Coral Gables: Assessed Property Values versus Real Estate Prices

December 20, 2010 Leave a comment

Take a look at the real estate section of the Neighborhood Section  of the Miami Herald any recent Sunday.

You will find that the assessed values of the properties are, on average, 35% higher than the sale prices  of the properties (more or less selected at random).

Friends, assessed property values will continue to decline in Coral Gables.  The city will be under pressure to keep raising our taxes.

The only real question for commission and mayoral candidates in the city of Coral Gables:  What is your position on property taxes and fees?

Filed under Coral Gables, Property Values, Taxes and Fees

Consumers Cutting Credit Card Use

December 15, 2010 Leave a comment

Evidently, consumers are not taking on more debt and they are using cash rather than their credit cards.  This is not a good sign for business in Coral Gables and Miami.  Another reason for the city of Coral Gables to be just as conservatives as its taxpayers and consumers in managing their money. This is also bad news for big (too big to fail) banks.

Only 16.3 percent of consumers polled used credit cards over the Black Friday weekend this year, down from 30.9 percent last year and an all-time low, according to a survey by America’s Research Group and UBS.

Filed under Business and Commerce, Coral Gables, Economy

Coral Gables’ Pension Plans May Face Hard Future: See Case of San Diego

December 14, 2010 Leave a comment

How long will Coral Gables continue to defend and finance a terrible pension plan that is highly disadvantageous to taxpayers and the city’s budget.

After San Diego voters rejected a budget-balancing half-cent sales tax increase last month, Mayor Jerry Sanders unveiled what he calls a radical idea: He’ll ask voters to eliminate the city’s traditional defined-benefit pension plans for new employees, offering them 401(k)-like savings accounts instead. “We saw the private sector go through this,” the 60-year-old Republican says. “Government will have to relook at how we do stuff as well.”

…

Cities may have more trouble borrowing under legislation proposed on Dec. 2 by Republican Representatives Devin Nunes (Calif.), Darrell Issa (Calif.), and Paul Ryan (Wis.). Their bill would bar cities and states from issuing tax-exempt bonds if they don’t use more conservative return projections that could result in higher estimates of pension liabilities. “Lucrative pension promises are being made to public employees that taxpayers simply cannot afford,” Nunes said in a Dec. 2 statement.

via San Diego’s Tough-Love Pension Proposal – BusinessWeek.

Filed under Coral Gables

Coral Gables: The Real Issue–Time to Stop Bailing Out the Commissioners

December 9, 2010 Leave a comment

While the national political debate is when and how much to cut taxes for most people, even for the wealthiest taxpayers, the Commission of the city of Coral Gables debates every year, come hell or high water, as they say, on how much to increase taxes and fees.

This is equivalent of the taxpayers of the city of Coral Gables bailing out the consistently bad decisions of the commission over ten years, as government quietly raised salaries, pensions and benefits to now highly paid employees, and expanded services beyond the capacity of the city to pay.

Soon the Commission will face even harder decisions to manage a permanent scarcity of financial resources, decisions they would rather postpone for future commissions.  They would rather let the taxpayers bail out their incredibly bad financial management in the city.  Most certainly, this commission would raise property taxes again.

It is time to change to commissioners and mayor who are politically willing to confront labor unions…cut salaries and benefits…the number of employees…cut back on services…and that is the only real issue facing candidates and voters in the coming months.

Filed under Coral Gables, Politics

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