PB: Pariser’s Figures
by SDM
There is an old saw that says something like “figures lie and liars figure.” The aphorism came into SDM’s mind after contemplating the following attribution to Vice Mayor Pariser in the Miami Herald:
Pariser’s goal is to champion homeowners, he said, noting that 92 percent of the tax base in Palmetto Bay comes from residential property. (Emphasis added by SDM.
For Mr. Pariser to be correct, the term “tax base” must be defined as the total value of every plot of real property in the village. By this measure, it may be true that 92% of that value is derived from residential properties.
But, how relevant is this statistic? Not very.
You see, all real property is taxed ad valorem (on value). According to the village budget, all ad valorem property taxes taken together amount to 41% of Palmetto Bay’s revenues.
SDM agrees that it makes sense for a politician to concern himself with the well-being of a revenue source that represents 38% (92% of 41%) of village revenue and 100% of village voters. 
But doesn’t it also make good conservative business sense for a politician to concern himself with the rest of the revenue picture?
SDM thinks so, and by inference, so does village staff. Palmetto Bay’s Finance Director, Desmond Chin, presented at the beginning of this week’s zoning hearing and his words make SDM’s point ( 2:50):
The fourth quarter budget to actual income report consists of revenues and expenditures for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2012.
The village has collected $13.4 million in revenues, which is 106.43% of the adopted budget. The operating expenditures are $11.8 million or 93.47% of the adopted budget. This resulted in a fiscal year surplus from operations in the amount of $1.6 million.
The surplus resulted from $812,000 in excess revenues and $824,000 in reduction in expenditures. The operating revenues exceeded nearly all areas of revenue sources.
Ad valorem is the only area of significance that did not exceed the budget. But the 98.2% collection [rate] is within the expected norm when compared to prior years. …
When these fourth quarter amounts are included in the adopted budget, I expect the ending fund balance for fiscal year 2013 to be approximately $10.1 million.
(Emphasis added by SDM.)
SDM Note: Later in the meeting, Mr. Chin stated that the published fund balance was $8.6 million. SDM checked the budget and found that FY11-12 published unassigned fund balance was $9.6 million. (See Village of Palmetto Bay ADOPTED OPERATING & CAPITAL BUDGET: FISCAL YEAR 2012-13 at p. 40.) (LARGE FILE) SDM believes the missing million dollars was the money used for the new police officers and other stuff the council added at the budget hearings.
SDM Code Breaker: The actual numbers reflect that Palmetto Bay collected (net) about $812,000 more in revenues than they announced a month or so ago. SDM says “net” because ad valorem revenue from property taxes was about $98,000 below the budgeted amount. This would seem to mean that a combination of other revenues* brought in about $900,000 more than expected.
*Franchise Fees, Utility Taxes, Licenses and Permits, Intergovernmental Revenue, Fines and Forfeitures, Charges for Services, Interest Income and Other.
To its credit, the village staff under the council’s direction spent $824,000 less than they anticipated. Certainly, abandoning Mayor Stanczyk’s wedding-venue-at-Thalatta-fiasco must count for a big chunk of that savings, though SDM invites correction on this point.
Now, you’re thinking “SDM, what does all of this mean? Numbers hurt my brain.”
SDM Code Breaker No. 2:
- The village’s fund balance is higher by about $500,000 over the published budget figure. The $1.6 million surplus may be accurate but the way it was presented at the meeting could be misleading to residents.
- Palmetto Bay picked up almost a million bucks in unanticipated revenue for which no elected official can claim any credit whatsoever. Don’t let village pols tell you otherwise.
- Residential properties are important to Palmetto Bay’s finances, though Mr. Pariser’s “92%” figure overstates the impact by almost three times.
- Pariser figures.
SDM Says:Vote for someone else.
The email sent out by Jack Fell (PCBR) alleging that John DuBois has violated environmental laws is a clear sign of political desperation and loaded with deception.
It shows a picture of the horse farm owned by Mr. Burch since 1945 with a large brown area in the center trying to deceive people into believing that is Mr. DuBois’ property.
This is a lie and typical of the deception and dishonestesty of the ruling majority of the council who is backed and supported by people like Jack Fell and others. These folks do not represent the majority of village residences.
Mr. DuBois has been a Professional Mangrove Trimmer under Florida Law for about 8 years. Alleging that Mr. DuBois illegally trimmed the mangroves in the picture sent by Jack fell is a lie and further deception.
This kind of deceptive behavior should build solidarity within Palmetto Bay to remove the manipulators from control of our council and elect John DuBois for vice mayor so we can focus on the real issues and save Palmettobay from a train wreck. Brian Pariser and his allies on the council are robbing and pillaging the village coffers for their own agenda; they must be stopped before it is too late.
P.S., If I were Mr. DuBois, I would file suit against Mr. Fell for fraud and defamation.
The sad part here is that Stanczyk, Pariser, Lindsay – and even Tendrich and Firore for that matter, never knew how much money they had at budget time. Someone should have been looking a head at the 4th quarter forecast.
This is a case of bad budgeting. They are guessing, instead of knowing what they really had. We are all fortunate that the numbers worked out in our favor; this time.
Is there no tracking of the village finances? Apparently not.
The Case of the Missing Mayor.
The Sequel
Only in Palmetto Bay Politics could this happen. I have confirmed by many sources and feel very confident what I’m able to tell you is fact. I can’t make this stuff up.
I arrived at the Coral Reef Library on Saturday morning Oct 27, 2012. Early Voting had started. All the candidates and their surrogates were there. All except 1, the lovely Mayor Stanczyk. Where was the Mayor on this very important day of early voting? Rumors were flying, the Mayor was banned from the Coral Reef Library. So I started my investigation, I asked poll workers that are regular fixtures at the Coral Reef Precinct what had happened.
One worker told me that they personally threw the Mayor out during primary voting for harassing voters even calling one lady a “Bitch” because they did not agree with the Mayor.
I then found another worker who was an eyewitness to the Mayor being removed and they confirmed.
Fast foreword to Saturday, the Mayor did show up later that afternoon and began further harassing voters.
I approached a worker and asked why was Mayor Stanczyk allowed back. I was told the Mayor pleaded her case to a sympathetic election official who allowed her to return.
The moral of the story is, our Vice Mayor Brian Pariser and Councilman Wanabe Tim Schaffer are both supported by the Mayor and the Mayor campaigns for them. Are these really the people that we want representing us? The Mayor is thrown out of a Precinct for Harassing voters and now she is campaigning for Brian and Tim.
Told you I couldn’t make this stuff up.
Brian pariser only knows what Warren Lovely scripts out for him. Obviously Mr. Lovely knows very little about government revenues, accounting and how to run a government. Therefore, Mr. Pariser reflects that lack of knowlege.
The last couple of cmntemos are too harsh. SDM is disappointed but does not see a criminal conspiracy. The three amigos play fast and loose with the truth, which makes them the type of politicians we see everywhere. We only deluded ourselves into thinking Palmetto Bay would be different.