Bill would link tax charge to election

Rep. Fred Brummer, R-Apopka, says anyone with the authority to collect
property taxes ought to have to run for election, not be handed the job by
the governor

By Charlie Whitehead

Saturday, December 31, 2005

Governing board members of the South Florida Water Management District and
Florida's other water management districts will have to face voters to get
their jobs if an Orlando-area state representative gets his way.

Rep. Fred Brummer, R-Apopka, says anyone with the authority to collect
property taxes ought to have to run for elec tion, not be handed the job by
the governor. Water management district governing board members currently
are appointed by the governor.

"If you're going to assess property taxes, you should stand for election,"
Brummer said. "It's as simple and straightforward as that."

Brummer, whose district is in the St.Johns River Water Management District,
said no displeasure with activities of the districts entered into his
thinking, though if that engenders support in Southwest Florida, he'll take
it.

"It's not a matter of a response to anything they did," he said. "Though if
I represented Southwest Florida I might be doing it for that reason."

Rep. Trudi Williams does represent Southwest Florida.

Williams, R-Fort Myers, is herself a former member of the South Florida
Water Management District governing board.

She said if Brummer hadn't filed a bill, she would have.

"There's no oversight whatsoever," she said. "I noticed that when I was on
the board."

Williams recalls overseeing a budget of $458 million when she sat on the
board.

"I was startled to see them have a budget (now) of $1.1 billion, and they
still come to the Legislature for money," she said.

The districts collect taxes and fashion budgets that require no approval
other than the blessing of the governor, Williams said.

"They're accountable to no one," she said. "The governor appoints and there
is no legislative oversight."

Locally, the theme of accountability is repeated.

Lee County commissioners and other local elected officials have complained
bitterly of Lake Okeechobee releases they say are destroying the ecosystem
of the Caloosahatchee River and its coastal estuaries. They contend the
governing board is too responsive to the needs of sugar growers in the
Everglades Agricultural Area, to the detriment of the environment and the
economies of both coasts.

"I think given the circumstances of the current governing board appointed by
the governor allowing the wholesale destruction of the South Florida
ecosystem, there's a definite need for a change in the process," said Lee
Commissioner Ray Judah, who has argued for suing the district over lake
releases. "I'd fully support it."

Mary Rawl, president of Caloosahatchee RiverWatch, said the group has been
hoping for just such a bill.

"That is great news," she said of Brummer's bill. "That was one of the
things we wanted to work on."

Rawl said years ago governing board members tended to be scientists and
environmentalists, people with a working knowledge of the issues on which
they vote.

"That's changed," she said.

"Now there's no experience with water resources. These are huge decisions."

The current board of the South Florida Water Management District includes
public relations people, attorneys, engineers and development consultants.
Bush's two most recent appointments were Naples development consultant Alice
Carlson and Malcolm "Bubba" Wade, a vice president of U.S. Sugar.

"Basically, it's been at the whim of the governor," Rawl said. "I would like
to see a more balanced board."

Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, said he agrees with Brummer's philosophy.

"There is such a thing as taxation without representation," he said. "They
collect a substantial tax, and there is no public representation."

No Senate bill has been filed, and Saunders said he'd have to carefully
review Brummer's plan before he offered one. He said there have been
instances of "special interest" people finding their way onto governing
boards.

Rawl said an election wouldn't necessarily prevent that.

"The same forces that put board members in now will be throwing money at
candidates," she said. "But I think it's a step in the right direction."