Today’s question comes from Carlos - Thanks for checking in on what’s been happening with state government. It’s hard to get good info on local issues sometimes. My question is if you can fill us in on the local elections next week?
Bottom Line:The most popular series I put together last year was the Florida Amendment series. Coming out of that I heard from many listeners that they would like more coverage of state and local political issues. That’s why I’ve been doing more than I used to on state and local government issues.
A few weeks ago, I shared some info about the impact of local governments and posted the question, do you care about $3,458 annually? That’s what I calculated the average local tax burden to be in South Florida right now. But turnout has averaged just 18% for municipal elections and 12% for Special Elections, making it all that much more important to inform and engage. Some have asked me for my thoughts on candidates/specific issues, etc. I don’t endorse specific candidates but, on the issues, I try not to meddle too much in municipal governments where I live. I rather encourage you to inform yourself and engage others in your community.
I might not appreciate the issues to the extent the residents of those towns can. I will say ubiquitously that I’m not supportive of issues that raise property taxes on homeowners. All forms of taxation, property tax is the most regressive and potentially detrimental, to people. I for one don’t want to be responsible for literally taxing people out of their homes. With a strong and growing South Florida economy we need greater prioritization on these public works projects in general budgeting rather than waiting until there’s a big need and attempting to pass through huge bonds/tax increases to account for years of questionable management.
At the expense of sounding like a broken record, the elections that are most likely to impact your day to day life are the ones closest to you. They’re also the least likely to draw attention and voters. That’s why it’s so important to inform and engage. Tomorrow there are elections that impact residents of 23 municipalities in South Florida, 16 in Palm Beach County and 7 in Broward. On March 26th there’s a Special Election scheduled in Miami-Dade.
Here’s a link to the info for those elections:
Broward: 7 municipalities
Link to the elections: https://bit.ly/2U5uBgF
Palm Beach County:16 municipalities
Link to the elections: https://bit.ly/2DWnBvv
Miami-Dade: 1 municipality
Link to the election(s): https://bit.ly/2SbvC4Z
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Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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