Letters to the editor

To send in your letters, please e-mail them to [email protected], or mail them to The Longboat Observer, 5570 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key, 34228. The Longboat Observer gives priority to letters of local interest and about local issues. The Observer will print all letters to the editor if it feels they are of general interest, but only if the letter is signed and the author’s street address and phone number are given. The editor reserves the right to condense letters.

+ Amendments 5 and 6 are sensible and logical
Dear Editor:
Amendments 5 and 6 sound logical and sensible. Please add to your list of those favoring “yes” on Amendments 5 and 6 the following: Florida AARP, Florida League of Women Voters and all major daily newspapers in Florida.

To confuse voters and nullify Amendments 5 and 6, political incumbents put an Amendment 7 on the ballot, but, on July 8, it was taken off the ballot when Leon County Circuit Judge James Shelfer did not understand it.

Not all Florida lawyers are ambulance-chasing shysters, as your editorial seems to imply. 
Remember: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Vote “yes” on Amendments 5 and 6.

Dr. R. M. B. Simmons
Sarasota

+ Town tax hike to almost 26% is an abomination
Dear Editor:
That the town tax rate is to rise almost 26% — as your Sept. 16 headline said — is an absolute abomination.

That the town commissioners voted 6-1 to pass this new budget is cause for each of them to submit his resignation.

Although we have a substantial decrease in property values and tourism in the economy in general, the Town Commission and especially the town manager, Bruce St. Denis, have failed their fiduciary obligation to the taxpayers.

Not only should the budget have been cut by at least that 26% to match the budget, but the budget should be cut even far greater.

Longboat Key has not seen a substantial increase in population. On the contrary, there has been a substantial decrease in visitors in the last 15 years. Yet the town’s budget has increased dramatically. Moreover, the public-service sector elected to unionize not too long ago, thus increasing the budget stresses.

On the same page, the Key trolley service is now questioned. Whether that’s an important and appropriate town service is another issue, but the fact that this is now being questioned at least indicates somebody is thinking properly.

Increasing taxes is a weak and cowardly way to handle past mistakes. We should have let Bruce St. Denis go to Naples; I guarantee you we could find a superior town manager for a fraction of his salary.

Mitchell Levin, M.D.
Longboat Key, Orlando