Open Letter To Council Members

Greetings Council Members:

I understand from today's Eagle article that you are soliciting citizen input for some of the decisions you are making tonight. That is commendableand I hope you will carefully weigh all of what you receive.

Tonight you will be deciding on the Budget and I want to make a few comments about that.

The city will have a 12 billion dollar taxable property value to draw from. A considerable amount of money for a city the size of Marco Island. Many city administrators across the country managing budgets for comparable communities would be elated by such a windfall. Yet our city managerand his financial director lament not having enough to pay for such basic services as police and fire rescue services or park and recreational services.

Mr. Harrison stated to the Eagle today that "the city has the same cost issuesas every individual and business". I respectfully disagree. We can go backto the rollback rate if our City Council would slow down spending. Unlike,our City Council, thrifty individuals do not spend more than they can affordand successful business owners do not borrow to purchase more infrastructurethan they really require. So give our taxpayers, City Manager our FinancialDirector, our Police and our Fireman a break. Stop trying to rebuild Marco Island in such a short period of time, use more of our good fortune to supportthese basic services. We can eventually have all that we plan for, just be willing to adjust your timetable and wait for it a little longer.

As for this large reserve the City keeps accumulating every year. Start paying for things we really need like replacing the WWTP. We own it, in someway it benefits all of us. Declare it an emergency and use the excess reserveto replace the WWTP if is in such bad condition.

Slow down the STRP, priorto approving a new district test the area and prove that it is required first. We will support you if it is needed. Pay for it out of general revenueso that we can deduct it from our Federal taxes. Don't develop a scheme to bilk the tax payer like your current assessment plan is. The STRP has neverbeen justified and may never be required. 135 million dollars is a lot of moneyto ask us for, especially when you have a 12 billion dollar taxable property pool. When you develop programs that require assessments, you are in fact increasing taxes. An assessment is simply another name for a tax, we are notfooled by this especially when the assessments are not charged across the board. Try harder to be fair and you will have less discontent on the island. Slow down and be reasonable. Mr. Trotter said it best "it's not your money". I know I have already sent you an email regarding the POPS petition and how

I feel you were misinformed by the City Attorney. However, let me simply askyou this question, why do you have so much trouble with the word "may"? Surely you know that this word allows for contingencies. Abide by the Charter,it's intent and not your personal wishes. Stop looking for loopholes.

You are not only sworn to uphold the Charter but to apply it's intent. So takeanother look at your decision, debate the arguments and move forward. I amconfident you will do the right thing and permit the referendum to play out withthe electorate. Do not disenfranchise 2,000 supporters or you will surely have another law suit. You must do the right thing. What are you afraid of? You all sincerely believe that the electorate is on your side, so you already know they will do the right thing.

Thank you for considering my opinions and advise.

Byron Erickson,
1735 Hummingbird Ct.