The City has, in the past 10 years, been plagued by poor financial decision making; so much so that one of our recent City Managers was fired primarily due to budgetary neglect. From the DROP and pension programs to establishing self-insurance funds, the lack of a Commissioner with an accounting and finance background has resulted in the financial resources of the City being stretched too thin. Today, our pension expense has grown by 20% ($3.8 million) in 2005 and our City's reserves are significantly less than the GFOA's recommended fund balance. The City needs at least 1 out of 5 Commissioners who can utilize a working knowledge of the city budget and a finance and accounting background in order to make important fiscal decisions for the City.

                          (a) preserve our pioneers' legacy and retain a piece of our past for our future,

                          (b) apply fiscally conservative measures to build up our financial reserves,

                          (c) grow development-wise responsibly and intelligently,

                          (d) apply common sense decisions that benefit our City and our citizens, and

                          (e) progress forward in a deliberate way and improve our citizens' quality of life.  

JOIN ME IN RETURNING SOME SHINY DAYS TO FORT LAUDERDALE...