INCORPORATION Q&A: Friends of Lakewood Ranch

1. What is the effect on Manatee County should Lakewood Ranch incorporate?
Incorporators claim the city would get a share of the taxes paid by Lakewood residents that now go to Manatee. If true, the county would suffer a revenue loss exactly equal to the revenue gain of the city at a time when the county can ill afford it. In 2012, Manatee’s loss is projected by the incorporators’ feasibility study to be $2.6 million, with a cumulative 10-year loss of about $27 million. The county will have to make up for this by increasing other fees and/or taxes and/or cutting services and/or increasing the city’s price for contracted services (law enforcement). The feasibility study does not provide sufficient information to calculate any reduction in county expenses.

2. Should incorporation pass, how do you envision your role in the new government?
None of Gary Berns, Bob Stepelman, Nancy Johnson, Reg Titcombe, Bob Hendel, Mike Spring, Joan Brummer, Charlie Brummer, Fred Braun, Stan Pearlman and Bob Swiatek — the members of the executive committee and steering committee of the Friends of Lakewood Ranch — has any intention of running for the city council or seeking any position with the city. All will remain concerned residents. Inasmuch as we have hundreds of members, we cannot be further specific — we have not polled our entire membership.

3. What are the specific problems with the way that Lakewood Ranch is currently being managed that would warrant a substantive change?
We cannot think of any substantive problem except irrigation, a problem that is being addressed. Incorporation will not fix it any faster. We now have five nearby supervisors to handle our issues with rapid responses, no waiting for five councilpersons who have the whole Ranch to supervise. We don’t pay for choices made by other villages. Our county services are good — the county is resurfacing several Summerfield roads — not so under incorporation. The county will keep all the monies we have paid it for road improvement purposes as part of our taxes. Assessments are flat; we have economies of scale in outsourcing services and staff support for Lakewood. Our HOAs share these services; under incorporation they will have to find alternative financial support. Under CDDs, we enjoy a strong voice in our neighborhood, village, variable expenses and Lakewood tax rates.

4. If the straw poll shows the majority of residents support incorporation, how will your group respond?
The straw poll must have been fair and unbiased, and must have been conducted in a valid, impartial manner to have validity — conducted by a nationally-recognized, third-party polling firm; all residents included via mailing with substantial time for vacationers/snow-birds to respond; unbiased questions; and observers from the Incorporation Study Group and Friends of Lakewood present during ballot count. If all the aforementioned is met, and a majority of 60% or greater of residents are in favor of incorporation, we still have to present our signed petitions that oppose incorporation to our legislators and point out the deficiencies in the Fishkind report to them and the Legislature as a whole.

5. Are there any changes that could be made to the proposed city charter that would make you support incorporation?
If the residents wish to change their mode of government, the whole drafting process should be opened up to give the residents a chance to choose what kind of a city government they may want. Charter questions should start at the bottom and work up to the neighborhoods and homeowners associations. The residents should be given a chance to go forward without losing the things that made them buy here in the first place, the things that make Lakewood special. This process would take time, which would let the economy recover.

6. Dr. Hank Fishkind mentioned risks in his feasibility study conclusion, but nowhere in the 45 pages does he have a table, figures or text regarding those risks. What are these risks?
A key justification for incorporation has been the Fishkind study. However, the report doesn’t contain any analysis of the risks that could significantly affect its conclusions. On Fishkind’s website, he admits, “Every analytical tool has its limitations. … Furthermore, the projection of costs and revenues associated with land use decisions can only be as accurate as the data used for the assumptions.” Understanding the risk, the model’s conclusions are grossly wrong. Data and model inaccuracies are critical to making an incorporation decision. This is problematical because much of the data with respect to costs was calculated in the same way as it was in the Casey Key study rejected by a committee of the Legislature.

7. What is your funding source?
With the exception of one corporate donor that contributed equally to both sides and about $75, all funding has come from members of the executive and steering committees — all Lakewood residents. The funds have been used for printing and internet purposes with a reserve for advertising.

8. Explain the effects of incorporation on small-business owners.
The effect on business owners would likely be an increase in taxes. This would occur because the ratio of homeowners to businesses is high. Business owners do not have a vote unless they reside in Lakewood. Whenever a need for increased tax revenue occurs, the first place politicians look for revenue is the business community. This avoids raising taxes on homeowners because they have the votes. Taxing businesses solves the revenue problem in the short run but creates problems in the future. When the tax burden on business becomes too high, the business relocates and that revenue is lost. Homeowner taxes will increase to make up for the lost revenue.

9. Is there a problem with the amount of reserves the CDDs have currently?
The adequacy of reserves depends on a creditable benchmark for the necessary amount of reserves. Fortunately, we have two. The Government Financial Offers Association guideline is 17% of budget and the bond rating agencies’ is 8% to 15%. With the exception of CDD 4, which is essentially controlled by the incorporators, the other CDDs have total reserves that satisfy at least one of these guidelines. Reserves generally are not intended to meet a once-in-a-generation catastrophe such as a Category 5 hurricane. This is the role of insurance and lines of credit. It would be grossly unfair to assess today’s homeowners for millions of dollars that may never be spent or spent in 20 years when they are no longer residents.

10. Are five city council members enough representation for residents of Lakewood Ranch? Why or why not?
Five council persons are not enough to address all of the issues that would face a greater Lakewood Ranch (almost 40,000 acres with a projected doubling of the present population) and still have the local control we have at the present time. In our current system, the supervisors are our neighbors and directly approachable. This will not be the case of a council of five members. A hierarchy will be created, with the councilor at the top and a staff that will decide which issue the councilor will address first, second or not at all. This arrangement can and often leads to abuses; witness the purchasing scandals and the parking meter mess in Sarasota. These are examples of diseconomies of scale.