Broward Schools & Property Tax Edition: Capitol to Courthouse Headliners–Sept. 4

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Education budget ax honed

When the state budget ax starts swinging in Tallahassee this month, where it will fall on public schools will be up to four key Northeast Floridians.

 

County mercifully pulls plug on budget advisory panel

Rest in peace, Budget Advisory Committee. You certainly didn’t have any in your short, unproductive life.

 

Local governments irked as state ‘cuts’ land in their laps

TALLAHASSEE — State agencies have proposed more than $1 billion in spending cuts as lawmakers prepare to trim the budget later this month.

 

Sides gird for Fla. budget fight

To erase a deficit, cuts in aid must be made. Not mine is the refrain.

TALLAHASSEE – Florida faces its biggest budget shortfall in two decades, and state legislators are about to decide who gets hurt and who gets spared.

 

State lawmakers’ tax pledges run into reality

Gov. Charlie Crist and state lawmakers made a promise two months ago that if voters approve a property tax-cut plan on Jan. 29, the politicians would protect schools from billions of lost education money.

 

Homeowners laughing at tiny tax cuts

When Palm City resident Sally Curtis heard that state legislators changed property tax laws this year to lower homeowners’ tax bills, she envisioned savings hundreds of dollars.

 

Budget-cutting proposals simply shift responsibilities among agencies

Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau TALLAHASSEE – State agencies have proposed more than $1 billion in spending cuts as lawmakers prepare to trim the budget later this month.

 

If schools must get cut, cut bogus bonus money

Republican leaders say that if Floridians pass tax “reform” in January, the Legislature absolutely will find $1.42 billion a year for the next five years to make up for what proposed property tax cuts would take away from Florida’s students.

 

Sorry, Charlie: New act needed to solve state’s problems

Charlie Crist has made politics look easy. The most affable politician was following Jeb Bush, one of the most arrogant. On his way to winning last year in a landslide, Gov. Crist said all the right things about lowering taxes and insurance premiums.

 

History shows way on taxes

California in the ’70s and Colorado in the ’90s heard tell of the sky falling. It didn’t.

The Florida Legislature sent Alan Reeder-Camponi back in time. From his home in St. Petersburg, he remembers California, 1978. Everyone talks property taxes. Homeowners demand big rate cuts.

 

Property taxes are illegal? You wish…

From time to time, somebody pops up with the claim that Americans aren’t legally obligated to pay a federal income tax.

 

Creative strategies skirt taxes on real estate deals

In a maneuver to lower their tax bills that is confusing public property appraisers, sellers and buyers of some of Florida’s most valuable real estate have low-balled publicly recorded sale prices by at least $1 billion since 2005.

 

School board void draws GOP silence

It’s been a tough summer for fans of old-fashioned party bossism. After the Palm Beach County Republican Party board of directors’ high-profile failure to influence Gov. Charlie Crist’s appointment for a county commission vacancy last month, the GOP inner circle last week opted not to make any endorsement for the latest school board opening.

 

Contenders emerge for permanent sheriff post

Even as Al Lamberti was named acting sheriff on Tuesday, others were already lining up for Broward’s top law enforcement post — considered one of the most powerful jobs in the county.

 

Florida’s High School Failures Reflected In Unimpressive Scores

Florida’s high schools can’t get their ACT together. And their SATs are stagnant. High school students performed worse this year than last on the American College Test, the second straight year of declines. The results place Florida 48th among the states.

 

County’s Attack On Duplication Has Unpleasant Taste Of Duplicity

Lean local budgets leave no room for duplication of services. On that everyone agrees. But something more than overlapping duties seems to be driving the cuts that Hillsborough County proposes for planning and growth management.

 

Schools may get needed anti-gang help

Anti-gang war may get new troops: More good news on the gang front: Palm Beach County schools may be getting $450,000 in federal funding to train more gang intelligence detectives and beef up communication between the officers trying to catch gang members and the schools many of them attend.

 

Editorial: Pines, School Board need to resolve issues.

ISSUE: City, School Board at loggerheads over payments.

A state-mandated dispute resolution process exists for a specific reason — to avoid costly legal battles. The School Board and officials in Pembroke Pines should make good use of it now, and not treat it as must-do on the way to litigation.

 

Free tutoring program fails to serve most students

One in five Palm Beach County students deserves free tutoring this year because their schools aren’t providing an adequate education by federal standards, but only a fraction of them will get it.

 

Style vs. substance questions raised for DDA

Nearly five years ago, Miami internal auditor Victor Igwe suggested that a city agency charged with revitalizing downtown could save up to $91,000 a year by moving out of its rented office space in one of downtown’s most expensive high-rises.