Comments on: Rep. Murzin: Time To Fess Up And Be Honest About Consolidation

By: S.L.B

S.L.B — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:48:29 +0000

WOW….the way he words his opinion piece here makes him sound like an outsider looking in. He’s smack dab in the middle of all of this and if I was a betting woman, I’d bet my best pair of drawers he knows way more than he’s sharing with any of us.

You know that saying “The apple don’t fall far from the tree”? Small governments are the apples and the Big government is the tree and we all see how that’s been and still ongoing.

I agree with bill, big b little ill, not only do I worry for the northend’s future and where it’s heading, I also worry about the bigger picture which is the United States of America. At what point does China say enough is enough and want to come in and take over their realestate? As of May 2009, the US owed China $772 billion and we owe many other countries lots of $$$ as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Debt_Clock

What will that mean for my family and I who have worked hard to acheive our goals and struggled many years to keep our home and land. Will they one day say “You no longer own it anymore, it’s ours now and you must leave”? Personally, I am very concerned and worried for not only our family’s welfare, but all others too.

Bill W. said it best, good government starts at the local level and works it way up.

By: bob hill

bob hill — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:35:48 +0000

It is a good thing for you Murz that we couldn’t vote on your train and bailout of csx, I believe it would have failed in the panhandle of fla for sure………You care what I think, why then waste all that money on a train in south fla that most of us will never use just for campain money and maybe a mailer against evers… Is that why yall did this in dec to keep the peeps from putting this together with the cuts coming in education and medicare ect…..Why can’t yall stop this stupid gov from buying land and wasting money on this train what this would save 3-4 billion alone…… Even your peeps with the chamber won’t more land bought……..How much land is enough remember the more you buy the less tax you collect and the more you have to raise………What now over 35% of the land in fla is owned by gov in one form or another……Remember what you said in the daily rag you are the chair everything has too come threw you so stop this bull crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ritz carlton Hill signed on to the consolidation takening him out of the election picture, got to just love poly-ticks!!!! Hell obama man hug has got it hard to even vote rubio now…………..I just hope the lid dosn’t come of the GOP leadership picture murz have you got a credit card!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: JJ

JJ — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:20:41 +0000

Honest Abe…. are you Abe Lincoln? Cuz you’re a little behind times…..

The pensions WERE TO BE PAID FOR by everyone in the consolidated government area…. they slipped that little nugget in on the last night before it was turned over to the Legislative Delegation…. which is pretty telling of some of the ulterior motives at play…

Here’s the article on it here at NE…. http://www.northescambia.com/?p=13856

By: Honest Abe

Honest Abe — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:32:40 +0000

I am disappointed that Rep. Murzin would choose to seek to gain favor from folks in North Escambia by telling a blatant lie about the proposed consolidation plan. I live in North Escambia and realize the proposal is unpopular here, but that fact does not give any politician the right to lie to the people. Murzin insinuates in his comments that “the proposal was a way to shift a City of Pensacola tax burden or pension liability from 54,000 people to 300,000 people”. This simply is not true.

Section 10.02.E. on page 27 of the proposed consolidation plan says:
“E. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section13.01A., funding and payment of government pensions to employees of former governments shall be provided from the same sources for funding and payment of such pensions had consolidation not taken place. If ad valorem taxes are utilized for funding and payment of such pensions, the Consolidated Government shall levy taxes for such payments only on the property which is located in the area where property was taxable for such purpose immediately prior to the effective date of this charter.”

This provision clearly says that the people living in the area of the present City of Pensacola will be taxed separately to pay for the City’s old pension plan. People living in North Escambia can’t be taxed for it as Murzin says. Why would Murzin tell such a lie? . . . To cover for the fact that he denied the people the right to vote on this issue. People in Washington don’t want to hear our opinion, and it looks to me like the same goes for Murzin and Greg Evers.

It is fair to debate the merits of the consolidation proposal. But whether you are for or against the proposal, we can’t allow another politician to climb his way into office by telling lies to us regular folks. Throw all of the bums out. It just burns me up that they think people in the North end are too stupid to read the thing for ourselves.

By: W.R.

W.R. — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:48:38 +0000

Yep!

We don’t need Tallahassee telling local people what we need and We don’t need consolidation.

By: Ron

Ron — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:24:43 +0000

I agree with Dave on this issue. I appreciate a representative who has the courage to point out the underlying issue(s) driving the consolidation initiative.

By: bill w

bill w — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:15:05 +0000

Poor government can only be blamed on the governed. As voters we don’t “train” our representatives.
It all starts at the local level, commissioners, elected board members,etc. They should “pass the test” before being allowed to go up to the next level.
At the State level they should be tested for their ability be handle more responsibility and some may be allowed to move to the highest level if they pass the test. If they fail at any level they shouldn’t be allowed to advance.
The people in higher positions now probably got started in politics when we were younger and didn’t pay close attention to their performance. A phone call got our road or drainage problem fixed and we were happy to go to that BBQ so we let them off the hook for bad decisions. Shame on us.

By: Bama54

Bama54 — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:44:38 +0000

I guess Dave summed it up pretty good. Trust, jobs lost that comes with consolidation and just the overall plan that the north end gets screwed. Just how many time does this consolidation effort have to be voted down for them to realize the word “NO”!! I guess this little letter tells a lot about what you knew all along, the underhanded deal making going on, in the way you worded you letter. Is there anyone in Escambia County that wants to help the people, will someone honest come forward? All you have to do is treat everyone on an equal playing field, listen to the people and do what we think is best for the county. The north end of the county is “NEVER” going to vote for anything the south ends wants unless the north has some say, and can benefit from it. You know something like a real nice baseball park (minor league team) for everyone in the county to enjoy, nice boating areas, may be even a couple of county pools (swimming lesions). There is lot ideas the people from the north end would love to share and make happen!! All good things don’t come from the south end.

By: Ghost of Gulf Coast

Ghost of Gulf Coast — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:22:23 +0000

Dave’s right about this, it was a hustle all along like the so called Maritime Park.A plan to benefit the few at the expense of many. Follow the trail of who stands to benefit the most from all of this and I guarantee you it is NOT the people who live north of Brent Lane.

By: walter

walter — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:54:32 +0000

Rember Murzin when you look for someone to vote against.