COMMENTARY

RICHARD WINGER

Editor’s note: Richard Winger is a three-time City Councilman and Mayor of Vero Beach.

On the City Council agenda for tomorrow, Mayor Val Zudans has requested an “informal” discussion about creating a City policy to gradually phase out transfers of Enterprise Funds to the General Fund, then prohibit future transfers once the transition is complete.

What does this mean to you?

Your City is funded from taxes (94.2% of the revenue) and a 6% transfer mark-up from Water and Sewer, the City Marina and Waste Disposal. Those transfer mark-ups equal $1.5 million or 5.8% of total City revenue.

Ending transfers deprives the City of all revenue except for taxes, revenue that helps pay for parks, city buildings and recreation, especially the Leisure Square pool. Eliminating that revenue leads either to higher taxes or essentially partially defunding the City. That in turn could, in worst case, threaten the City’s continued existence. At best, the result would be severe cuts in funding to many city facilities supported by revenue from Enterprise Funds, facilities and services that would have to be largely eliminated. (Under Florida law the City must provide public safety, roads and basic tax-supported services.)

In other words, fellow citizens, this proposal to eliminate Enterprise Funds would force the City to do away with the things we prize so much, like parks, festivals, other functions mentioned above that make Vero Beach our paradise on the water.l

Please turn out tomorrow and simply say NO!