Property taxes are destroying fort myers! (Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres: sales, assessors, crime)

[rikoshaprl]

I don't think we want to emulate those morons protesting overseas.

[fiege1224]

Then keep paying till your broke and don't complain! Because complaining does nothing in small numbers . History has proved over and over countries go broke over just complaining people in small numbers that can be controlled by the few rich. Coarse they also had costly worthless wars at the same time. Kind of sounds like the path this country has been following for the last 10 years. We look overseas and worry to see other countries that are going broke.But, almost all of our cities are broke now and no one seems to thing anything about it. If our debts were called in to pay for just what we own now every man women and child in the us would be broke and still owe money. But we keep trying to spend our way out. It just won't happen.

[stahltkd]

Originally Posted by fiege1224

Then keep paying till your broke and don't complain! Because complaining does nothing in small numbers . History has proved over and over countries go broke over just complaining people in small numbers that can be controlled by the few rich. Coarse they also had costly worthless wars at the same time. Kind of sounds like the path this country has been following for the last 10 years. We look overseas and worry to see other countries that are going broke.But, almost all of our cities are broke now and no one seems to thing anything about it. If our debts were called in to pay for just what we own now every man women and child in the us would be broke and still owe money. But we keep trying to spend our way out. It just won't happen.

+ 1 for resurrecting a 2 year old thread.

[rikoshaprl]

The biggest protest you can make is your vote, like this past November.

[fiege1224]

Voting has been going on for how long now and where has it left this country? How many times does something have to fail till everyone figures out that it just doesn't work any more. Everyone is always conned with false promises to get there vote. Which leaves us with a larger mess every time.But after every election we all come back for more when it doesn't work out. More broke now than ever! You can't vote your way out of being broke. But this country is still the greatest!

[Izmack]

Originally Posted by fiege1224

Voting has been going on for how long now and where has it left this country? How many times does something have to fail till everyone figures out that it just doesn't work any more. Everyone is always conned with false promises to get there vote. Which leaves us with a larger mess every time.But after every election we all come back for more when it doesn't work out. More broke now than ever! You can't vote your way out of being broke. But this country is still the greatest!

That's right. Repub or Demo, it's all the same. All one has to do is look at the last 10 years only. Both sides got us into this mess through one fashion or another and neither is getting us out. It would be nice if our vote really did something about taxes, but let's face it, it doesn't.

[faithfulFrank]

Let's keep it local folks, or I'll have to move this to the political forum.....

Frank

[hiknapster]

People need to stand up and stop being apathetic. We've been told that if you protest you are a moron. Wrong. In Europe they protest at a drop of a hat and the governments are afraid of them.

Not here. Big corporations run this government. Look what happened in Lee County. Hardly anyone paid attention, the developers lined the politicians pockets and rampant, unchecked growth reigned until it all collapsed. Lee County was raking in the bucks during the boom, yet they did little to improve the area. Where did all that money go? And now they are complaining that they have no revenue.

People that sit back and do nothing are morons. Voting is great but people need to go to council meetings, school board meetings, petition, run for office, get involved.

[rikoshaprl]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

People that sit back and do nothing are morons. Voting is great but people need to go to council meetings, school board meetings, petition, run for office, get involved.

I agree. But rioting in the streets over modest cuts in government spending to avoid bankruptcy is extreme. This thread is complaining about high taxes in Fort Myers (Lee County). I don't think the taxes are that high. But for those that do, the only way to reduce taxes is to reduce spending.

[equalrightsforeveryone]

Originally Posted by Cleaner

The residence of lee county were unpleasantly surprised to find out that their property taxes have remained the same or in many cases have gone up!

Does the county understand the impact of leaving current millage rates in place that are representative of the last 5 years of explosive growth are now choking property owners and destroying any hope of fort myers from stabilizing the current dramatic economic downturn.

Lets take a look at the facts... Lee County, FL has the highest unemployment rate in the United States at 8.9% and going higher! Lee County has the highest foreclosure rate of over 27% in the United States. Lee County has lost over 180,000 jobs in the last 2 years! The property taxes are among the highest in the nation.

The facts are clear and the impact of the failure to act by lowering the tax burden on Lee County property owners and putting a spending freeze on all non-vital projects need to happen now!! This crisis is not a short-term situation...the complexities of this global melt down the likes of which have never been seen will leave places like Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres in complete disrepair for the next decade!!!

Citizens need to protest and show their concerns about this! The politicians are completly unware and lack the understanding of this current crisis and lack the will to act decisive way! Just imagine come november and property owners all over the county are delinquent in paying their property taxes because they can't afford them! What county adjusts assessed values every year! thats insane!

Please contribute to this crucial debate!

As long as the city and county governments have only property taxes as their source of in come this entire area will stay depressed.
It is time to bring some industry and other business to the SWFL area.
The biggest problem is the anti business environment in SWFL.
This area will not be sustained by retirees alone.
Not going to happen.
SWFL could be one of the most productive and innovative areas in the country plus a great place to live, the only thing that is holding things up is the progressive government around here.
Get rid of the progressives and SWFL can finally, grow in to what it should be.

Next time vote them out.