Sunday, August 24, 2014

Point of View: Lake Worth voters should eschew cynicism,...

Robert L. Guyer, chairman of the City of Lake Worth Finance Advisory Board, weighs in as part of the Palm Beach Post's Point of View section of their editorial page. He brings some convincing arguments for some cynics out there and is well worth the read. The Finance Advisory Board, or another newly appointed citizen board, may be charged with oversight of the program, monitoring progress and expenditures during the time work is going on. Click title for link. From the article:
Lake Worth is an infrastructure nightmare. Crumbling housing on crumbling or dirt roads in some areas display our poverty. Lake Worth is a financial mess with continuing budget deficits in large part a legacy of past poor city management, inflexible obligations that limit cost-cutting and poorly installed infrastructure. Lake Worth’s current revenues cannot make a dent in fixing our disintegrating roads, sewers and drainage problems.
And...
The question for me is not does it need to be done? Absolutely it does. Are my wife and I willing to pay more to make Lake Worth a better place? Yes. Those of us who have greater resources will pay for those who have less. We are willing to do it for the betterment of all.
While I trust current city government, I certainly cannot trust unknown future city commissions. But I will vote for 2020 and work to make it successful because legally the money has to be spent as specified in the general obligation bond. While there may be incompetence in execution by future leaders, at least it has to be spent as promised.