Dear Neighbor,
The Pinecrest Village Council has authorized a referendum to ask voters if taxes should be increased for all property owners to pay for $15,000,000 in bonds for the extension of water lines for a small group of Pinecrest residents, mostly on the east side of Pinecrest. If approved, Pinecrest citizens will be obligated to pay a tax increase for the next 20 years that will be of no benefit for nearly all of its residents and will amount to an unnecessary double tax for most.
I strongly recommend a vote against this unfair tax by voting “Against Bonds” when you receive your ballot in the mail from the County Elections Department during the first two weeks of March. After marking it, return it in the self-addressed envelope.
I have been a Village of Pinecrest resident since the City’s formation and have followed the City’s progress over the years. This tax proposal is one of the most unfair, poorly thought out, and misleading proposals I have come across. Promoters favoring the bonds point out the benefits to be gained but fail to mention who benefits and the tax increase involved.
The ballot itself is confusing when it asks voters to choose either For Bonds or Against Bonds when the true meaning is For a Tax Increase or Against a Tax Increase.
Other financing alternatives are available for the desired improvements such as a special taxing district. This method can provide the necessary funds to complete the water extension; will cost slightly more for those receiving the benefit than the cost under a Village-wide tax; and the unfair tax increase for all Pinecrest property owners will be avoided. In addition, grants and other assistance can be pursued to help reduce or possibly eliminate the water extension cost. Finally, property owners that receive the water line extension are likely to see a side benefit in the form of increased property values.
For the benefit of all Pinecrest citizens, please vote Against Bonds.
Sincerely,
John Steinbauer,
Pinecrest Neighbor
John@Steinbauer.com
John, Thank you for shedding light on this matter.
Many had property owners had the chance to hook up and neglected to do so.
What is troubling is how this matter has come up for the referendum vote as a mail in ballot.
There is no benefit to the whole village. The benefit is for a small percentage of the Village.
I’m with you John to vote NO or against this bond referendum.
Couldn’t disagree with you more John and your numbers and costs are all wrong.
This is a critical infrastructure issue that must be addressed . The fact us, salt water intrusion is coming our way , it has already destroyed wells in Montgomery gardens just the other side of Old Cutler Road.
I tried for 8 years as Mayor to find federal , state or county funds to complete our potable water / fire hydrant infrastructure project. And after 8 years I came to the conclusion that no other governmental entity was going to step forward and fund this. So as many other cities have recently done , they go to the voters to approve municipal bonds.
It’s our village responsibility to finance the completion. Because the completed project is projected to cost $15 million, it must go to a public vote. Look at what the cities of Miami Beach and Miami did last year, they went to a vote for hundreds of millions of dollars for their infrastructure projects and the voters approved. We were fortunate to have received $4.5 million from the County GOB bond in 2007. At that time it was made clear that they expected Pinecrest to complete the rest of the infrastructure project ourselves. Now is the time for us to complete this critical infrastructure.
Please vote YES when you receive the mail in ballot on or about March 6. Vote YES and mail it back to the Supervisor of Elections right away.
Any questions, I’d be happy to answer. You can reply to this email .
Thank you ,
Cindy Lerner
John Steinbauer, I live in the northwest part of Pinecrest, bought my property in 1990, and STILL do not have access to county water. I am sure that you know the history of this, that the completion of access to a main water line on each street within the Village was part of ONE project involving about 1,500 homes back in 2007. The project was never completed, and 743 of us THROUGHOUT the Village remain without water. But one thing that you neglect to mention is that we ALL pay for the General Obligations Bond for that project. It is in our taxes under County Wide Debt Service. We all continue to pay that amount although the final 743 homes have absolutely no benefit. So, it’s kind of like “we paid for yours, now let’s finish it up.” And other than that, the whole Village will suffer if there continues to be found chemicals such as arsenic and dieldrin in well water, or if many homes would burn due to lack of fire hydrants. Let us not be short-sighted and selfish neighbors.