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SAVE LOCAL GOVERNMENT

SAVE LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Originally Published in Martin Moments this article re-published in Friends and Neighbors of Martin County, Sunday 9/3/23

Local government needs to be saved from local career politicians.

Pols will remain in office for as long as they can. The original concept of spending a few years performing your civic duty is no longer desired by the men and women who stay in office year after year and term after term. They never leave. And that is true from the federal to the local levels of government.

Only a change in the U.S. Constitution can make people like Chuck Grassley and Diane Feinstein step down. But on the local level, the state legislature can step in and require term limits. They did it just recently for school boards.

Take our current county commission. While no one has declared yet, I will bet dollars to donuts that the three incumbents up for re-election next year (Doug Smith, Ed Ciampi, and Harold Jenkins) will stand for re-election. There is a good chance that at least two will not even have token opposition. That is not the way it was supposed to be.

A county commissioner is paid a little less than $75,000 and has health and retirement benefits. They are allowed to have other employment and own businesses. How many would walk away from extra money? There are no set hours or prescribed duties except to show up at commission meetings.  Though some work at it continuously and others not so much.

In my opinion, the main reason no one leaves is that being called commissioner is intoxicating. They begin to believe their own publicity. Some go into the office thinking they will stay for one term then it becomes a second and then by the third time, they have just a little more to accomplish before hanging it up. At the completion of their terms, Commissioners Smith and Heard will have been around for 6 terms. That is 24 years.

Most people won’t run against an incumbent. Incumbency has huge advantages from having established campaign contributors to name recognition. Martin County does not have a very large media market, so getting your name out there is difficult and therefore expensive. Commissioners become beholden to special interests, and special interests would rather support the devil they know over an unknown.

And this goes for municipalities also. Stuart commissioners are making over $23,000 a year plus medical and retirement benefits. Last year, two new commissioners were elected. One ran because a commissioner left the office voluntarily to move away from the area. The second incumbent was beaten by less than 100 votes because of his stance on a very controversial development project. These were unusual circumstances.

Being in government at this level should be looked upon in the same manner as serving on a nonprofit board. They should not be paid (Sewall’s Point, Ocean Breeze, and Jupiter Island commissioners currently do not receive any compensation) to provide volunteer leadership. There should be a stipend for expenses.

Being in an office should not be a career. No one should go in as a young person and come out as a senior citizen. It isn’t a job.

Only the legislature can fix term limits and determine what the county commissioners receive for salary and benefits. City charters can be amended for municipal office holders. Yet when the charter review committee for Stuart recommended 8-year term limits, the commissioners bumped it up to 12 years. They can’t help themselves.

The legislature needs to step in and correct this. Sure, some will claim preemption, but it isn’t. It is restoring democracy by taking away financial incentives and the power of incumbency. Let’s give back local elected office to the people. Otherwise, it never will be the government closest to the people.

As Published In Martin Moments.

Read the Questions and Answers below so that you have additional information to help you make an informed decision on the petition to change the Town Charter

Questions and Answers

The Issue: Because representative government does not always represent the will of the people, this petition will give residents a voice regarding major town projects. It will do so by requiring that a majority of residents approve major projects before town funds are expended on them.

At the December 13, 2022 town meeting, Commissioners voted 3-2 to approve Phase I of a septic-to-sewer project for South Sewall’s Point. It was conditioned on the securing of sufficient grant funding and a Memorandum of Understanding from Martin County Utilities regarding the number of homes permitted to access the waste disposal system via a grinder system. Martin County policy limits a community to 300 grinders. There are currently 706 homes in South Sewall’s Point.

At the January 10th , 2023, meeting, the commissioners voted to submit a grant application for Phase I of a Septic to Sewer program outlined by Captec Engineering in a $110,000 study commissioned by the town. Phase I would prepare 148 homes for hook up to a grinder system. At the December 2022 meeting, the approval for Phase I was conditioned on the securing of grant funding and a Memorandum of Understanding from Martin County Utilities regarding the number of homes permitted to access the waste disposal system via a grinder system.

