User profile: conchsoup
Joined: Jan. 9, 2007
Comments posted: 142
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Comments by conchsoup
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Posted on August 23 at 2:38 p.m.
I am voting for the strongest candidates that will bring the most stability, intelligence, common sense and positive direction to the school board.
I am voting for CURATOLO because she I admire the fact that she doesn't want to become friends with Abbott et al. She is focused on doing her darndest to move the school district forward.
I am also voting for JOE PATERNO. He has been deeply involved leading community groups in our area for many many years. He is thoughtful, intelligent, and is strong enough to stand up against Thompson.
Vote for Curatolo and Paterno.
On Collier School Board working to make sure district doesn’t lose accreditation
Posted on July 20 at 10:05 a.m.
Outstanding Phil. Please print a timeline of the events known through the gleaning of the open records files your team has assembled. Let us see what you have based this account on. We deserve to know. We know there is a breach of the public trust and we want to put the puzzle pieces together.
You have always been a strong advocate of freedom of the press and protecting freedom of speech. How can we have either when the behavior of our political leaders are hidden from us?
Here is the perfect opportunity for you to keep our community informed by presenting the facts from the in-the-shadows behavior of our school board members.
We have a right to the truth.
Posted on July 13 at 1:31 p.m.
jacktanner-you couldn't be more wrong. Let's start with government regulations. You blame 'over-regulation' I assume for the economic ills the country is facing. 1st of all it is becoming all too clear that insufficient regulation is a major reason that the mortgage industry is overextended with sub-prime loans and causing massive turmoil as the industry crashes. Greed needs oversight. You and I are going to end up bailing out this fiasco while the bankers and loan officers and Wall Street traders and the entire industry built on the real estate boom walk away with billions of dollars. Regulations protect the tax payer.
Regulation can be a good thing. Think of a four-way stop corner. When people obey the signs everyone moves through in an orderly and regulated manner. Chaos is prevented. When people follow the regulations no one gets hurt.
Government overspending is caused by another failure of oversight. We have no bid contracts awarding billions of dollars to private contractors for a war in Iraq (soon to be exported to Afghanistan). We have gutted the agencies that would have had the power to provide oversight by a Bush administration that believes the private marketplace needs to be unfettered to function well. But this is a mistake. The American people deserve to have a strict accounting for how their hard earned taxes are spent, especially when they are going to for-profit corporations.
In the state of Florida, the Jeb Bush administration pushed through legislation on behalf of the big business lobbies to privatize every government function possible. This has led to incredible waste and inflated costs for delivery of anything privatized. The medical delivery costs for Medicaid and Medicare have dramatically increased the costs to these publicly funded programs by inserting a mechanism for extracting huge profits through a middleman known as HMOs and other privately held so called health insurance management companies. It is the scandal of the decade. We are becoming bankrupted by the privatization schemes.
Tanner-you could not be more wrong about the cause of the economic inefficiencies we are suffering today. I urge you to look into the vast amounts of wasted tax dollars generated by the privatization movement. And to reconsider the importance of regulation and oversight for protecting the tax payers’ investment in our country.
Posted on July 13 at 12:41 p.m.
jacktanner-you couldn't be more wrong. Let's start with government regulations. You blame 'over-regulation' I assume for the economic ills the country is facing. 1st of all it is becoming all too clear that insufficient regulation is a major reason that the mortgage industry is overextended with sub-prime loans and causing massive turmoil as the industry crashes. Greed needs oversight. You and I are going to end up bailing out this fiasco while the bankers and loan officers and Wall Street traders and the entire industry built on the real estate boom walk away with billions of dollars. Regulations protect the tax payer.
Regulation can be a good thing. Think of a four-way stop corner. When people obey the signs everyone moves through in an orderly and regulated manner. Chaos is prevented. When people follow the regulations no one gets hurt.
Government overspending is caused by another failure of oversight. We have no bid contracts awarding billions of dollars to private contractors for a war in Iraq (soon to be exported to Afghanistan). We have gutted the agencies that would have had the power to provide oversight by a Bush administration that believes the private marketplace needs to be unfettered to function well. But this is a mistake. The American people deserve to have a strict accounting for how their hard earned taxes are spent, especially when they are going to for-profit corporations.
In the state of Florida, the Jeb Bush administration pushed through legislation on behalf of the big business lobbies to privatize every government function possible. This has led to incredible waste and inflated costs for delivery of anything privatized. The medical delivery costs for Medicaid and Medicare have dramatically increased the costs to these publicly funded programs by inserting a mechanism for extracting huge profits through a middleman known as HMOs and other privately held so called health insurance management companies. It is the scandal of the decade. We are becoming bankrupted by the privatization schemes.
