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30 June 2010
REALTORS Urge that this November "VOTE NO" on Florida Amendment 4!
The REATORS Association of Franklin & Gulf Counties (RAFGC) has joined with the Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy, Inc. to educate our members and the public about the devastating effect that Amendment 4 will have on the state of Florida, as well as our local economy.
This November, voters will be faced with a number of tough decisions at the ballot box. Fortunately, one of the most important decisions should also be the easiest. Amendment 4, a “Vote on Everything” proposal, would kill jobs, raise taxes, and lead to endless litigation at taxpayer expense.
Amendment 4 has been referred to as a ‘stimulus package for special interest lawyers’. And for good reason; this proposal would add costly new layers of bureaucratic red-tape to an already complicated planning process. It would be virtually impossible to condense thousands of pages of technical planning data into the 75 word ballot summaries that are required by law. Inevitably, disagreements – and lawsuits – would ensue. Amendment 4 encourages the special interests that lose at the ballot box to take their case to court, at taxpayer expense.
That is exactly what happened to the small town of St. Pete Beach, which implemented a local version of Amendment 4 in 2006. The measure has decimated their economy and created chaos at the polls. To date, the citizens of St. Pete Beach have seen nearly a dozen lawsuits that have cost local taxpayers more than three-quarters of a million dollars in legal fees.
As Florida attempts to recover from this devastating recession, the last thing we need is Amendment 4, a proposal that would raise taxes, cost jobs, and hurt Florida’s working families and small businesses.
Amendment 4: Higher Taxes, Fewer Jobs, More Lawsuits
Amendment 4—a statewide “Vote on Everything” initiative—is a grave threat to Florida’s future. This proposed rewrite of the Florida Constitution will imperil Florida’s economy and unique quality-of-life.
The amendment subverts a well-established and democratic planning process while threatening Florida’s prospects for economic recovery. With the “Vote on Everything” amendment, citizens—not the representatives they elected—are forced to regularly decide hundreds of technical land-use planning issues at the ballot box.
Much is at stake for all Floridians:
• The disruption to the daily lives of Floridians will be extraordinary. Taxpayers will be required to fund elections for each proposed comprehensive plan change – not just major projects, but even minor technical details. It will not be unusual for the voters to face 200 to 300 comprehensive plan changes every year. In the last four years alone, this amendment would have required an average of over 10,000 additional local referenda per year in Florida. According to a review of state records, if Amendment 4 had been law in 2006, the residents of Carrabelle, a small Franklin County town, would have voted 617 times!
• The disorder will further disenfranchise Florida's electorate. Voters will be deluged with highly technical background materials prepared by local government planning staff. The legalese of proposed comprehensive plan changes, often puzzling for expert engineers and attorneys, will further dampen voter turnout. Lines at voting booths will grow as Floridians attempt the virtual impossibility of voting on hundreds of separate and often confusing ballot questions.
• The cost to Florida taxpayers will be astronomical. Every city and county in Florida will be burdened with the time and cost of holding additional elections to vote on proposed changes to comprehensive land use plans. The Orlando Sentinel notes that these costs would “soar into the millions.” And in these difficult economic times, local taxpayers will have to pick up the bill.
• The result will be a system that is far worse, not better. That’s why respected environmental leaders refuse to support the amendment. They know this proposal will transform every planning decision into a political campaign, thereby encouraging sprawl and making smarter growth impossible.
The “Vote on Everything” amendment has already been a disaster in St. Pete Beach—the small Pinellas County town that adopted a local version of this proposal in 2006. Since then, residents have suffered through endless litigation, which has caused costs to spiral out of control and turned St. Pete Beach into a battleground for out-of-town lawyers and special interest groups.
The Story of St. Pete Beach: An Amendment 4 “Testing Ground”
Since beginning a 3-year experiment in Amendment 4-style rule, St. Pete Beach residents have seen endless lawsuits, wasted taxpayer dollars and widespread economic turmoil.[i] In November, 2009, the citizens of St. Pete Beach scaled back their local version of Amendment 4 so that only certain land use changes require a referendum. While Florida voters are set to soon decide the fate of Amendment 4—a statewide Vote on Everything initiative—St. Pete Beach voters have chosen to rein in their own local experiment by a decisive 60-40 margin.
"St. Pete Beach residents are tired of voting on everything, especially issues that don't even relate to development," said Ward Friszolowski, former Mayor of St. Pete Beach. "This amendment doesn't work. It has resulted in chaotic, confusing and expensive elections driven by sound bites rather than sound planning."
The St. Pete Beach TIMELINE:
November, 2006: St. Pete Beach narrowly adopts a local version of Amendment 4, requiring a referendum for all changes to the local comprehensive plan. Amendment 4 supporters promise that they just want to give "the people a right to vote."
June, 2008: St. Pete Beach voters approve a new comprehensive plan at the ballot box.
June, 2008: After losing the election, Amendment 4 supporters in St. Pete Beach file a string of legal challenges to invalidate the will of the people.
September, 2008: Numerous administrative challenges are subsequently filed by Amendment 4 coauthor and co-founder Ross Burnaman.
June, 2009: The St. Petersburg Times reports that St. Pete Beach has exhausted its legal budget months before the end of the fiscal year.[ii]
September, 2009: Amidst rising legal bills, St. Pete Beach raises its millage rate.[iii]
October, 2009: Court-ordered mediation collapses when Amendment 4 supporters refuse to join the City and the business community in supporting a compromise.[iv]
November, 2009: St. Pete Beach residents vote decisively to scale back their local experiment in Amendment 4.
St. Pete Beach is proof positive that Amendment 4 is not designed to give the people a say on growth. It is designed to give anti-growth lawyers another legal avenue to stop commonsense progress, even when voters approve it. In St. Pete Beach, the taxpayers' legal bills continue to mount. Unfortunately, there is no end in sight.
Now, this amendment threatens to go state-wide. Amendment 4 will appear on the November, 2010 ballot. The Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy leads opposition to this measure. To date, more than 200 organizations throughout Florida have opposed Amendment 4. More join the fight every day.
Please visit www.florida2010.org.
[i] St. Petersburg Times on September 22, 2009 ("St. Pete Beach tax rates goes up, but will it be felt?"):
http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/st-pete-beach-tax-rate-goes-up-but-will-it-be-felt /1038346
[ii] St. Petersburg Times on June 1, 2009 ("St. Pete Beach's legal costs bust budget")
[iii] St. Petersburg Times on September 22, 2009 ("St. Pete Beach tax rates goes up, but will it be felt?"):
[iv] St. Petersburg Times on November 4, 2009 ("Mediator declares impasse in talks to end St Pete Beach development lawsuits"):
http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/mediator-declares-impasse-in-talks-to-end-st-pete-beach-development/1049083
Paid political advertisement – paid for and sponsored by Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy, Inc., 610 South Blvd., Tampa, FL 33606
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