Have a Great Holiday Season
December 24, 2010 Leave a comment
Let us hope for the best for the residents of Coral Gables and great new leadership for the city.
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?
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.
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.”
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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.
Coral Gables Watch 