Tanner-you could not be more wrong about the cause of the economic inefficiencies we are suffering today. I urge you to look into the vast amounts of wasted tax dollars generated by the privatization movement. And to reconsider the importance of regulation and oversight for protecting the tax payers’ investment in our country.
Posted on June 15 at 2:35 p.m.
So if numbers tell the tale, let’s look at the numbers again:
Outstanding debt:
We’re paying $2 million per year for the Everglades restoration project and the commitment ends in 2016. Assuming we have paid our share for 2008, then we have 8 more years left. This means we have $16 million left on this commitment. This debt will be retired in 2016.
We have $41 million in outstanding state-issued bonds that are backed by Alley tolls that we are paying off at a rate of $15 million per year. At this rate we will be able to retire this debt in 3 years. By 2012 we will not owe any more on this debt.
There is $6 million in ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the road.
Income:
We have an annual income of $23 million from tolls.
Reducing this amount by $6 million for ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the road leaves $17 million.
By 2012 (after the bonds are retired):
We will have $15 million coming in that is no longer going to pay for the bonds and can be used to for other state road (Collier County first?) construction projects.
“The department has estimated the net present value of gross toll revenues as ranging between $750m and $1900m based on a 50 year concession, 6% discount rate and different toll and traffic growth rates. Net present value of net revenues (tolls less costs) range even more widely - between $311m and $1481m - giving the bidders a wide 'window' in which to pitch their bids.” http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/3586
For discussion here, let us assume that the after costs $17 million per year income stays constant. Over fifty years this yields the state $850 million and lets us keep control of our road which the citizens have paid for. If the traffic increases and the tolls increase then our income goes up too.
Another concern to keep an eye on is what non-compete clauses will leasing entail? What if we decided that an enlightened approach to traveling across Alligator Alley might include an elevated bridge that respected the natural flow of the everglades, a unique and precious ecological feature of Florida? We could have a high-speed rail elevated to cross the state encouraging tourism, and fuel efficiency and replacing the Alley. But leasing out Alligator Alley would sign away our rights to control our future.
We need to think like good stewards of our resources, both economically and environmentally. We must keep control of Alligator Alley
On SPECIAL REPORT: Alligator Alley could fall into international hands
Posted on June 15 at 2:19 p.m.
So if numbers tell the tale, let’s look at the numbers again:
Outstanding debt:
We’re paying $2 million per year for the Everglades restoration project and the commitment ends in 2016. Assuming we have paid our share for 2008, then we have 8 more years left. This means we have $16 million left on this commitment. This debt will be retired in 2016.
We have $41 million in outstanding state-issued bonds that are backed by Alley tolls that we are paying off at a rate of $15 million per year. At this rate we will be able to retire this debt in 3 years. By 2012 we will not owe any more on this debt.
There is $6 million in ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the road.
Income:
We have an annual income of $23 million from tolls.
Reducing this amount by $6 million for ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the road leaves $17 million.
By 2012 (after the bonds are retired):
We will have $15 million coming in that is no longer going to pay for the bonds and can be used to for other state road (Collier County first?) construction projects.
Tollroadsnews.com provides an interesting investors look at how to value the future revenue of the toll roads. Over 50 years, based on various traffic growth scenarios, the net revenue stream (after expenses) is estimated to be between $311 million and $1481 million:
“The department has estimated the net present value of gross toll revenues as ranging between $750m and $1900m based on a 50 year concession, 6% discount rate and different toll and traffic growth rates. Net present value of net revenues (tolls less costs) range even more widely - between $311m and $1481m - giving the bidders a wide 'window' in which to pitch their bids.” http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/3586
For discussion here, let us assume that the after costs $17 million per year income stays constant. Over fifty years this yields the state $850 million and lets us keep control of our road which the citizens have paid for. If the traffic increases and the tolls increase then our income goes up too.
Another concern to keep an eye on is what non-compete clauses will leasing entail? What if we decided that an enlightened approach to traveling across Alligator Alley might include an elevated bridge that respected the natural flow of the everglades, a unique and precious ecological feature of Florida? We could have a high-speed rail elevated to cross the state encouraging tourism, and fuel efficiency and replacing the Alley. But leasing out Alligator Alley would sign away our rights to control our future.
We need to think like good stewards of our resources, both economically and environmentally. We must keep control of Alligator Alley.
On Phil Lewis: Numbers tell the tale of Alley lease proposal
Posted on June 1 at 2:07 p.m.
