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Rep. Murzin: Time To Fess Up And Be Honest About Consolidation
March 6, 2010
The following opinion piece was submitted by Rep. Dave Murzin concerning governmental consolidation in Escambia County.
One of the biggest problems with government today is that people do not trust their elected officials. This is trust from Washington, D.C. to Tallahassee down to our city councils and school boards statewide.
The consolidation plan as presented to the Legislative Delegation creates multiple questions about the reasons behind the consolidation efforts and raises both legal and constitutional concerns.
I think we should be honest and open about the motives surrounding the need for consolidation of the City of Pensacola, the City of Century and Escambia County. Is the need to consolidate services in order to save money, avoid duplication of service, and be beneficial to taxpayers? Are there alternative actions that do not require legislative action, but can achieve the same results? Governmental functions such as energy services, law enforcement, fire protection, building inspections and water, sewer and garbage can all be combined without the Legislatures involvement.
Options are included in Florida Statutes for cooperation between local governments that do not require a vote from the Florida Legislature. One of those options is called the Florida Interlocal Cooperation Act of 1969. The Act provides city and county commissions the ability to enter into binding or nonbinding agreements and put a referendum before the voters for consideration. The people of Pensacola and Escambia County don’t need us in Tallahassee telling them what is best in their neighborhoods. The taxpayers should be the ones to decide these questions- the people who are affected most by these decisions. Let the city and county government officials enter into Interlocal Agreements and then let the citizens cast their vote on whether they want to consolidate.
But if the motivation for the most recent consolidation efforts is not honestly for consolidation of government services, and I am afraid that if that is the case, then we need to have a frank and open discussion about them.
If the proposal was a way to shift a City of Pensacola tax burden or pension liability from 54,000 people to 300,000 people, then we should talk about that issue and why these debts exist. If the plan was a way to pay for a specific project in one area at the expense of others, then let’s debate the merits.
If we need to have a discussion about annexation by one entity because of the financial liabilities, giving 54,000 people access to 300,000 checkbooks does nothing to solve the problem.
It is time to fess up and be honest about what is trying to be accomplished.
We live in a Republic, where citizens are elected to do the best job we can with all the resources available.
The people of Florida do not vote on every issue that is being discussed in a state of 18 million people. The Legislature gathers information, debates the merits of any plan and votes. Proposed constitutional changes are handled the same way. The referendum shall be held after the approval of the consolidation plan by the Legislature, at the next general election.
Comments
12 Responses to “Rep. Murzin: Time To Fess Up And Be Honest About Consolidation”
WOW….the way he words his opinion piece here makes him sound like an outsider looking in. He’s smack dab in the middle of all of this and if I was a betting woman, I’d bet my best pair of drawers he knows way more than he’s sharing with any of us.
You know that saying “The apple don’t fall far from the tree”? Small governments are the apples and the Big government is the tree and we all see how that’s been and still ongoing.
I agree with bill, big b little ill, not only do I worry for the northend’s future and where it’s heading, I also worry about the bigger picture which is the United States of America. At what point does China say enough is enough and want to come in and take over their realestate? As of May 2009, the US owed China $772 billion and we owe many other countries lots of $$$ as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Debt_Clock
What will that mean for my family and I who have worked hard to acheive our goals and struggled many years to keep our home and land. Will they one day say “You no longer own it anymore, it’s ours now and you must leave”? Personally, I am very concerned and worried for not only our family’s welfare, but all others too.
Bill W. said it best, good government starts at the local level and works it way up.
It is a good thing for you Murz that we couldn’t vote on your train and bailout of csx, I believe it would have failed in the panhandle of fla for sure………You care what I think, why then waste all that money on a train in south fla that most of us will never use just for campain money and maybe a mailer against evers… Is that why yall did this in dec to keep the peeps from putting this together with the cuts coming in education and medicare ect…..Why can’t yall stop this stupid gov from buying land and wasting money on this train what this would save 3-4 billion alone…… Even your peeps with the chamber won’t more land bought……..How much land is enough remember the more you buy the less tax you collect and the more you have to raise………What now over 35% of the land in fla is owned by gov in one form or another……Remember what you said in the daily rag you are the chair everything has too come threw you so stop this bull crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ritz carlton Hill signed on to the consolidation takening him out of the election picture, got to just love poly-ticks!!!! Hell obama man hug has got it hard to even vote rubio now…………..I just hope the lid dosn’t come of the GOP leadership picture murz have you got a credit card!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honest Abe…. are you Abe Lincoln? Cuz you’re a little behind times…..
