Coral Gables Watch

Pakistan floods: UN urges world to step up aid

August 15, 2010 Leave a comment

Hopefully, the World will do a better job now of helping so many victims. This is a large-scale disaster indeed.

With more than 1,600 people confirmed dead and as many as 20 million made homeless, the country is reeling from the scale of the catastrophe brrought by torrential monsoon rains.

[Prime Minister] Gilani said Pakistan now faced challenges similar to those during the 1947 partition of the subcontinent, when as many as 500,000 people were killed.

His warning came amid amid growing fears of social unrest or even a military takeover after the government’s shambolic response to the floods.

via Pakistan floods: UN urges world to step up aid efforts | World news | The Guardian.

Filed under International

For Global Warming Doubters in Coral Gables

August 14, 2010 Leave a comment

For those of you who still have doubts about global warming and might have thought that the warming had stopped in the late 1990’s.

To properly understand what’s happening to our climate, you have to consider the full body of evidence. Most arguments that support climate skepticism have one thing in common — they neglect the full body of evidence and cherry pick just the select pieces of data that support a particular point of view. There is one argument that is so misleading — it requires 3 separate levels of cherry picking. This argument is “global warming stopped in 1998“.

via Yes, global warming has continued since 1998 « Climate Progress.

Filed under Environment

Bank of Coral Gables on Unofficial Problem Bank List

August 14, 2010 Leave a comment

Along with 813 banks, the Bank of Coral Gables is on the unofficial list of problem banks. The Bank of Coral Gables is subject by the FIDC of an number of conditions to improve management, control credit, maintain appropriate capital and sustain a strong credit management culture. You may find the detailed agreement on the indicated list below.

Calculated Risk: Unofficial Problem Bank List increases to 813 institutions.

Filed under Business and Commerce

More on the Coral Gables Budget: Property Taxes as an ATM Machine

August 13, 2010 Leave a comment

It is interesting to look at the historical budget and tax revenue data supplied by the city in the latest Estimated Budget, 2010-2011.

City property tax revenues rose from $29.5 million in 2000 to $66.4 million in 2009. Let’s say that these property taxes had risen just by the inflation rate from 2000 to 2009. How much would it have increased? It would have increased from $29.5 million to $36.8 million in 2009, not $66.4 million. In other words, property tax revenues have increased by more than 80% above the inflation rate.
Assessed values increased from $5.5 billion in 2000 to $13.0 billion in 2009. The equivalent inflation rate would have seen values increasing from $5.5 billion to $6.85 billion. Thus assessed values increased by 90% more than the inflation rate level. That was the abnormal real estate value.
We can conclude that Coral Gables increased taxes as fast assessed values increased.
Like many families in Coral Gables, the city used its property taxes as an ATM machine–spending as fast as the money came in thinking that assessed values would keep rising. Unfortunately, even today the city keeps increasing taxes as if property values were increasing just like the good old days instead of adjusting to the economic realities that may continue for years.

Filed under Budget, Coral Gables, Finance, Property Values, Taxes and Fees