright young person could be brought up to speed on the issues quickly. What you are suggesting is that a candidate need be familiar with all the background info and dirty politics behind the issue. That is like suggesting that you would be a better juror if you knew the defendants background prior to being placed on the jury. I also would suggest that the turnout would be much higher if people thought they were voting for a person, rather than an issue. This town is full of intelligent young people who care.
Hopefully, one will step forward. Yes, there will be a learning curve.
But under “Mayor Winger”, a young council member’s input would be
preferable to one of the “usual suspects”.