Bea Gardner, Submitted 8/9/13, 10:26 am
My Oh My – How the Taxpayers Association of Indian River County, (TPA), has changed since I served on it’s Board of Directors. I served for over five years on the Board of the TPA and at that time we prided ourselves on the fact that we were not a political organization.
We had members who became watchdogs for all governing bodies that dealt with taxpayer dollars such as the County Commission and the Hospital Board to name a few. These members reported to the TPA board at our monthly meetings in order to keep us all in the loop. I remember my dear belated friend, Jim Granse, was the taxpayers representative to the county commission and as I recall, Mark Mucher’s area of expertise was the hospital board.
Because the TPA dealt with these kinds of entities that dealt in budgets the TPA bylaws stated that the board was not allowed to endorse candidates. I’m sure former Sheriff Roy Raymond will remember how the TPA inserted themselves into looking into his budget. Oh how well I remember those days….when the TPA meant something other than just being an FPL advocate.
Glenn Heran and his minions that are now in charge of the TPA sure have changed it’s flavor.
I don’t think it would matter if Charlie Wilson’s request for a Truth Squad were to take place or not because near as I can tell, most of the current batch of TPA board member’s would not know the “Truth” if it hit them in the eye.
Editor’s Note: The following information appears on the websites for the Taxpayers Association of Indian River County and the Indian River Tea Party
Taxpayers Association Officer and Directors:
President: Glenn Heran; Vice President: John Kister; Second Vice President: Stuart Kennedy; Treasurer: Alice Johnson; Treasurer: Jackie Solari
Directors: Walter Geiger, Mary Beth McDonald, Ken Miller, Bill Moran, Mark Mucher, Ted Robinson, Steve Sackman, Deborah Seeley, Scott Stradley, Paul Teresi, Myra Weiss
Taxpayers Association Mission Statement:
The great mission of The Taxpayers’ Association of Indian River Country is to secure those principles which allow liberty to flourish. Chief among these is limited government. The best way to accomplish this mission is to limit government to the efficient delivery of essential government services. This will reduce the tax burden of all citizens. Through member activism, we drive this mission and serve our community. Though adherence to principles designed to limit the size, scope and spending profile of government we build a stronger democratic republic.
“About Us” Page – Taxpayers Association Website:
A principal objective of the TPA is to obtain timely information on matters concerning the properties of city and county residents, particularly matters involving taxes, assessments, legislation, improvements and developments in Indian River County.
TPA cooperates with National, State, County and Municipal government officials, boards and commissions to develop mutual understanding between entities and taxpayers.
The TPA promotes efficiency and economy in the operation of public and government agencies in areas involving school issues, budgets, planning & zoning, parks & recreation, airport, and other matters that can ultimately help to hold the line on your taxes.
Who is the Indian River Tea Party?
Simply stated, we are Indian River County citizens committed to promoting the principles of Limited Government, Fiscal and Individual Responsibility and a strong Free Market Economy through education and grass roots civic activity.
Indian River Guardian 
while I am a limited government type. I have reasonable expectations for what a government should do. I don’t see Vero as a bloat, nor the county. try working the DOD and you will see what bloat is, but that is another topic
When you use the term “limited government,” what exactly do you mean? When others speak of limiting government to “essential services,” I also wonder what they mean.
A wealthy person who owns a private pool, and who can afford a membership in a club that offer tennis courts, may consider the City’s recreation offers as “non-essential” services. But then, as Thomas Jefferson said, without physical health, what’s the value of education.
Speaking of education, someone for whom spending $10,000 to $20,000 a year a more on private school tuition for their children is not a hardship may consider public education a “non-essential service.”
For those who do not own stocks, perhaps having a Securities and Exchange Commission could be seen as the squandering of money on a “non-essential service.”
Surely government should be limited to those functions is can perform effectively and with reasonable efficiency. The services and functions of government should also be limited to what the public is willing and able to support.
