Margate officials go to Tallahassee to fight unfunded state mandates
By Mitch Pellecchia, publisher of www.margatenews.net
Margate taxpayers are tapped out. We can no longer pay for state mandates without state funding, says Margate Commissioner Pam Donovan.
Margate Commissioner, Pam Donovan attended Broward Days in Tallahassee this month as part of an effort to get Margate’s voice heard during this year’s Florida Legislative Session. With Margate facing a possible $4 million budgetary shortfall in 2010, Donovan and other Broward County elected officials are asking state lawmakers to stop legislating unfunded mandates, as taxpayers in their cities can no longer afford them.
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What is an unfunded mandate?
Unfunded mandates in Florida require local governments, such as Margate, to bill taxpayers for services required by the state without the state contributing funds to support said required services.
In addition, say critics, unfunded mandates cost taxpayers millions every year and they aren’t even afforded the opportunity to vote on them.
One example in Margate is state mandated “extra” pension benefits for police and fire personnel that go above and beyond pensions already funded by local property taxes. For example, Margate residents already support local fire and police pensions through ad valorem taxes. But the state requires that a larger piece of the local taxpayer pie go toward enhancing an already exceptional pension package for these workers. At the same time, taxable property values across Broward County continue to diminish at an alarming rate, which likely will result in financial crisis for more than one Broward city this year.
Read the rest of this story at BrowardNETOnline.com’s news partner MargateNews.net
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- NW Medical Center in Margate has new open heart program
- County commissioner holding town hall in Margate Dec. 10
- Two state reps ask attorney general to prepare legal action against federal health bill
- Teachers’ union officials claim school officials allegedly violating employees’ Constitutional rights
Short URL: https://browardnetonline.com/?p=7367
Posted by Andrea Freygang on Mar 31 2010. Filed under Broward County, Local news, Tallahassee, margate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
