Time to stop the charade...with the firefighters’ union

“I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers: Go ahead and make my day”
President Ronald Reagan, March 13, 1985

Mayor Capellini, Vice Mayor Militello and Commissioner Gonot voted wisely and correctly last week to delay approving the fire department union’s latest demand for guaranteed three percent annual raises on their pensions from the City, on top of their three percent current pay raises. The Mayor was correct in his analysis that this could cost the taxpayers of Deerfield Beach tens of millions of additional dollars at a time when few of us can afford another cost-increase to live here. We citizens are bombarded with local government-related costs already, either directly from the local government, or controlled by them in the form of ad valorem taxes, insurance, electric power or garbage disposal fees! It’s absolutely unsustainable and must stop before we force many of our citizens into poverty and permanently destroy the future and quality of life of our northeast Broward community.
It is not as though the fire union folks don’t already have a good thing going for themselves... Able to retire with substantial monthly income in their late thirties or early forties, they are the envy of most working Americans. However, true to their union bosses and their own specialized interests, they continue to push the envelope for more money and benefits from the citizens of this and other cities. It is now time to stop the charade and reverse course so that the rest of us can also afford to live here.
For guidance we have to look no further than the great state of New Jersey, from whence my wife and many Floridians came, to see what can and will ultimately happen here. New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation, with the average homeowner paying $6,000 per year to live there. Alarmed that people are leaving New Jersey by the hundreds of thousands, even the Democrat party legislators have recently reversed course and are now proposing the largest reduction in property taxes in state history–that is, 20 percent!
The political pressure is so great in New Jersey that even some union leaders, such as Gloucester County Democrat and Iron Workers Union official Steven Sweeny is calling for public employee “givebacks.” Deerfield elected-officials need to take note, especially the two commissioners who for some reason did not join the majority. It is way past time for all of our elected officials to ignore the firefighter special interest lobby and pay attention to the pocketbooks of those of us who live in this city, pay the taxes and VOTE!

David Eller, Publisher