Thousands of Home Owners have problems related to Board members not complying with regulations established in State Statute 720. The statute provides lots of regulations but no enforcement measures for violations. An office of Ombudsman should be established for enforcement of Statute 720 regulations. A $4 annual assessment is reasonable for each homeowner to support Ombudsman office  Woulld hope that Civic Concerns would support Cyber Citizens for Justice (CCFJ) in their effort to introduce change Thank you

I'm troubled that there seems not to be any subject posted here yet expressing concern over Governor Scott's pending sweetheart Bill, to dip pretty deeply into the pockets of all public sector employees who participate in the Florida Retirement Sytem (FRS).  Sure, teacher merit pay is a huge issue and onc certaily worthy of our collective attention.  I signed the form opposition letter.  I wrote my own letters to my own Florida congressional representatives on top of it.  I even sent a letter to Senator Nelson, although he probably has little to do with matters pending at the state level.  

But make no mistake, the legislature currently being proposed by Governor Scott respecting the FRS aims to extract yet another toll from a singled out minority in Florida, which constitutes about one million hard working, middle class Floridians.  To add insult to injury, many of those who will be affected have had thier pay frozen for the past several years.  In effect, it's a pay cut on top of several prior pay cuts.  It's a game changer and if passed into law as proposed, it's going to hurt.

As currently proposed, Governor Scott would like all participants to begin contributing five percent of their pre-tax earnings to the FRS, effective July 1, 2011.  That's right, just four months from now.  Let's all get out our calculators now.  Take your gross annual earnings, multiply that times 0.05 and divide that product by 52 to arrive at the approximate reduction in your weekly net take home pay, just in time for the Fourth of July.  Gee, let's all celebrate.  You will quickly see that what Obama giveth in the temporary Social Security withholding reductions, Governor Scott wishes to taketh (more than twice as much) away.  For most of us who are struggling to keep our expenses in line with our income during these volatile and fragile economic times, that's simply more of a burden than most of us can bear.  But I wouldn't expect a multi-millionaire to understand.  The difference of $50 or $100 dollars a week in take home pay is of little significance to someone like Governor Scott who has lost touch with the realities faced by the middle class.

Acknowledging that Florida is the only state that has a public pension fund that requires no contribution from its participating employees, I actually have no objection to paying into it.  Perhaps we should have been paying into it since its inception.  But the amount being proposed is too much now or ever and represents too sudden and abrubt of an impact to an economy that's just beginning to rebound. Changing the rules of the game at half-time is never fair.  But let's get beyond fair, acknowledge that something must be done, and focus more on what would reflect a sensible compromise to Governor Scott's proposal.  

I can't help but sense that Governor Scott, in typical former CEO style, has asked for more than he hopes ever to get in any form of legislature that passes into law.  I would propose that instead of a 5% blow to the head, effective July 1, 2011, the bill be tempered with some common sense and restructured to instead require a 1.5% contribution beginning January 1, 2012, followed by another, final increase of 1.5%, effective January 1, 2013.  That's right.  That totals 3% and that's the cap, not 5%.  Afterall, this program is fraut with abuses and has suffered the abuses of its stewards (robbing Peter to pay Paul) for years now. For example, distributions from the FRS paid to high-risk personnel factors in earnings based upon overtime pay.  That's inequitable.  Straight pay should be the basis for calculating distributions for all participants.  Why should one sector of participants have their distributions calculated in any manner different from that of another's?  If those types of abuses were eliminated, there would be no need to require a 5% contribution from all participants.  Add to that form of abuse the fact that the state looks at the pension as a general operating fund to be pillaged at its convenience to cover shortfalls in other budget areas.  That needs to change too.  Quid pro quo, Governor Scott.  You want something.  Give something back in return.  You can start by enacting into law a policy that makes illegal the ability for the State of Florida to channel money from the FRS for any purpose whatsoever other than that for which it was intended to serve: to provide a pension fund to retired government workers. If you won't do it, there's a petitioning process that will make sure it makes it's way onto a ballot as a State Constitutional Amendent next Novemeber.  Watch for it.  News at 11.

