Lissack Campaign Positions



Michael Lissack wants to give you a permanent 20% property tax cut.




How can he propose to do this?

Collier County is financing growth the wrong way.  It is all well and good for our existing commissioners to tell us "growth pays for growth," but in truth these are just words.  We, the current residents of Collier County, are paying for growth out of our pockets and in the deterioration of our quality of lives.  It is time to bring these subsidies to developers and to the 650,000 people who do not live here yet to a halt.  Are you tired of having your pocket picked?

Note: during the past five years the County's population has risen by roughly a third, yet the County Commission's budget has more than doubled.  They spend money faster than population growth.  Why?  To pay for more growth.

Michael Lissack spent nearly 14 years as a public finance banker.  He advised governments in all 50 states.  He guided more than $35 billion of infrastructure projects.  In Lissack's professional opinion as a public finance expert, what Collier County is doing to pay for growth is just wrong.

A significant portion of the expenditures under the control of the County Commission is devoted to growth related activities such as planning, transportation, permits, and regulatory compliance.  Impact fees do not cover these costs.  Gas tax monies which should be devoted to the maintenance and improvement of our existing roads are instead used to pay for new road construction.  The lack of affordable housing has driven away prospective employers and quality employees.  The lack of attention to state mandates for water shed and storm water problems means we all face a hidden tax which will be needed to correct unaddressed problems.   Perhaps the largest such hidden tax is the upcoming cost of clean water. Growth will require a hugely expensive (perhaps $2 billion) desalinization plant at current taxpayer expense. To say that growth currently pays for growth is a lie.  But how can we make it true?

1)    We must make bigger and better use of tax increment financing (or "TIF's).  TIFs allow the burden of a future improvement to be paid by the beneficiaries of that improvement.  TIFs only tax the increment in appraised value - the increase- which occurs once the improvement has been approved.  TIFs are the only fair way to make growth pay for growth.

2)    Our reliance on impact fees must stop.  Collier's impact fees are among the highest in the nation and add perhaps $30,000 or more per unit to the cost of new home construction.  Impact fees are regressive taxes.  The lowest priced housing unit pays a much higher percentage in impact fees than a $1 million house. 

3)    We need to take a one year moratorium on new projects and new developments and use the freed up staff time to finish the water shed and storm water plans.  Most importantly a moratorium will allow the community to get ahead of development and ask itself "what do we want Collier to be like in 2025?"  If we can plan what we as a community want, we can then work backwards in determining what projects to approve and what kind of growth to permit. The current system of merely reacting to what developers propose makes no sense and must stop.

4)    We need to begin to plan for and ration access to our current sources of cheap water.  To allow people who are not here yet to impose the cost of desalinization on those who are here is a crime.  It is taxation by willful blindness to a problem which our current commissioners pretend is not there.

5)    We need to take meaningful action on affordable housing.  Without affordable housing we are driving away quality people who want to work in our government, in our schools, in our hospitals, etc.  This community cannot exist without quality services - and services require people. The simplest solution is also the cheapest.  Allow the construction of affordable rental units above existing parking areas (by not counting the housing space in calculating density).  This one change could create more than 1000 units within a year. 

6)    By separating the government and TIF overlays of the urban and rural areas of the County, the burden of paying for growth can be progressively borne by the beneficiaries of growth and not regressively by existing taxpayers and the purchasers of the least priced homes. 

7)    We need to determine how to attract high paying service industries and their employees to live and work in Collier.  A high paying service economy is self sustaining. Only if such industries are located here can our quality of life be improved.  The County has no vision of how to do this, and it needs one now.

Collier's growth problems stem from the County and its commissioners always reacting to the proposals of others instead of positively laying out a plan of what the citizens want.  The current County plan assumes that population increases are inevitable - but why make that assumption?  The citizens of Collier are sick of the costs of rampant growth.  This cancer needs to be confronted and confronted now.

Michael Lissack wants to restore integrity to Collier County's government.

If there is anything which the Naples Daily News rezoning incident has illustrated vividly it is that government in Collier County is about who one is and who one knows and not about the "law" or about "what is good for the community." Perhaps when this was a small town and mostly rural it was "okay" to allow a government of men and not of laws. But no more.

Improving the quality of life of our existing residents should be the overriding public policy goal of Collier County. It is not the present goal of the existing commissioners. This needs to change.

Our existing commissioners are mostly a well intentioned but under educated group with limited experience of the world outside of Collier County. They govern by gut not by reason and by "who" is for something instead of by well founded research. They are led by the staff instead of leading the staff. They are focused on the "good old boy network." Clearly the NDN is being treated differently than you or I.

One would have thought that the Stadium Naples scandal made clear the need for increased integrity and an increased focus on what all the citizens need. We really need non-partisan County wide elections of commissioners with a renewed focus on preserving the quality of life of our existing residents.