I suspect when the Taxpayers Association/Tea Party, lead by people espousing a extremist Libertarian philosophy, advocates for “limited government,” what they really mean is small government. We shouldn’t we working for small government, or big government. Heaven knows we don’t need “big” government. What we should all be working toward is good government.
In his June epistle, Glenn Heran, President of the Taxpayers Association wrote, “Government should be limited to providing only those services which are essential and natural government functions. Locally, these are public safety, roads, parks and zoning, functions which the private sector cannot effectively deliver.”
What in the world does Heran mean by the “natural” functions of government?
Notice that Heron does not mention utilities, and yet who would have access to safe, clean drinking water if it were not for the public investment made in the establishment of both the City’s and the County’s water and sewer departments?
Thank you, Bea, Mark, Odessa and anyone else who might comment. My idea of limited government (for what it’s worth) is a government that is operating as efficiently as humanly possible, handling those things – education, infrastructure, health & safety, maintenance of common grounds, including parks and providing whatever recreation opportunities fitting an area (i.e. beach & lifeguards or snow skiing area in mountains). It’s too bad the Taxpayers’ Assoc. has become a political appendage of the Tea Party.
my definition of limited goverement is that it doesn’t in general provide funds for healthcare save veterans and also like any job it carries that as a benefit. defense, police,parks. I don’t have the space to list it all. but I will add space exploration is a mixed bag. nasa was for the military. most seem to have forgotten that it wad during the cold war that was formed to beat Russia who was doing solely for military use. the reason im against healthcare is that democrats took the free care from the spouses when the dod was even bigger then it is now. if they cant give free care to those that only make up less then 4% of the population then they really cant even touch 10% let alone all of americans.
Thanks for the quote from Thomas Jefferson. It certainly is one that we should consider in our modern era.
The logical definition of limited government should be that the government must do what the individual is not able to do himself. Thus, since I am not able as a single individual to clean up the Indian River Lagoon, I expect the government to do this.
As someone who worked in government at the time of the passage of the first Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, it is only logical to expect the government to provide the whole community clear and safe drinking water and unpolluted air. All governments from the Federal down to the local level since the passage of the legistaltion in the early 1960’s has met their responsibilities without much dispute until the creation of the Tea Party who apparently want to return us back to the late 1770’s.
Odessa needs to identify when the Democrats allegedly took away free health care from anyone.
I believe the Tea Party came about because of the fact that there was sooooo much waste and fraud in government. And, I might add, a lot of the waste and fraud was probably not intentional, it came about because the size of our Federal Government just got too big and too impersonal.
We should be able to depend on the Taxpayers Association to oversee spending and budgets locally (for shame, I mean even in Sebastian and Fellsmere) as they were set up to do. But, as I said in the beginning of this stream. they appear to be a one issue organization at this time…..sell, sell, sell, the Vero Electric because they seem to think that is the cause of a bloated City of Vero Beach Government. And in the process of doing all the bidding for FPL the TPA has forgot to due their own due diligence for the community regarding the sale.
And, having said all of this about the local TPA of IRC let me say, the Tea Party came about as a way for the populace to show discontent with the Federal Government. Like it or not, the main thrust of the Tea Party is to help get elected folks who tend to have the same goals which is to rein in the huge bureaucracy called the Federal Government.
And, while some local issues might be of importance, this particular local Tea Party, lead by six men who do not take any direction from anyone, has aligned too heavily with the TPA and the sale to FPL so again, locals do not really have a voice about the Federal Government spending as a member of the local Tea Party.
By the way….anyone who has supplied the Tea Party with an e-mail address is automatically considered a member of the local Tea Party.
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1993, was Pat levins ever under champus? I was. we didn’t have to pay for our family it was free for all that served and dependents. the national guard didn’t get health care. that was changed under bush and Clinton both had republican party control of congress. I was in from 1991 to 1994. champus is called Tricare today and Tricare doesn’t cover dental work. I have Tricare and Tricare and medicare is are related. that is my point the logic was that it was RUNAWAY costs of treatment that led to that charge.im still serve my country.if the government cant take taxpayer money to use it for what its supposed to be for why should I then think that it somehow can today?