I've got a local issue on my hands. My gut tells me Republcans have screwed up, and they should have to pay a price politically. Yet the community and the media view it as nonpartisan.
There's a ballot question on Tuesday in a Florida county asking voters to raise the sales tax a half-penny to create revenue to build schools in an under-funded district.
Take a look at the issue, and help me find a way to make Republicans pay for their incompetent and shortsighted "leadership."
Background on the issue: Our county is a prime example of one-party Republican rule. 5 of 5
commissioners and 5 of 5
school board members are rich white Republican men over 45 in a county that went for Gore and Sen. Bill Nelson in 2000 and where D registration outnumbers R registration 38,000 to 33,000. At the state and congressional levels, our community has been gerrymandered into safe GOP districts. Most officials run unopposed for reelection.
In a fast-growing but poor community, the ol' boys club has fouled up royally with regard to school funding.
Through much of the 90s, we were the fastest-growing county in the U.S. Our school district cannot keep up with growth because as a low-income, high-growth county, we are the worst-funded district in the stae. County commissioners, whose compensation is tied to population, have done virtually nothing to manage growth effectively. State legislators secured an emergency $8.7M appropriation, but have failed to fix the funding formula. They have not fought a law which puts a cap on annual tax assessment, a law that has caused assessments and thus local property tax revenue to stagnate (Law limiting annual increases + Clinton economic boom = woefully under-assessed property).
The county commission appointed a task force to study the issue, and the task force recommended raising "impact fees" (assessed against new homes based on their projected impact on local services) and raising the sales tax from 7% to 7.5%, which will supposedly generate most of the $450M needed for construction in coming years.
The impact fees have been raised to more than $9,000 per new home, the highest in FL. Under the guise of "making development pay for itself," they have put homeownership out of reach for many working families. Additionally, the fee is the same on an $88,000 home (median value in our county) and a $1,000,000 home. Translation: regressive fee structure. Furthermore, rather than extorting money from home developers up front, the county rezones land at their request and approves every project that is proposed, straining the schools (and roads and other services) and passing the cost along to homebuyers.
The sales tax increase to be voted on Tuesday, also completely regressive, also inordinately burdens the poor. However, it is likely that tourists may pay as much as 40% of the tax.
What does this have to do with partisan politics, you ask?
Our one-party Republican government has insulated itself politically from criticism on this issue. They all say they support the tax increase, but when asked, the local REC refused to endorse it. There is an Ax the Tax group actively but ineffectively fighting the initiative. If Republican leaders are criticized for their support of the tax, they can blame it on the Schools Facilities Task Force, saying it was their idea. Also, by scheduling the election for the same day as the Democratic primary, they can say it was just those tax-loving Dems who brought this upon us.
The fact is that by their shortsighted leadership and incompetent planning skills, these GOoPers have put our schools in a horrible situation, and now they want the people to bail them out.
One newspaper says we should approve the tax because it's better to do something than nothing. Another paper says we should vote no because "officials have no business going to the public to seek a tax increase until they have used all their existing resources to manage growth."
The populace rarely sees these kinds of issues as partisan in nature, and the local press mostly acts as cheerleaders for those in power.
Thanks for hanging in there and helping me think through this issue.
What's a Dem to do?
Republican failures of this magnitude ought to cost several Republicans their jobs. How can they be made to pay for their failure?