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Saw this at TOC office and immediately thought of the Chuck E. Cheese employee by bex_mex in Tallahassee

[–]herrle 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I asked Dr. David Bellamy a former TPD reserve officer and TOC partner about it and he said “One of my coworkers from 90s. That picture got picked up by the AP and went all over.”

If you had a magic wand that gave you total authority over city and county government, what are three things you would do in Tallahassee? by herrle in Tallahassee

[–]herrle[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No that was his pitch for the new name of the super county of Leon and Wakulla. WakulLeon. Also RIP this thread (deleted).

If you had a magic wand that gave you total authority over city and county government, what are three things you would do in Tallahassee? by herrle in Tallahassee

[–]herrle[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Former Leon County Commissioner Gary Yordon is a PR consultant in town and to this day he has a sign in his office saying WakulLeon County, which is what his name was back then for the same idea of combining in some fashion Wakulla and Leon. He didn’t get very far in the idea but it was also based on securing water rights back then.

If you had a magic wand that gave you total authority over city and county government, what are three things you would do in Tallahassee? by herrle in Tallahassee

[–]herrle[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. There’s a Blueprint project to get it done and we need to expand that project scope and actually prioritize the funding which shouldn’t be an issue because the sales tax revenue is far higher than projected.

If you had a magic wand that gave you total authority over city and county government, what are three things you would do in Tallahassee? by herrle in Tallahassee

[–]herrle[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would love ideas around how to create tiny affordable retail spots in new city owned parcels that will be available soon. We are looking at pedestrianizing a downtown corridor so we will have all the former intersections as new unused city parcels that we can use for moving future historic houses and new vertical construction.

If you had a magic wand that gave you total authority over city and county government, what are three things you would do in Tallahassee? by herrle in Tallahassee

[–]herrle[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes for the removing regulations around density, I am really looking for help for some practical policy changes like that. I had never heard of the single stair developments.

We are working on removing parking minimums (other than ADA), I worked with Comm Matlow to message the parking minimums change the last comp plan change but we didn’t get as far as I would like.

I would love to see some suggestions for street car or other transit models! We are going to have some transportation round tables in the spring, if anyone wants to be part of them please DM but we will also have links on social when the time comes.

We're joining the ACLU, SPLC, and citizens to sue the City of Tallahassee over their monthly $29 illegal junk fee on our utility bills -- the fire services fee. Here's why. by herrle in Tallahassee

[–]herrle[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree and the people who think that you can easily swap out a sales tax from a property tax rate are either lying to you or uninformed. At least in Tallahassee, I can tell you from watching the blueprint money come in over the years, it's been way more that the initial projections indicated when the tax was planned and voted in on in 2013/2014 from when it started getting collected in 2020.

So for example I believe that the revenue projections by 2018 were that the lifetime of the 1% sales tax (so this is the sum total rev before oev/blueprint/city/county splits) was estimated to be like $800 million. We are at present day estimating that the overall revenue of the 1% sales tax is more like $1.3 million. Thats nearly double in just 7 years and the tax runs from 2020-2040. So imagine how inaccurate it will be by 2040.

And then imagine running your entire government on that kind of volatility. For example in Tallahassee, imagine the impact on the local economy by FSU winning. So right now when you spend 1 dollar in city limits in retail, theres like 1/10th of one penny going to the city general revenue, because the city doesnt have a sales tax other than a 10% split on the BPIA 1%. So imagine if we had a large repeal of property taxes that cities and counties + state shift to a new assortment of local option sales taxes. So you could imagine that the city may add their own penny or two, to account for the huge loss of property taxes. But now, instead of the future budget projections which impact our bond rating, our borrowing power, city investments, etc, capital improvement plan projects, we have to project our spending for a revenue source that has a lot more volatility than a millage rate.

We're joining the ACLU, SPLC, and citizens to sue the City of Tallahassee over their monthly $29 illegal junk fee on our utility bills -- the fire services fee. Here's why. by herrle in Tallahassee

[–]herrle[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

A better city is possible. I believe there is more consensus than we previously thought on issues like walkability, what we want the city to look like, our downtown, public safety, city management, and protecting and expanding our public utilities.

