LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letter writer

misses the point

Re: "County experiencing a turnip crop failure."

Mr. Chamberlain has missed the point of the advocates of a state income tax.

In the first place, we have stipulated that such a tax would be "instead of" and not "in addition to" existing taxes. Repeal of current methods of collecting tax revenue would be a necessary condition for implementing an income tax.

In the second place, we are concerned solely with the method of collecting tax revenue, not with how the revenues are spent. The fact that revenues collected via the income tax are frequently irresponsibly spent or that tax rates usually creep up is beside the point. This is true of any revenue collected by any type of tax. This is a legitimate criticism of government officials but not of the income tax.

The point is that an income tax is a more equitable means of collecting revenue; more equitable than a sales tax, e.g., which falls more heavily on the poor; more equitable than a property tax, e.g., which falls more heavily on the thrifty and the responsible.

But the zephyr of reason has little or no chance of prevailing in the gale of politics and voter misunderstanding.

Tom L. Troyer

Brooksville

Election reminder

I wish to thank the county commissioners for the tax reduction on my house, which came to a total of 1.9 percent.

Unfortunately, my assessed value, which was determined by SunTrust Bank property appraisal department, plunged 30 percent. My home's value dropped $84,000 in one year.

I hope that the county tax assessor will take this into account and will lower my taxes a like amount. Ha! Fat chance.

When I asked the person at the bank how such a thing could happen, I was told that it was a combination of a glutton in the market of homes for sale caused by overbuilding, a very poor economy in the area and a perception of high taxes by prospective buyers, not to mention a stampede to get out of this area. All of these things were caused by local politics.

Only when our county commissioners wake up and realize what they are doing to us will things change.

We must all remember this at election time.

William Kingeter

Spring Hill

Grant funds misused

Re: "$1 Million Available to Help With Home Repairs"

I assume that by implanting the thought in the reader's minds that the county "competed for and won its fourth CDBG grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development" is intended to paint a pretty picture of an "ugly situation" and mislead the readers and Hernando County voters in the process.

The "ugly situation" being painted by the reporter of this article as a pretty picture is that CDBG grants are based on need, rather than by competition. In order to qualify for a CDBG grant, you must first have at least one neighborhood that qualifies for revitalization, an area defined as urban blight and slums, not as the reporter stated, "to prevent urban blight and slums from forming" - the Hernando County government is collecting taxes for this purpose.

CDBG grants in most jurisdictions, except, here in Hernando County, are normally targeted for areas that are already defined as urban blight and slum areas. The south Brooksville area, south of Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard and north of the State Road 50 (truck route) is the only area in Hernando County that can possible be defined as an urban blight and slum area caused by years of neglect by county government officials, years of neglect in the distribution of tax dollars designed to keep areas from developing into urban blight/slum areas. Hernando County and the city of Brooksville, collectively, have received more than $14 million worth of CDBG grants since 1994, using the demographic/poverty data of the citizens of south Brooksville to qualify for these millions.

In a recent article, published in the Hernando Today by a different reporter, stated that "up to 200 homes" had been developed or repaired with CDBG funds obtained by Hernando County through the years. Where are these homes? There are only about 125 homes in the urban blighted and slum area of south Brooksville, yet most of the homes in this blight and slum area are still in the pre-condition of 1994 and in need of repairs, and the infrastructure is in complete shambles. If the 125 homes that are located in an area where the infrastructure is the sole major problem had been repaired, there would not be an area in Hernando County that could be considered as an urban blighted or slum area.

If the Department of Housing and Urban Development laws of "at least 70 percent of CDBG funds must be spent in the urban blighted/slums areas that had the qualifying demographic/poverty conditions" would have been adhered to. This would represent at least 140 homes.

There are only about 125, homes in south Brooksville, including those that do not required repairs. The true picture to paint out of an ugly situation is that all of the homes that required repairing in south Brooksville should have already been repaired.

The question is why is this particular reporter attempting to paint a picture out of an ugly situation, when another reporter from the same paper painted a different picture out of the same ugly situation? What happened to $14 million worth of CDBG funds? Where did the Hernando County Housing Authority come up with $250,000 to contribute, when its funds are also provided through mostly Department of Housing and Urban Development funds? Were these funds not earmarked for a particular project?

What is not mentioned in the article "$1 Million Available to Help With Home Repairs" is that funds also were set aside for demolishing homes. When asked what homes were targeted to be demolished, it was stated that they had not been identified.

However, recently, at least three homes were demolished without the approval of the owners. They were supposedly demolished because they were in deplorable conditions and being used as drug houses. Nevertheless, they all would have qualified for repairs under the current CDBG grant requirements. The truth is not being told. The predominantly black south Brooksville community is the only community in Hernando County that qualifies as an urban blighted and slum area.

It has been this way since the 1980s and 1994-2007, during a period when more than $14 million of CDBG funds came into Hernando County. The systematic means in which Hernando County is utilizing CDBG grants and denying the true areas that qualified for the funds access to these funds in the progress is criminal and in violation of HUD laws governing discrimination.

The citizens of south Brooksville are being grossly discriminated upon and have been since 1994, through a period of more than $14 million being allocated to redevelop the south Brooksville community.

Richard L. Howell

Brooksville