If Michael Lissack is elected to the County Commission he shall urge the adoption of the following "Citizens Bill of Rights"

Differences from our present system are highlighted in red.

 

CITIZENS' BILL OF RIGHTS


(A). This government has been created to protect the governed, not the governing. In order to provide the public with full and accurate information, to promote efficient administrative management, to make government more accountable, and to insure to all persons fair and equitable treatment, the following rights are guaranteed:


1. Convenient Access. Every person has the right to transact business with the County and the municipalities with a minimum of personal inconvenience. It shall be the duty of the County Manager and the Commission to provide, within the County's budget limitations, reasonably convenient times and places for registration and voting, for required inspections, and for transacting business with the County.  [Contrast this with the lack of notice which usually prevails – e.g. holding hearings on the NDN rezoning in the summer while most of the effected residents are away.]

2. Truth in Government. No County or municipal official or employee shall knowingly furnish false information on any public matter, nor knowingly omit significant facts when giving requested information to members of the public.

3. Public Records. All audits, reports, minutes, documents and other public records of the County and the municipalities and their boards, agencies, departments and authorities shall be open for inspection at reasonable times and places convenient to the public.

4. Minutes and Ordinance Register. The Clerk of the Commission and of each municipal council shall maintain and make available for public inspection an ordinance register separate from the minutes showing the votes of each member on all ordinances and resolutions listed by descriptive title. Written minutes of all meetings and the ordinance register shall be available for public inspection not later than 30 days after the conclusion of the meeting.

5. Right to be Heard. So far as the orderly conduct of public business permits, any interested person has the right to appear before the Commission or any municipal council or any County or municipal agency, board or department for the presentation, adjustment or determination of an issue, request or controversy within the jurisdiction of the governmental entity involved; provided, nothing herein shall prohibit the Commission or any municipal council from referring a matter to a committee of each of their respective bodies to conduct a public hearing, unless prohibited by law. Matters shall be scheduled for the convenience of the public, and the agenda shall be divided into approximate time periods so that the public may know approximately when a matter will be heard. Nothing herein shall prohibit any governmental entity or agency from imposing reasonable time limits for the presentation of a matter.

6. Right to Notice. Persons entitled to notice of a County or municipal hearing shall be timely informed as to the time, place and nature of the hearing and the legal authority pursuant to which the hearing is to be held. Failure by an individual to receive such notice shall not constitute mandatory grounds for canceling the hearing or rendering invalid any determination made at such hearing. Copies of proposed ordinances or resolutions shall be made available at a reasonable time prior to the hearing, unless the matter involves an emergency ordinance or resolution. Further, the citizens of the County are entitled to know what their elected officials are deciding. No matter may be approved by the County Commission on a unanimous consent basis unless the full text of the matter was publicly available to the citizens of the County in an easy to access manner for at least three business days prior to any such granting of unanimous consent. [No such right presently exists and many items on the consent calendar are a "surprise" to many effected residents.]

7. No Unreasonable Postponements. No matter once having been placed on a formal agenda by the County or any municipality shall be postponed to another day except for good cause shown in the opinion of the County Commission, the municipal council or other governmental entity or agency conducting such meeting, and then only on condition that any person so requesting is mailed adequate notice of the new date of any postponed meeting. Failure by an individual to receive such notice shall not constitute mandatory grounds for canceling the hearing or rendering invalid any determination made at such hearing. [No such right presently exists and many items are rescheduled to the "surprise" of many effected residents.]

8. Right to Public Hearing. Upon a timely request of any interested party a public hearing shall be held by any County or municipal agency, board, department or authority upon any significant policy decision to be issued by it which is not subject to subsequent administrative or legislative review and hearing. This provision shall not apply to the Law Department of the County or of any municipality, nor to any body whose duties and responsibilities are solely advisory.  At any zoning or other hearing in which review is exclusively by certiorari, a party or his counsel shall be entitled to present his case or defense by oral or documentary evidence, to submit rebuttal evidence, and to conduct such cross-examination as may be required for a full and true disclosure of the facts. The decision of any such agency, board, department or authority must be based upon the facts in the record. Procedural rules establishing reasonable time and other limitations may be promulgated and amended from time to time.  The citizens of the County have the right to demand that items before the County Commission be debated before approval.  Any registered voter in the County can demand that an item be removed from the unanimous consent portion of a meeting and rescheduled for proper debate. [No such right presently exists and many items on the consent calendar are a "surprise" to many effected residents.]

9. Notice of Actions and Reasons. Prompt notice shall be given of the denial in whole or in part of a request of an interested person made in connection with any County or municipal administrative decision or proceeding when the decision is reserved at the conclusion of the hearing. The notice shall be accompanied by a statement of the grounds for denial. [No such right presently exists and many items which are denied have no explanation.]

10. Managers' and Attorneys' Reports. The County Manager and County Attorney and each City Manager and City Attorney shall periodically make a public status report on all major matters pending or concluded within their respective jurisdictions.

