In my capacity as an HROA Director, I thought it important to bring everyone up to date on this important issue. Several have mentioned that this battle should enlist the HROA, the Developer and/or the CDD. All might be valid points but, after much discussion, several of us feel that this truly needs to be a resident-driven battle.
So, to that end, Carl Fsadni and I, working with development company assistance, have gotten a letter prepared detailing the need for every resident here to get involved. Thanks to Nancy Snyder and her church group, that letter should get posted on every door next week.
It will then be up to the residents to turn out and face the commissioners with their opinions and ultimately, their votes.
To those who think the fire fee is too expensive: If your tax bill is like mine, it dropped last year by about $1000---money in my pocket. Now, the new fee is going to be $153-$188 so you are still ahead. My opinion is that they can make the fee $250 which would solve nearly all the budget problem and I'd still be $750 ahead!!
As HARMONY residents, we are facing the largest service cuts--other county residents are not facing cuts like we are so they are battling for lowest fee possible and that's what we need to counteract.
I have also sent emails to every commissioner and all the responses I've received have been positive. Based on that, I think at least some commissioners truly "get it" and will come down on our side. In fact, one of them asked me to come to the meeting and present the numbers as I did in the paragraph above. If my travel schedule permits, I will certainly be there.
In closing, let me state that this IS vitally important to all of us. Just because you might sense that others are "handling it" you still need to be involved.
THANX!!
Steve Berube
Thanks for your viewpoints,Carla..
My thoughts on your points--
1) OF COURSE!!! It only makes including financially...think about it...they spent 3 million to build the station-that's with the land & sitework being donated by the developer...a new station likely will cost that much all over again....the budget shortfall is about that much...so, if they CANNOT fund the budget shortage of about 3 million, WHERE will the 3 million for the new station come from?? Just doesn't make sense...
2) The point of the residents being on the frontline is that residents can VOTE---other entities such as developer don't vote; so that's why to the extent possible we're trying to make this resident driven...
3) Sorry to hear of your unemployment---you and millions of others are unfortunately victims of many forces beyond your control....my point on the taxes is that you were paying the fire fee before--it was just built-in to your tax bill and went somewhat unnoticed....now that it's broken out, it gets your attention....but, total tax bill will remain about the same as Fire just moves from a top of the page line to a bottom of the page line....as it appears right now, about $30 extra solves the problem...I'm not trying to minimize the value of $30, but that seems to be the cause of all this excitement...
4) Again, while it might be a great idea for high schoolers to take on, there's only 8 days between now and (possibly) a decision.....getting them mobilized might prove difficult....and, we're back to the voting thing....
5) emails are as follows: michael...@osceola.org, jo...@osceola.org, ba...@osceola.org, ken....@osceola.org, fh...@osceola.org
6) Sorry to hear that you're leaving. Hopefully, you will enjoy your future endeavors.
Steve