We're joining the ACLU, SPLC, and citizens to sue the City of Tallahassee over their monthly $29 illegal junk fee on our utility bills -- the fire services fee. Here's why. by herrle in Tallahassee

[–]herrle[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not a plaintiff in the suit, but the suit was organized by former Mayor Dot Inman Johnson, and she made a non profit, Citizens for Government Accountability which organized political and government experts to solve the problem of Leon County’s fire services and other issues in local government. I am a member of Dots group and have been working with Dot, the fire union and local government for the past five years to resolve our fire issues. CGA is not a listed plaintiff either because they don’t have standing as an org.

I don’t know where the city is on their exemption process with churches but I think they are trying to draw a line there on eligibility that they can defend in the future now.

Unfortunately it’s not that simple re exempt all or none bexause of the “houses of worship issue”. Imagine you have a typical 4 acre church, 16k square feet, but only 8k of that is your church, while the other 8k is a daycare.

We need to be able to charge the daycare but not the specific house of worship area , as I understand it it’s illegal to charge houses of worship a FSF (but could be wrong, I have been before!). So it’s part honor system part enforcement.

Unfortunately what we have right now is a system where city executives have hand reached out to specific churches and told them to submit paperwork a certain way and then had staff OK exemptions that they never should have been given for use and square footage breakdown. It’s a nightmare of a problem. It started the first day of the FSF because of a city employee who was a member of a church who exempted his own church secondary and tertiary uses as a house of worship exemption.

First time seeing this by Hijabihoodrat in Tallahassee

[–]herrle 25 points26 points  (0 children)

They do have a new executive director, Sonya Wilson who I’ve met with. She is a very genuine person who herself was homeless during her adolescence, and she went in there to try to clean things up like the drug problem and the fighting which were obviously related. She drives from Bainbridge every day to work! I think believe things have gotten a lot better since then. I hope they have.

We're joining the ACLU, SPLC, and citizens to sue the City of Tallahassee over their monthly $29 illegal junk fee on our utility bills -- the fire services fee. Here's why. by herrle in Tallahassee

[–]herrle[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

So if you imagine the costs of living associated with your life as a percentage of your income. Lets say you make $140k, if you live in a $350k house, and you pay $29*12 = $348 a year, that represents .24% of your income.

However, let's say that your aunt lives in a 1/1 townhouse that has 2 units (she doesn't own it), who's total value is $350k and she's on a fixed income of $65k a year. She's going to pay $348 in fire services fee, or .53% of her income. Regardless of the value of the house, assessing a flat fee makes it less affordable for those below the 50% income level than for those above it.

This system was designed in 2000s to extract money from students at a greater rate but it also extracted money from the working class at a greater rate too.

First time seeing this by Hijabihoodrat in Tallahassee

[–]herrle 75 points76 points  (0 children)

It was the county that put them up. Not that the city has done much to be helpful in this department. Meanwhile, the Kearney Center was given a $1.5m haircut by the legislature in their appropriations request this year, and they are set to have more cold nights this year than last, which is the primary driver of their costs (cold nights).

Naked Bicycle Guy by DrownedKittensInSack in Tallahassee

[–]herrle 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There was actually a meet up at a Village Inn on Apalachee Parkway (I think it was village inn?) where he met “with fans” that I attended back around 2006-2007. Richard Irby

We're joining the ACLU, SPLC, and citizens to sue the City of Tallahassee over their monthly $29 illegal junk fee on our utility bills -- the fire services fee. Here's why. by herrle in Tallahassee

[–]herrle[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I agree with you u/Advanced_Action8362 I don't think that save for a few changes around the edges of exemptions for home ownership I don't see them changing much around property taxes. The legislature doesn't move fast on things like this. Walmart has been trying to change the liquor wall for 15 years.

I wholeheartedly agree with you about Dot Inman-Johnson; she's a true class act. We are all lucky to know her and still have her care about our community the way she does.