However, the grant application stated “This initial installation will provide the first 148 homes with access to sewer. A combination of a conventional vacuum sewer, gravity and grinder system will be implemented to achieve hook up into the Martin County owned and maintained utility.”
In order to provide sewer to the entire south Sewall’s Point area of 706 homes, it will require the town to spend an estimated $29,548,900 and will “Require a Mandatory Special Assessment on all residents of South Sewall’s Point to cover the difference in costs needed to reach the required 50/50 match unless other means of making up the difference is found. “ (page 33, Captec Study)
Question: Have the town Commissioners been asked to put this to a referendum?
Answer: Yes. Residents, and Commissioners Kurzman and Campo advocated for a referendum. On 12/13/22, a vote was taken. Commissioners Fender, Mayfield & Tompeck voted against a referendum while Commissioners Campo and Kurzman voted to put the issue before the voters. The final vote was 3-2 against allowing the voters a voice in the largest capital project in town history.

Question: Why does the Town Commission want to install sewers in South Sewall’s Point?
Answer: The official narrative is that the Town of Sewall’s Point is polluting the St. Lucie River and the Indian River Lagoon or has the potential to pollute it if sea levels rise by 2050. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) models predicts that the Mean High Water/King Tide elevations at the Town of Sewall’s Point could increase from 2.58 ft NAVD (2020) to approximately 3.55 ft NAVD by 2050. If that rise of less than one foot were to happen, many conventional septic systems could be flooded and leach sewage into these waterways.

Question: Is the Town of Sewall’s Point polluting the lagoon?
Answer: FDEP data shows that the Lagoon here is neither impaired nor classified as “water not attaining standards.” The Florida Oceanographic Society concurs, rating the Lagoon water here “good” or “ideal” except when there are discharges from Lake Okeechobee. FDEP Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP), did not consider the Town of Sewall’s Point as a priority contributor and was not required (emphasis added) to meet the 10-year reduction target for total nitrogen and phosphorus. because our contributions are already low. We do NOT have “many failing septic tanks,” as the Town has claimed on grant applications.

Question: Aren’t municipal sewage treatment plants better suited to avoid polluting Florida’s waterways?
Answer: The Guardian on 10 September 2020 reported “Between 2015 and March 2020, there were 13,984 reported sewage spills in the state, according to data obtained from the Florida department of environmental protection (FDEP). The FDEP confirmed the statistics obtained from the data. During this period a staggering 1,658,165,304 gallons of sewage were spilled in Florida, after initial recovery efforts were completed.” These spills are caused by municipal sewer utilities.

A 11 December 2022 article in the Palm Beach Post stated that after hurricane IAN, “at least 312 spill incidents were reported to DEP during the week after Ian.” The article went on to state that according to Public Employees for Environmental Reporting (PEER), “Almost daily sewage discharges have become a way of life in Florida”. Utilities state wide leaked at least 30 million gallons of raw sewage in 2021 as recorded in 900 emergency alerts from a dozen counties. PEER believes that this number is under estimated since 60% of the known discharges failed to report the volume released.

Municipal sewage treatment plants across the state have major problems. Many sewage lines are old and corroded, and require replacement. When a municipal system fails, the negative environmental impact is enormous. When a septic system fails, the negative environmental impact is small.

Question: How many homes in South Sewall’s Point are in low lying areas?
Answer: If the projections of NOAA are to be believed, up to 172 homes could be impacted by the rising sea levels by 2050. This represents approximately 24% of the homes in South Sewall’s Point.

Question: Why not address the 172 homes that will be impacted as opposed to all 706 homes in South Sewall’s Point?
Answer: That question has been asked of the Town Commission and They have failed to provide a satisfactory answer.

Question: If 76% of the homes (534) are not a problem, why should they be assessed for a sewer system?
Answer: They should not be assessed.

