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HERE’S THE SCOOP….I’LL HAVE WHAT SHE’S HAVING…. LIGHTHOUSE POINT VS LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA BUDGET….

May 25, 2023 by Barbara

Dear Readers…

This writer was not able to attend the LBTS Budget Presentation Workshop on May 23, 2023 at 5 PM in Jarvis Hall….and it seems with the exception on one lone resident…the hall was empty!….

We know there was no real effort to get the word out by this administration…no alerts were sent out prior to residents as they customarily are the Friday before….

I did however watch….and what I saw was disappointing, disturbing and did not even merit second place!…

Below is a followup email sent to our LBTS commission the day after this debacle….

In it I point out that our Town Manager as a tax- paying resident of Lighthouse Point receives a superior municipal budget and that she should in good conscious offer the tax-paying residents and this commission the same!…

Needless to say….I’ll have what she’s having!….

I am also once again pleading with this commission to return to the days when it was the commissioners taking charge and not being scolded, dismissed and led by administration….

5/24/2023 Email –

‘All-

I watched the Budget Workshop last night and found it lacking any specifics.
Why were you not provided real numbers such as the actual 2023 financial balance sheets through April?
Despite stating they were in your agenda packet backup prior to this workshop a compiled year- to- date inclusion should be an essential component.
To do so could not possibly make too much work for staff!
The Town Manager stating repeatedly that “ We’re not there yet”  and that this is “preliminary” does not pass muster, in my opinion.
Asking the commission for input based on a glossy presentation with bundled numbers is just plain wrong.
Bundled numbers were used last year as well and should not be acceptable ever again.
Instead of a presentation, there should be multiple round tables where the commissioners take the lead armed with all the necessary financial materials and with the Town Manager and staff taking a back seat while the commission can openly discuss it all.
The lighthouse Point 2023  budget ( link below) shows what a first- rate comprehensive municipal budget should look like.
Lighthouse Point is where our Town Manager receives this first rate comprehensive budget produced and provided by her Lighthouse Point Town Manager and her Lighthouse Point commissioners as a tax- paying resident.
As Town Manager of LBTS she should provide our LBTS tax- paying residents the same!
This commission must be pro- active.
This commission must call for several round table discussions.
This commission must be provided ALL of the pertinent information required.
This commission must direct staff to rein in their “ asks” and protect their constituents at a time where those who elected them in to office are drowning from huge condominium assessments ,huge insurance increases, huge utility increases etc… etc… etc..
This commission must be cognizant of their neighbors tightening their belts and direct staff to do the same with the Town budget this year.
This commission must direct our Town Manager to use her hometown of Lighthouse Point’s budget as a template and provide it to LBTS taxpayers in 2024 so that we can have what she has!
Respectfully,
Barbara Cole’
More to come…..

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HERE’S THE SCOOP….CRYING UNCLE!…..WHERE HAVE ALL OUR PROACTIVE COMMISSIONERS GONE?….

May 22, 2023 by Barbara

Dear Readers…. A followup-

Unfortunately, this writer is unable to attend the LBTS Budget Presentation in Jarvis Hall at 5 PM…

I did however send the commission the following email …. Let’s all see what transpires….

5/23/2023 Email to LBTS Commission
‘THE BUDGET
All-
I am hoping I can make it to the Budget Presentation at 5 PM tonight.

It is most disappointing that there was no alert or email sent out prior to it leaving residents to only know by looking on the Town website.

There is no substantial backup to justify the numbers and no substantive qualifiers for much of the desired “ asks” and increases.

It looks very much like the glossy presentation put forth for the downtown project which may be the real impetus for this new way of handling the Town budget.

The downtown project left off months ago with having everything included with the commission then meeting to decide what stays and what goes.

That meeting never happened.

Tonight at your commission meeting you have essentially accepted all the bells and whistles and are deciding on which lights and which signs only.

Perhaps, this similar presentation will produce that same result.

We, the taxpaying residents will be left with all that is on this presentation and will have to dig deep to cover it all.

This year should be residents first.

Our residential neighborhoods look awful.

Our residents are being deeply impacted by inflation, huge insurance increases, huge utility increases  and huge assessments.

