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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 26, 2008

County Cash Cow

Mortally Wounded

It's apparent that our county government officials, inclusive of school teachers, firemen and the remaining gamut of public employees, either are somewhat ignorant that we are in the midst of a worsening recession or, quite frankly, just don't give a damn.

With hundreds of properties in foreclosure, rising unemployment, sadly, ever-increasing homeless families with children and senior citizens on fixed incomes unable to afford food and medications, county government and all public employees who rely on taxpayers for their income and lucrative benefits, continue to selfishly request and/or demand annual cost of living, salary and additional benefit increases with every new expiring contract.

It's time for them to realize that the county cash cow is in dire straights and the bleeding must stop. Then, to further add to our woes and continuing frustrations, we receive our recent tax T.R.I.M. notices sent out by Alvin Mazourek, the elected county tax appraiser who, in my opinion, is the "Golden Goose" for the county coffers, who recklessly formulates his version of fuzzy math and convoluted concepts to continually increase our property values and taxes when, most everywhere else, they are being decreased at more reasonable rates, considering newly proposed taxing statutes.

It should also be noted that Mazourek is again seeking another four-year term as the county tax appraiser; however, sadly, no candidate has been selected to oppose him by the political parties and he will be elected to another four-year term. The only thing we can do to express our disdain with his reckless and inefficient methods of taxation is not to place a vote for him on the ballot this coming November.

Hopefully, the voters will also rid our county of the reckless and inefficient incumbent county officials this coming election and achieve some semblance of sanity in spending our ever-increasing tax dollars.

Ron Dixon

Weeki Wachee

Too Many Whiny

Penny Millionaires

I don't know why everybody is crying about how expensive their property taxes are. Property taxes are one of the few taxes where you get to decide how much you're willing to pay. If you don't like paying them, you don't buy a huge estate. You may not need 10 acres or that 3,500-square-foot home with two-car garage and a swimming pool.

Instead, people put their wants ahead of their needs in a reckless display to outshine the Jones'. They scraped up as much money as they could, so they could buy themselves a McMansion, never once stopping to think about whether or not they could afford to pay the taxes. I don't make up the rules, government does, and we are all forced to live by them. The rules are simple, the bigger the place the higher the taxes.

Now we have a bunch of these "penny millionaires" crying that Amendment Five needs to pass. I, for one, am glad it was pulled off the ballot and hope it stays off! Many of us could've afforded better homes to reside in, but chose to live modestly because we don't like to pay taxes. Why should I be expected to pay a higher sales tax for these people who got themselves into this mess?

We all have to make choices throughout our lives, and sometimes our poor choices cost us dearly. But to pass the buck and expect everyone else to simply pick up the tab, so a few showoffs can continue living in opulence, is just too much. Try learning to live within your means; it's always worked for me!

Lorne DeWitt

Brooksville

So 18th Century

My sample ballot for Hernando County has many offices with three candidates each.

The problem is that a third candidate may split or spoil the election, allowing a nonmajority candidate to win. The more candidates on a ballot, the smaller percentage of the vote is needed to win. A third candidate may draw enough votes from another candidate to "spoil" or cause an upset.

Instant run-off voting, IRV, allows a voter to rank his votes, 1, 2, 3. If there is no majority winner in the election, the lowest ranking candidate is eliminated and those ballots are redistributed, according to those voters' second choices, to the remaining candidates. All ballots are retabulated in an "instant run-off," which now yields a majority winner. It eliminates delayed run-offs, spoilers, wasted votes and less than majority winners.

It is constitutional, one person/one vote, and is popular in many universities, cities and countries. A fair, fun way to vote. It is nonpartisan. McCain and Obama support IRV. Twenty states are moving this way. Plurality, our present system, is so 18th century.

William Gilbert

Weeki Wachee

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