One other part of Governor Scott's proposal contemplates the elimination of the Cost of Living Adjustment ("COLA") applicable to distributions.  Currently, the pension plan allows for an automatic 3% annual increase applicable to all distributions.  Does Governor Scott believe that retired individuals are isolated from the effects of inflation?  With a federal goverment that bails out big banks and car companies with money that it prints out of thin air, without any standard to back it, inflation will certainly become a run-away freight train.  In a global economy filled with political uncertainty and oppositional unrest, coupled with an ever-increasing and disturbing dependence upon fossil fuels, paving the way for hyper-pricing volatility - volatility we're all seeing now at the gas pumps for the second time in just two and a half years, a 3% automatic cost of living adjustment won't even guarantee our ability to tread water.  Yet Governor Scott's proposal aims to eliminate the COLA altogether.  Can you spell "not a good deal"?  How about "I'm going to be poor"?

I'm very distressed about the possible fate of the State of Florida under the current governorship and it's majority of elected officials.  While I remain disappointed, the fact that someone like Rick Scott was ever elected into office does not perplex me.  He is there because of a lack of voter turnout last November.  This should underscore for all Floridians (particularly those in Dade County, where the turnout was dismal) the importance of exercising your right to vote.  I'm guessing that anyone in the public sector, who participates in the FRS, who voted for Governor Scott, now wishes they had not.  I'm pleased to say that my concience is clean.  I had nothing to do with his being elected into office or any other tea-bagger for that matter.

I recall an interview with Governor Scott that aired several weeks ago on a local radio station.  Governor Scott stated that he thinks too many public sector employees are focused on where they're going to take next year's lavish vacation and not upon their retirement and he added that he "thinks that's just wrong".  Thank you for your opinion, "King" Scott, but I don't recall anybody asking you for it. Apparently, he has never enjoyed a lavish vacation.  Yeah, right!  I wonder if he intends one day to retire.  No, of course not!  It was a poorly chosen comparison to make on his part.  It reeked of the aristocracy telling the puney little people what they should and shouldn't do.  It was condescending and made me want to puke.  Who does he think he is?  Oh, that's right.  I've already answered that question.  He is the self-annointed King.  Just goes to show you that money can buy you everything, including a governorship, even after you chair a company found guilty of the biggest medicare and medicaid fraud ever.
Vacations and retirment, both benefits that are earned, are inalienable rights to those who earn them.  Governor Scott implies with his remark that it's an either-or equation. Hmmm?  What's next?  Elimination of vacation benefits?  Elimination of retirement benefits?  One or the other? Why not both and we'll just reduce the masses to the surfdom I desire to rule?

Different subject but there's also Governor Scott's grand standing, "In Obama's Face" refusal to accept $2.4 billion in federal funding for high-speed rail.  No vision.  Just a bean-counting mentality and a justification based in presumptions that in and of themselves are based in past history.  This is not aforward looking visionary.  He says Floridians will get stuck with cost overruns.  It's as though overruns on state projects are a foregone conclusion.  Why?  Can't our state's procurement and contracting officials be held to a higher standard.  Projects get managed from the top down and they should only be managed by people who are dedicated to extracting the greatest value possible from every tax payer's dollar they spend. Our state's procurement practices and policies are archaic and need a thorough review and mulling over with the objective of obtaining better results.  Instead of prophesizing overruns, why not prophesize a savings.  Why not challenge your cabinet to get the project done for less than the federal contribution.   If you want to make some positive changes, Governor Scott, have your lawyers and your advisors start studying the root of the real problems.   That's a much better place to start, especially if you're trying to make Florida a better place for all Floridians, not just the wealthiest.

Warren Buffet said it best a couple of years ago when asked during an interview if there was a class war being waged in America.  He replied, "Yes, and the rich are winning".  This newly elected governor of ours wants to completely eliminate corporate taxes in Florida.  That's a policy that will benefit only the elitists.  Where will the money come from when the corporations no longer have to pay taxes to the State?  You guessed it:  You.   Let's all try to remember that the next time we cast our votes at the polls, do a little bit of research about who we're electing, and try to think a little more critically about who we cast that vote for.  This guy never should have made it past the primaries.

So I would implore anybody who reads this, who cares about our economy, who cares about whether or not they'll be able to make any contribution to its recovery, who cares about being able to pay their bills, pay for thier child's higher education, to take a vacation or to retire, to get on this band wagon and get on soon.  Governor Scott's train has left the station and it's heading down the tracks full speed and it's going to derail this state's economy if we let it.  Go online, figure out who your elected officials are, if you don't already know.  Write them a letter and send it to them every single day until these matters are concluded in a sensible way, not the reckless way promoted by Governor Scott.