The pensions WERE TO BE PAID FOR by everyone in the consolidated government area…. they slipped that little nugget in on the last night before it was turned over to the Legislative Delegation…. which is pretty telling of some of the ulterior motives at play…
Here’s the article on it here at NE…. http://www.northescambia.com/?p=13856
I am disappointed that Rep. Murzin would choose to seek to gain favor from folks in North Escambia by telling a blatant lie about the proposed consolidation plan. I live in North Escambia and realize the proposal is unpopular here, but that fact does not give any politician the right to lie to the people. Murzin insinuates in his comments that “the proposal was a way to shift a City of Pensacola tax burden or pension liability from 54,000 people to 300,000 people”. This simply is not true.
Section 10.02.E. on page 27 of the proposed consolidation plan says:
“E. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section13.01A., funding and payment of government pensions to employees of former governments shall be provided from the same sources for funding and payment of such pensions had consolidation not taken place. If ad valorem taxes are utilized for funding and payment of such pensions, the Consolidated Government shall levy taxes for such payments only on the property which is located in the area where property was taxable for such purpose immediately prior to the effective date of this charter.”
This provision clearly says that the people living in the area of the present City of Pensacola will be taxed separately to pay for the City’s old pension plan. People living in North Escambia can’t be taxed for it as Murzin says. Why would Murzin tell such a lie? . . . To cover for the fact that he denied the people the right to vote on this issue. People in Washington don’t want to hear our opinion, and it looks to me like the same goes for Murzin and Greg Evers.
It is fair to debate the merits of the consolidation proposal. But whether you are for or against the proposal, we can’t allow another politician to climb his way into office by telling lies to us regular folks. Throw all of the bums out. It just burns me up that they think people in the North end are too stupid to read the thing for ourselves.
Yep!
We don’t need Tallahassee telling local people what we need and We don’t need consolidation.
I agree with Dave on this issue. I appreciate a representative who has the courage to point out the underlying issue(s) driving the consolidation initiative.
Poor government can only be blamed on the governed. As voters we don’t “train” our representatives.
It all starts at the local level, commissioners, elected board members,etc. They should “pass the test” before being allowed to go up to the next level.
At the State level they should be tested for their ability be handle more responsibility and some may be allowed to move to the highest level if they pass the test. If they fail at any level they shouldn’t be allowed to advance.
The people in higher positions now probably got started in politics when we were younger and didn’t pay close attention to their performance. A phone call got our road or drainage problem fixed and we were happy to go to that BBQ so we let them off the hook for bad decisions. Shame on us.
I guess Dave summed it up pretty good. Trust, jobs lost that comes with consolidation and just the overall plan that the north end gets screwed. Just how many time does this consolidation effort have to be voted down for them to realize the word “NO”!! I guess this little letter tells a lot about what you knew all along, the underhanded deal making going on, in the way you worded you letter. Is there anyone in Escambia County that wants to help the people, will someone honest come forward? All you have to do is treat everyone on an equal playing field, listen to the people and do what we think is best for the county. The north end of the county is “NEVER” going to vote for anything the south ends wants unless the north has some say, and can benefit from it. You know something like a real nice baseball park (minor league team) for everyone in the county to enjoy, nice boating areas, may be even a couple of county pools (swimming lesions). There is lot ideas the people from the north end would love to share and make happen!! All good things don’t come from the south end.
Dave’s right about this, it was a hustle all along like the so called Maritime Park.A plan to benefit the few at the expense of many. Follow the trail of who stands to benefit the most from all of this and I guarantee you it is NOT the people who live north of Brent Lane.
Rember Murzin when you look for someone to vote against.
This statement ” One of the biggest problems with government today is that people do not trust their elected officials. This is trust from Washington, D.C. to Tallahassee down to our city councils and school boards statewide.”
Trust just like respect is earned. With Goverment spending out of control, the Congressional Report Forecasts $9.8 Trillion Deficit. and nothing they do in Washington seams to help. Political parties fighting over who get recognition and pork barrel projects for special intrest rather than doing good for the whole counrty.
How can people trust them?
What happens when China says no more we want our money back?
What happens to American business and the technology taken to these countries when they say get out?
What happens when tax is placed on items like gasoline that could bring $7.00 a gal.?
What happens when the working class people can’t afford to live on their incomes?
To many what ifs and what happens, not enough answers.
What does Murzin mean in that last sentence, “The referendum shall be held after the approval of the consolidation plan by the Legislature, at the next general election.”? I guess he is trying to say that those who approved and pushed this consolidation plan will find themselves voted out of office because of their poor assessment of how we’d take it.