City of Coral Gables Sells 2 Parking Lots–Little for Parks

September 14, 2021 Leave a comment

Total revenues two parking lots $7,025,000 (100%)

Revenues for city buildings– Public Safety Building and a Minorca Parking Garage $5,275,000 (75%)

Revenues for park lands and improvements $1,750,000 (25%)

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Money for any budget items is highly fungible–more money for any one item frees up money for other uses.

This is just a game of budgetary mirrors.

Money that may have gone for parks before are now free for other non-environmental uses

Or the city knew money was coming for parks so no money was assigned in the original budget, and went for less important items.

Mayor Lago conditioned the sale of the Doctors Hospital parking lot on using the money exclusively for parks.

That has been conveniently forgotten.

Filed under Coral Gables, Finance

Coral Gables City Budget Resolution–Sell Lots Mostly for Public Building Construction and Parking Garages

September 10, 2021 Leave a comment

Budget AllocationDownload

Filed under Coral Gables, Finance

Coral Gable Pension Liabilities–Unfunded and Unmanageable

March 23, 2021 Leave a comment

During at least the last 15 years we have heard about the unfunded pension liabilities and the multiple promises of commission candidates to fix the budget problem. None have been able to do so–more empty promises.

Solutions to the problem are fairly obvious but the city manager and the commission have been reluctant to make the changes. Better to put off to future when neither the manager nor the commissioners will be around.

The solutions are simple but require political acumen: raise taxes, reduce overall salary costs, change pension plans to lower cost ones, and cut back on public security overhead costs. Revenue costs would help but the city runs on the knife edge of deficits and any increases go into capital outlays and staffing.

Filed under Coral Gables, Finance

Our Brutal Capitalism

June 2, 2020 Leave a comment

  • No universal healthcare–growing millions of people with no access to healthcare and worse during the pandemic and the high unemployment of those depending on employer-based healthcare.
  • Concentrated wealth and income in the upper 10 to 1 percent of people.
  • Concentration of political power in corporations and high wealth groups.
  • Broken presidential voting favoring small, rural, poor states with undemocratic local voting and the electoral college.
  • Low minimum wages and declining value of median incomes.
  • Racially segregated education, healthcare, employment, housing and public services like clean water, internet access, clean air, equity justice.
  • Socialism (meaning government benefits and subsidies) for big corporations and the wealthy, and the free market competition and harsh capitalism for the workers, poor and underprivileged.
  • Unchecked monopoly power of large, powerful corporations.
  • Exploitation of undocumented immigrants in low-wage dangerous work.
  • “Great wealth flows from great power; great power depends on great wealth. Wealth and power have become one and the same.” (p. 10. Robert B. Reich. The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It. 2020)
  • Economic growth now mostly favors the rich.
  • Weakening social safety net of social security, medicare, medicaid, unemployment insurance, SNAP (food stamp) benefits…

Filed under Business and Commerce, Economy, Election, Environment, Finance, Health, Housing, Justice

Climate Change USA

May 12, 2014 Leave a comment

The Brookings Institution nicely summarizes the main conclusions of the recently published National Climate Assessment (NCA).

1. Warming has been driven by human activity.

Human activities are the primary cause of warming over the past 50 years. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased by more than 40 percent since the industrial revolution, through the burning of fossil fuels and continued deforestation…

2. Climate change impacts are happening now.

Temperatures in the United States have already increased 1.3 to 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895 (most of it since 1970) and in most areas of the United States temperatures are projected to rise by another 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit over the next few decades…

3. Climate change impacts will continue into the future.

Temperatures across the United States as well as in oceans and freshwater lakes are projected to rise. This will be accompanied by more heavy downpours, severe droughts, and wildfires. Sea levels are projected to rise by another 1 to 4 feet this century.

4. Climate change will adversely affect the economy and quality of life.

These impacts will have negative repercussions for human health, water supply, agriculture, transportation, energy, and coastal areas where nearly 5 million Americans and billions of dollars worth of property are located…

5. Vulnerable regions and sectors will be disproportionately affected.

Filed under Climate Change, Finance, Florida, National

City of Coral Gables: Salerno’s Achievements

April 20, 2014 Leave a comment

The recently resigned city manager of the city of Coral Gables, Pat Salerno, published a list of achievements of his period of administration.

I think that these are his main achievements:

  • Strong and decisive management.
  • Minimization of the involvement of city commissioners in the day-to-day life of the municipal government.
  • Weakening of the culture of fiefdoms in the city offices.
  • Implementing sound financial management, including reducing taxes and growing reserves.
  • Ameliorating exaggerated salaries, benefits, and pensions of police and fire services.
  • Planned, organized and financed improvements in the city’s infrastructure and beautification.

Hopefully, the city commissioners will direct the new city manager to sustain the above culture, and not fall pry to the Slesnick/Brown culture of city commission intromission and micro-management.

Filed under Coral Gables, Finance, Management, Taxes and Fees

Is Coral Gables the New Doral?

April 14, 2014 1 Comment

The city of Doral became the laughing stock of Florida, manifested by bruising public battles, insults and threats among commissioners, city manager, mayor, and public security staff.  Coral Gables has started to look a little like Doral as three commission surreptitiously forced out its city manager.  Obviously, the concepts of transparency, openness and participation, so well displayed during their election campaigns, are singularly foreign to the three commission who have created this crisis.

The city of Coral Gables is being tested to its core by the decision of three commissioners (called the “Gang of Three” by some) who have pushed out its highly respected and successful city manager, Pat Salerno.  The three commissioners don’t comprehend their role in a strong city manager form of government, in which a prudent distance is kept between the administration of the city led by  the city manager and the city commission, whose job is set and guide overall policy, approve financial resources and broadly represent the interests of all citizens.

The city of Coral Gables urgently needed a strong administrator during recent years and it still needs a strong city manager in the years ahead–not a Slesnick/Brown-like compliant city manager responding to the interests of a small cabal of local developers and self-aggrandizing politicians.

The fiscal soundness of the city is now uncertain, with months ahead of searching for a new city manager (perhaps no self-respecting, experienced city manager would take the job under these circumstances.)  During this time the Gang of Three will have a free hand to mismanage the city, its budget and staff.

 

Filed under Coral Gables, Finance, Government

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