As you all like to say, but rarely deliver-
Sharpen your pencils, bring out your sharpie permanent pens and show your constituents you are not just showing up to pat each other on the back and take your marching orders from Town administration and staff who do not live here.

I know the dais will most likely just look to get past my 3 minutes and circle the wagons for our Town administration and staff if I am able to make it.

But, I am always hopeful that a few commissioners will question and direct the Town showing the awareness those who voted for them were promised when they were asked for their support.

In any event, I will be watching- if Channel 78 allows for sound that is!

Respectfully,
Barbara Cole’

CRYING UNCLE IN LBTS…..

Dear Readers…. It has been a while…. but this writer still keeps up with the goings on of this town, its administration and our commission….

Sad to say since my last post on shopping sprees….that was just an opening act for what is coming in 2024..25…26 etc…etc…etc….

A look at the 2024 Town Budget on the Town Website which curiously was not sent out by alert or email shows we are no longer a commission run dais…The residents come last…. and our Town government is bloated beyond what any mile and half long barrier island hamlet should ever entertain as acceptable!….

Town Budget Presentation Link…

5/17/2023

https://granicus_production_attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/lbts/d7ba117226ef05cb9252ec5c3ad856200.pdf

That being said playing in to this scenario are the overriding facts that we no longer have a large contingency of voting homesteaded…taxpaying residents who participate, organize and call to task those who are elected to represent us…

This promotes a Town Manager led budget and agendas that put the residents at the bottom rung of every decision and puts LBTS on a trajectory that in this writer’s opinion will produce within the next few years ….LBTS taking out a bond…. building a massive public safety building ….being in debt for the first time……looking indistinguishable from our neighbors to the north and south (with the expected re-do of Commercial Blvd)….  and lastly….having a referendum on the 2026 ballot on height limits…which will reverse our current one…due to the factors listed above…and the fact that when the height limits won…it was a slim margin…and that was with a huge effort of mobilized citizens to get it over the finish line!….

Look around….what do you see….a town overrun with people due to the Town marketing extensively which is not necessary as the hotels and the businesses are able to easily market themselves at no cost to the taxpayers….the new budget shows how out-of -wack this is….

We are being inundated with alerts to vote LBTS as the best beach….How so?…. A look at our beaches shows…they are way too crowded….leaving little space to homeowners…and we have a broken Pier that is a disgrace to see in photo after photo online …. no matter that it is privately owned…the Town should be embarrassed….

The plazas are full of smokers…and the parking on El Mar Drive south is full up of non-residents with no intention of going in to our downtown….

We…the taxpayers are yet again paying for transportation with Circuit to the tune of $200,000 + rather than letting private enterprise control transportation needs…

El Mar Drive….is yet again abandoned…in the new budget…but $125,000 is going to a 75th art installation and around the same is going to re-design the award winning Anthony Abbate portals…

Our Town Attorney is set to make twice the amount of Lighthouse Point…Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale…

Our Public Safety costs are no surprise….In fact …this writer predicts that sometime in the not- so- distant future…LBTS Public Safety …police, fire and EMS will be county run… due the increased costs….unless we are annexed …which too is a strong possibility…

But…alas….on Tuesday May 23,2023 at 5 pm with the presentation for the 2024 budget…it is utterly predictable that there will be no one in the audience…with perhaps the exception of this writer…and Ron Piersante…who will go to the podium with the same polar opposite positions…against…and for respectively ….while the Town Manager…staff and the commission look beyond the 3 minutes allotted to speak… This provides what will happen next…due to the dais taking it as a signal that their constituents are all satisfied with them and the Town…

The commission will take turns giving accolades to the Town Manager and staff…for a great presentation…and all their hard wok…exclaiming what a wonderful town we have…unlike any other……

And…just like the soldiers that all fall back in unison during the annual Christmas Boat Parade…they will all vote for everything the Town Manager has brought forth… and continue to do so until the final vote in September…

They will not take in to consideration…the size of our town….the residents of town…and the impacts these residents and businesses are facing with inflation…insurance skyrocketing on their properties and how they …the commissioners ….should be reining in the government….the redevelopment….and the path we are barreling towards with the loss of LBTS as we know it….

Where have all the proactive commissioners gone?….

More to Come…..

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