We are facing a depressing array of fiscal pressures in our nation, our state, and our county. Budget cuts are resulting from revenue shortfalls due to a combination of factors including the implosion from the real estate and mortgage industry fiasco; anti-tax legislation reducing property taxes; falling sales tax revenues from fewer tourists who have fewer dollars to spend on rising gas prices; and the diversion of trillions of dollars to a continuing war in Iraq.
The local school budget has to be cut.
Privatizing the custodial services seems attractive because as a line item the annual savings to the school budget is estimated to be $3.5 million.
What is the larger impact on the community though? Will cutting the jobs of 250 workers further exacerbate tax revenues? Currently the income from these workers is spent on living expenses in the county with taxes being paid on their union wages. Many own homes on which they pay county property taxes. Selling their homes may become a necessity because when they are fired from CCPS there are few if any replacement jobs available now.
The economy is so stagnant in Collier that even selling their homes may not be easy and could easily slip into the rapidly growing foreclosure ranks further depressing the housing market and land values here and postponing a recovery.
The profits made by the private corporation contracted to do the school cleaning comes from the difference between the custodians’ current wages and the reduced wages that will be paid. These profits (paid for from our school budgeted tax dollars) will be leaving the county as well as the state further reducing the state of Florida tax revenue base.
We, as a community, need to provide an ad hoc committee to review the CCPS school budget and weigh various proposals for making the cuts to the district. This is far too important to leave to a newcomer.
There must be other ways to meet the budget that are not so costly. I will volunteer to be a part of the ad hoc committee to review the CCPS budget to make recommendations to the Superintendent and the School Board. Just name the time and place, preferably a Saturday.
Posted on May 11 at 12:51 p.m.
(cont. from #7)
Finally, where is the profit for the private company? Paying wages of $10 per hour for 188 employees is about $3.9 million annually.
If they reduce the average wages of the custodians from $10 per hour to $7.25 per hour the cost savings is $1,000,000 per year. That is the profit margin.
Is Collier County really better off with families already living at the margin of poverty by having their wages reduced by 20%?
Where is the $3.5 million dollars that was formerly being spent in Collier County by the custodians going? Not only is the economy of Collier County losing this money, but the profits taken out of our economy are going out of state.
And finally, what happens to the school children of the custodians? The very children the superintendent is ostensibly here to support educate? These are the children already most at risk of failing in the schools. How is eliminating or reducing their family income going to help them Mr. Thompson?
This idea deserves an F.
E. Pluribus Unum
On Editorial: Cutting custodians more than just ‘staff reduction’
Posted on May 11 at 12:49 p.m.
The single most striking factor correlated with poor performance in school in Collier County is family poverty. If Dennis Thompson could stand back a little to see the big picture he might note that he is in a position to address this issue. If maximizing the ability for all children in the school district to learn is truly his top goal, and we sincerely hope that it is, (in spite of the numerous naysayers believing he is a carpetbagger, here for the money and lacks the true wisdom needed to lead Collier County’s public schools), then here is an opportunity for him to choose wisely.
Custodians with 5 years in the CCPS system are paid less than $21,200 per year. That falls beneath the US official poverty guidelines for a family of 4. Custodians are paid $10 per hour with 5 years of service. Let’s take a look at some estimated numbers.
$5,250,000 annually (pay for 250 CCPS custodians at $10/hour)
$2,100,000 employee health insurance ($700/month/CCPS custodian)
Let’s review how the private firm will save the district $3.5 million. The first savings comes from eliminating health care insurance: $2.1 million off the top by hiring the custodians as permanent part-time employees, not entitled to employer paid health care insurance.
Is it really beneficial to the tax payers of Collier County to have 250 workers lose their health care insurance?
Next, the privatization plan will reduce the number of custodians by increasing the amount of square footage each will be responsible for maintaining. If they increase the amount of work for each custodian 125% then they will be able to reduce the number of staff by25%. This means 188 people doing the work previously done by 250. The cost savings in wages here: $1.3 million.
Savings to CCPS: $3.4 million
If the private company hires all 188 people from among the ranks of the displaced CCPS custodians, that still leaves 62 formerly fulltime workers unemployed.
Does Collier County, in this best case scenario, benefit from sending 62 workers to the unemployment lines?
(cont. below)
On Editorial: Cutting custodians more than just ‘staff reduction’
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Posted on September 6 at 4:58 p.m.
How on earth does the NDN justify the prominant space they waste on this guy week after week in the editorial section? We have serious problems to discuss. We have pressing issues like the increasing unemployment rate and daunting foreclosure rates. Our educational system is in the muck; lack of affordable health care is a key discussion point this election; there is no shortage of intelligence stimulating ideas we could kick around.
Put Farmer in the entertainment section and get something worthy of our time and brains in his place.
On The Farmer File: TxtN: readRs rxshuns