Vote Anderson, County Commission District 3
To the editor:
Four years ago, Larry Kiker ran for Lee County Commission with a promise for “A Better Tomorrow.” Kiker was swept into office with tremendous financial support from Clewiston based U.S. Sugar Corporation. So not only did a powerful corporation outside Lee County determine the outcome of a local Lee County Commission race but, they have an ally on the Lee County Commission concerning water policy issues.
During Kiker’s tenure in office, water quality in the Caloosahatchee and our coastal estuaries has greatly deteriorated resulting in harm to our tourism and real estate based economy, environment and public health. In his disingenuous attempt to address our dirty water crises, Kiker’s newspaper commentaries and trips to Washington D.C. alleged the need for greater funding and involvement from the Federal government.
The real heavy lifting should be focused on Governor Scott and the state legislature. For it is the state that has jurisdiction over water quality. It was the Governor and state legislature that refused to use Amendment 1 funds to purchase land south of the lake to store, treat and convey water to the Everglades. And, it is the Governor and state legislature, during the 2016 legislative session, that approved a “Water Bill” that will all but make it impossible to clean up the dirty water by giving the sugar industry safe harbor from being held accountable in efforts to restore Lake Okeechobee, Caloosahatchee and our coastal estuaries.
Kiker referred to the need to discuss “the lack of water storage within the Kissimmee River Basin with the Senate Appropriation Subcommittee,” yet the overwhelming need for water storage is south, not north, of Lake Okeechobee to store, treat and convey water south to restore coastal estuaries, rehydrate the Everglades, recharge the Biscayne aquifer and protect public and private well-fields from salt water intrusion. In referencing water storage north of Lake Okeechobee, Kiker is working off the same playbook as Big Sugar, to redirect resources and attention away from restoring a flow-way from Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades.
Kiker extols the virtue of the County’s Growth Increment Funding mechanism to keep up with pressing infrastructure needs. Unfortunately, the strategy is not adequately addressing the impacts of population growth and results in the residential taxpayers subsidizing capital construction costs. Kiker and the majority of the Lee County Commission supported an 85 percent reduction in impact fees costing the county and school board precious funding (approximately $50 million over three years) for necessary infrastructure.
Impact fees are an important source of revenue to ensure that new development, not the existing taxpayers, pay for the infrastructure to accommodate growth. Furthermore impact fees equals jobs as the funds are used to pay the labor workforce to build roads, parks and schools.
Kiker’s recent support of the Grand Resorts on Fort Myers Beach not only led to an state ethics investigation but would have given away Cresent Beach Park and jeopardized beach front homeowners with a half-mile sea wall that would have exacerbated coastal beach erosion. It is well documented that hardened structures along a beach coastline deflects wave energy downward, resulting in scoring and loss of beach sand. Furthermore, a regularly scheduled beach renourishment program to buffer the sea wall would have proven extremely costly to beach front homeowners.
In violation of the public trust, Kiker and the majority of the Board of County Commissioners voted to raid the Conservation 2020 Trust Fund in the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 fiscal years, in excess of $40 million dollars, to balance the budget. In the 2015-2016 fiscal year, the BOCC shifted the 0.50 mils, designated for Conservation 2020, to the General Fund, effectively undermining a uniquely successful program that was designed to conserve our precious land and water resources, enhance property values, and provide open space for public enjoyment and quality of life.
Lee County’s future is at a crossroad, and the voters have a critical decision in the Lee County Commission District 3 race to reject Kiker’s failed promises and policies and elect Dick Anderson, a man genuinely committed to representing the public interest not the special interest.
Ray Judah
Fort Myers