BOCA BEACON (Boca Grande, Florida) 27 January 06 Commentary: Commissioner has concerns about iguana tax (Gary Dutery)
When Tammy Hall was running for her seat on the Lee County Board of Commissioners, she did something unusual for a candidate for public office in these parts. She campaigned in Boca Grande.
We're not talking about a quick trip in and out of town for a fund-raising cocktail party, she was a candidate who actually came here in search of votes - not just cash. She pressed the flesh, stared into the faces of the voters, discussed the issues and got to know the people of Boca Grande.
Hall was easily elected. Now, a year or so down the road, she is president of the board. And she has kept her promise to fairly represent the people of Boca Grande as a Lee County commissioner.
Hall said Wednesday that she has received a boatload of emails from Boca Grande property owners opposing the plan forwarded by County Commissioner Bob Janes and the Gasparilla Island Conservation and Improvement Association to put yet another property tax on the shoulders of island residents to pay for an iguana control program.
Let's be precise. The tax plan calls for the county to expand the existing Boca Grande Street Light District to include a new tax to deal with "invasive species." If you are an iguana, you're an invasive species. And Janes has ruled out spending Lee County tax dollars for iguana control. If Boca Grande wants the iguanas gone, Boca Grande will pay for it.
It's a concept that troubles Hall. It also troubles a number of Boca Grande residents who believe that the island's property owners already pay way more than their fair share of property taxes considering what they get - or don't get - in return.
And many of these residents have let their feelings known to the county commissioners in the form of emails. Many of these emails were sent by visitors to the Boca Beacon's website, BocaBeacon.com. We've put together a form that allows you to compose a message that includes your name and address. An email is then generated that is sent to all five members of the board.
In this week's paper we're printing a sampling of these emails. Just one of those who sent their email through BocaBeacon.com supported a special iguana tax. This email, however, was written anonymously.
Taken together, these emails pretty much sum up the arguments against singling out and taxing a small group of property owners - just over 1,500 - to pay for a problem that should clearly be addressed by the county.
On Tuesday, Hall voted along with the rest of the board to ask their staff to provide them with more information on the iguana subject and the tax being proposed by Janes and the GICIA. The board also voted to set a date for a public hearing on the proposed iguana tax. They didn't set a date, they voted to set one.
Getting all the facts, as Hall discovered this week, is probably a good idea. At Tuesday's meeting of the county commissioners, the board was told that all 300 people attending a meeting earlier this month at the Boca Grande Community Center auditorium said they supported the iguana tax.
As time goes by, the size of the audience seems to be growing faster than the iguana problem. There were fewer than 150 people there. The auditorium can't hold 300 bodies.
Further, Hall was surprised to learn that those raising their hands in support of the tax had been told by Janes that the tax they were voting on would likely be "about a buck." A dollar tax would raise just over $1,500 annually.
"That won't get the job done," Hall said.
Hall isn't crazy about these special tax districts. In the wake of Hurricane Charley, property owners on Captiva agreed to a county proposal for a special property tax to fund removal of storm debris from their island. Hall now says the special tax was a mistake. Even though it seemed justified at the time, Captiva's debris problem should have been Lee County's debris problem.
Further, she wonders, where do you draw the line when it comes to creating or expanding these tax districts? She pointed to one email from a man who wondered what the county would do if a couple of alligators turned up in his back yard. Would the county pay to remove them, or would they create an itsy bitsy little tax district for his back yard to raise the money to haul away the gators?
"It was a good point."
Hall acknowledged that when you give birth to a new tax you run the risk of creating a monster that refuses to go away. Creating a new tax is easy. Getting rid of it is another matter.
The federal income tax, for instance, was instituted by Lincoln to help pay for the Civil War. We kept abolishing it, but it kept coming back. And when the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional, the tax was ratified as an amendment to the Constitution. The American people were told that the income tax would only affect a small percentage of the most wealthy. It didn't take long for that to change.
As a 501 (c) (3), the GICIA is substantially prohibited from engaging in activities designed to influence legislation. And an iguana tax would be legislation. If the IRS were to determine that the GICIA violated this provision of the tax law, contributors to the organization could see their tax deductions reduced, the GICIA could be forced to use contributors' money to pay an excise tax or the group could be forced into a 501 (c) (4) election. Nobody wants to see this happen.
There are a ton of reasons to oppose the Janes-GICIA iguana tax. And the island's property owners will be given the opportunity to do exactly that before the tax can become a reality.
Before instituting the new tax, Lee County will survey the island's property owners. If a majority opposes creation of yet another tax on Boca Grande, all Lee County taxpayers will share in the cost of iguana control.
And that's the fair solution.
Commissioner has concerns about iguana tax