Question: What are other alternatives?
Answer: Hold a referendum on amending the Town Charter to prohibit the Town Commissioners from taking any action that would cause the town to incur debt, or to assess the property owners or to raise taxes above the CPI to fund an unnecessary sewer system.

Question: Why a referendum?
Answer: The residents of the Town should have a voice as to whether this $25.9 million project should be undertaken. If a 55% majority of residents vote for sewers, then by all means let it happen; however, if they vote against the project, then the Town Commissioners will have to pursue other alternatives.

Question: The wording of the referendum would prohibit the raising of taxes above the CPI, Why?
Answer: When they ran for office, the Commissioners pledged to hold down taxes. But in 2022, they voted to put through the largest tax increase (16%) in the town’s history. They raised taxes again for the fiscal year 2023-2024

Question: How much will this cost me?
Answer: There is no clear answer. The Commission’s goal is to convert ALL 706 homes in South Sewall’s Point to sewer, regardless of age. On 11/8/22, Captec Engineering released a draft report with several design options. Preliminary cost estimates ranged from $14,034,200 to $34,524,300. Most options (2,3 and 4) will require residents to pay a mandatory assessment. At a minimum all options included connection charges starting at $8,000.

Question: Can grants pay for this?
Answer: Although the town has been successful in securing grant money, most grants require a matching dollar amount by the town. This would come from the town incurring debt, assessing the property owners or raising taxes. Grants can only fund work done on public property, such as installing force mains under public roadways. Grants cannot pay for any work done on private property. Residents will still be responsible for paying any mandatory assessments plus the cost of connecting to the new sewer lines. Current estimates for this connection range between $8,000 and $12,000 per home. Most grants require that the town pay a minimum of 50% “match.”.

Question: Will North Sewall’s Point be impacted since sewers are already present?
Answer: It is unclear if the town can selectively assess certain properties and not all properties.

Question: Where can I get more information?
Answer: Contact any of the Town Commissioners and ask them why this is necessary.
James Campo JCampo@sewallspoint.org
Frank Fender FFender@sewallspoint.org
Dave Kurzman dkurzman@sewallspoint.org
Kaija Mayfield kmayfield@sewallspoint.org
John Tompeck jtompeck@sewallspoint.org

Or any of the people listed below:
Donna Joyce stargirl1991@yahoo.com
Tony Lagana tonelag101@gmail.com
Mona Leonard monaleonardrealtor@gmail.com
Kathy Miscoski kjmiscoski@gmail.com
Art Schwartz Artschwartz50@gmail.com
Frank Tidikis tidikis@bellsouth.net

Or, you can visit the website: http://www.sewallspoint.info/

Your tax dollars fund the town projects, how do you want your money spent? Please become familiar with the issues!

Martin County Taxpayers Association- Sewall’s Point Septic to Sewer

The Martin County Taxpayers Association  https://mctaxpayers.org/  which was founded on January 15, 1950, the MCTA is the oldest taxpayers association in the state of Florida. Their basic purpose is to review, monitor and report on tax and other financial issues that impact the taxpayers of Martin County. Their mission is to monitor and review all fiscal and tax matters affecting Martin County. To engage public officials, community leaders and private sector organizations who may influence the economy and efficiency of the County of Martin, the School District, municipalities and other taxing authorities in the matter of taxes and the financial resources of the County. In addition, the MCTA is committed to establishing a culture and environment conductive to the preservation of tax dollars and taxpayers interests and to communicate through public information programs on county, state and federal tax policies and to form or join coalitions of organizations that inform, educate and influence tax and other fiscal policies that impact Martin County taxpayers.

Please visit the website for the MCTA to learn about all that they do. While on the website be sure to read the article that deals with SEWALL’S POINT SEPTIC TO SEWER: https://mctaxpayers.org/options-to-sewers/ to gain some insight on what is going on in our town and affects our pocketbooks.