11. Budgeting. In addition to any budget required by state statute, the County Manager shall prepare a budget showing the cost of each program for each budget year. Prior to the County Commission's first public hearing on the proposed budget required by state law, the County Manager shall make public a budget summary setting forth the proposed cost of each individual program and reflecting all major proposed increases and decreases in funds and personnel for each program, the purposes therefore, the estimated millage cost of each program and the amount of any contingency and carryover funds for each program.

12. Quarterly Budget Comparisons. The County Manager shall make public a quarterly report showing the actual expenditures during the quarter just ended against one quarter of the proposed annual expenditures set forth in the budget. Such report shall also reflect the same cumulative information for whatever portion of the fiscal year that has elapsed. [No such right presently exists and many items which are over or under budget proceed without explanation.]

13. Adequate Audits. An annual audit of the County and each municipality shall be made by an independent certified public accounting firm in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. A summary of the results, including any deficiencies found, shall be made public. In making such audit, proprietary functions shall be audited separately and adequate depreciation on proprietary facilities shall be accrued so the public may determine the amount of any direct or indirect subsidy.

14. Financial Disclosure. The Commission shall by ordinance make provision for the filing under oath or affirmation by all County and municipal elective officials, candidates for County and municipal elective offices, such employees as may be designated by ordinance, and such other public officials, and outside consultants who receive funds from the County or municipalities, within the County and who may legally be included, of personal financial statements, copies of personal Federal income tax returns, or itemized source of income statements. Provision shall be made for preparing and keeping such reports current from time to time, and for public disclosure.  The Commission shall also make provision for the filing annually under oath of a report by full-time County and municipal employees of all outside employment and amounts received there from. The County Manager or any City Manager may require monthly reports from individual employees or groups of employees for good cause.

15. Representation of Public. The Commission shall endeavor to provide representation at all proceedings significantly affecting the County and its residents before State and Federal regulatory bodies.

16. Commission on Ethics and Public Trust. The County shall, by ordinance, establish an independent Commission on Ethics and Public Trust comprised of five members, not appointed by the County Commission, with the authority to review, interpret, render advisory opinions and enforce the county and municipal code of ethics ordinances, conflict of interest ordinances, lobbyist registration and reporting ordinances, ethical campaign practices ordinances, when enacted, and citizens' bill of rights. [No such body presently exists and many items which are questionable proceed without adequate explanation to the public.]

17. First principle.  It is the intent of the citizenry that the County, its Commissioners, employees, and Manager shall to the extent possible act to protect and enhance the quality of life of the citizenry presently living in the County.  When actions are required which involve trade offs between the rights of people not at the present moment residing in the County and the quality of life of those who at that present moment are resident in the County its is the governing principle of this County that the enhanced quality of life of the existing residents shall prevail. [No such first principle presently exists and many items which are really for the benefit of future residents proceed without adequate explanation to the existing residents.]


(B). The foregoing enumeration of citizens' rights vests large and pervasive powers in the citizenry of Collier County. Such power necessarily carries with it responsibility of equal magnitude for the successful operation of government in the County. The orderly, efficient and fair operation of government requires the intelligent participation of individual citizens exercising their rights with dignity and restraint so as to avoid any sweeping acceleration in the cost of government because of the exercise of individual prerogatives, and for individual citizens to grant respect for the dignity of public office.

(C). Remedies for Violations. In any suit by a citizen alleging a violation of this Article filed in the Collier County Circuit Court pursuant to its general equity jurisdiction, the plaintiff, if successful, shall be entitled to recover costs as fixed by the Court. Any public official or employee who is found by the Court to have willfully violated this Article shall forthwith forfeit his office or employment. [No such remedy presently exists and many questionable actions would be either more openly debated or better explained once this remedy was in place..]

(D). Construction. All provisions of this Article shall be construed to be supplementary to and not in conflict with the general laws of Florida. If any part of this Article shall be declared invalid, it shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.

Lissack has placed this on-line in the form of a charter for the proposed Pelican County but it should be adopted first for Collier County. Our government is in need of change.

Please see http://pelicancounty.com/charter.htm.

Uncontrolled growth is a cancer in our midst. Both candidates agree that the next four years are crucial.  One candidate and only one have public finance experience, vision, and creativity to be applied for Collier's future.  The incumbent is saddled with a network of existing relationships, promises made, and a dedication to the status quo. 

Only one candidate will look the cancer of rampant growth in the eye and demand a halt.  Only one candidate will get you a 20% property tax cut.  Only one candidate has vowed to place the interests of our existing residents first.

If you want a property tax cut, if you want to the County to plan first and only allow developers to build later, if you want to restore a sense of sanity to how this place is governed - vote Lissack on November 7.

For more information see http://pelicancounty.com.

Please pass this message on to your friends.

A paid political advertisement by Michael Lissack, NPA candidate for Collier County Commissioner  District 2.  This message was approved by Michael R. Lissack.