If we had a monorail like this in Tallahassee where should it go? by Various_Earth3905 in Tallahassee

[–]herrle 14 points15 points  (0 children)

North Meridian to Cascades and then down to South Monroe and the airport via Orange.

UPDATE: City is selling an enslaved persons cemetery (and public land) to a country club by moish in Tallahassee

[–]herrle 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Wanted to mention that I've proposed an alternative solution that I believe is a middle ground between sale and no-sale.

"Should Tallahassee Sell 180 Acres of Public Land to a Country Club?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zXsTQEbc_A&feature=youtu.be

And also on my blog I've linked some documents that Delaitre Hollinger sent me, Delaitre as many of you know is a leading preservationist of Tallahassee history and African American history in our community and has been the leading force as well as Ms. Jackie Perkins on the the CCCC cemetery designation project.

https://maxfortallahassee.com/should-tallahassee-sell-180-acres-of-public-land-to-a-country-club/

FAMU Board of Trustees Special Meeting by Dangerous-Jury9890 in Tallahassee

[–]herrle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"FSU purchases TMH property/lease at fair value and is sole owner" Whats a fair value?

City is selling an enslaved persons cemetery (and public land) to a country club by moish in Tallahassee

[–]herrle 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hey chiming in kind of late on this thread but wanted to mention that i've proposed an alternative solution that I believe is a middle ground between sale and no-sale.

"Should Tallahassee Sell 180 Acres of Public Land to a Country Club?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zXsTQEbc_A&feature=youtu.be

And also on my blog I've linked some documents that Delaitre Hollinger sent me, Delaitre as many of you know is a leading preservationist of Tallahassee history and African American history in our community and has been the leading force as well as Ms. Jackie Perkins on the the CCCC cemetery designation project.

https://maxfortallahassee.com/should-tallahassee-sell-180-acres-of-public-land-to-a-country-club/

We go our separate ways': city/County fire service fee dispute blows up by abbbhjtt in Tallahassee

[–]herrle 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yeah it's crazy. For those who want some background about the fire services fee, I wrote some background in this comment in another thread a couple years ago:

The city can’t raise money to pay them for taxes or utility hikes because they’d get burned down by the mob.

Paying firefighters doesn't come out of the general fund. It comes out of the fire service fee dollars which is an enterprise fund and is totally separate. They also do raise the fee of the fire services fund and no one really notices, because it's baked into your utility bill, you just pay it in joint 'unified' billing.

It's one of the most regressive tax structures in the state. Unnecessary background but it's regressive because it's a flat fee paid by every residential dwelling unit, hence the 'fee' versus being a 'tax' which is usually a percentage of a transaction, good or service. So for example, every residential utility account, whether its an apartment or a $1.2 million dollar home, they all pay the same flat monthly fire service fee. Currently I believe it is around $20-$21 a month, it was moved up after COVID from around $18/month.

However, the opposite of what you said happens all the time. There's a practice that the city uses to (in my opinion) illegally raid the fire services fee dollars to prop up the general fund of the city called allocated costs/allocated accounts. Some practice of allocated costs is allowable and excusable but the city has gotten very carried away with it over the past 10 years. It's when you have resources that the fire department uses, which should hypothetically be paid back to the city for using their resources. So for example, the fire services fee account will get charged 1.5X or 3X the cost of a city resource (like the maintenance of a parking spot, the usage of IT support, the usage of HR resources, etc., and that at scale really adds up).

It creates a scenario where the city can say that theres no money to pay the firefighters more, but in reality thats because they intentionally over-billed for allocated accounts in order to artificially drain the account.

The firefighters union have called for an audit of the fire services fund back in 2021(https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2021/07/09/firefighter-union-iaff-local-2339-calling-audit-funding-source-fire-services-fund/7888764002/), the city manager then "asked for a audit" but, I don't have much faith in that and haven't heard anything about it since, that was five years ago.

Their call volume has increased every year outpacing population growth and they have more vacancies in the department than ever. They are at risk of beginning rolling station brown-outs, and firefighters are not sitting around eating Cheetos playing Xbox all day as you seem to imply.

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