By Linda Dean Cooper
County taxpayers, beware of Tax and Spend John concerning his board appointment to the Waccasassa Water & Wastewater Cooperative! This is agenda item # 3: Town of Bronson, Mayor Partin – Discussion adding a board member to the Waccasassa Water & Wastewater Cooperative.
The devil is in the details such as WWWC January 17, minutes. It states “Levy County is ready to jump back into the cooperative. As such, Mayor Partin will be reaching out to Commissioner John Meeks of Bronson to represent Levy County and Tammy Boyle of Cedar Key to represent the school.” I didn’t know the county wanted to jump back in. Perhaps a detailed report of the University Oaks and Manatee Spring water systems and how much it has cost us in lost revenue and county staff time putting Band-Aids on the system. That report should be presented to the public before committing to anything with this water authority before jumping in. Secondly, this is an election year with Meeks’ seat being challenged by Charlie Kennedy. I say no to jumping in. I especially do not want to subsidize a water wastewater system at our tax dollar expense. Why would he?
This cooperative mainly benefits Otter Creek and Cedar Key. The town of Bronson is part of the Waccasassa cooperative but I haven’t seen how giving away their water benefits their citizens. Bronson has financial issues of its own without taking on more problems or debt.
When the University Oaks and Manatee Springs water cooperative failed, the county was mandated to take them over. This cost the taxpayers that were not using the water systems to subsidize the operation Those not using the water system have been subsidizing the operations of those systems for over a decade that I know of.
There is no reason for the county to have anything to do with this water/wastewater cooperative. It is potentially a $100 million project that benefits Otter Creek and Cedar and supposedly Town of Bronson.
All municipalities are independent entities and should handle their problems with their own money and solutions. It appears that Cedar Key and Otter Creek are the only ones to benefit from this project but could cost all county taxpayers. Cedar Key is mostly filled with transplants because many locals have been pushed out to surrounding areas. The cost of living in Cedar is too expensive for most locals. Otter Creek’s local government is in turmoil. Don’t forget all the RV parks that have been stopped due to no water and sewer systems. Levy does not need any more RV parks!
Ask yourself why Tax and Spend Commissioner John Meeks and Bronson Mayor Robert Partin want any part of this project so badly. Meeks is seeking his fourth term as commissioner but has a challenger, Charlie Kennedy for his District 1 seat.
According to the cooperative’s minutes of January 17, 2024, they want to drag the Levy County School Board into this $100 million fiasco. Neither the BoCC or the School Board have time to waste serving on this board with so many other issues both are facing.
Tax and Spend John has made all of us subsidize the county’s bad management of the landfill with the $116 landfill assessment he spearheaded in 2017. To date, the landfill is still losing money. Many folks outside the county come to Levy to dump their garbage due to no residential tipping fee. The BoCC has struggled to figure out a way to control outside county people from dumping. Here’s a tip. Look at their driver’s license or tax bill. Don’t forget that commercial haulers who pick up residential garbage do not have to pay to dump your garbage. Supposedly only commercial garbage has a fee but how is that determined?
Stop this madness of taxing and spending with no real accountability for our tax dollars and get involved!
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Posted March 4, 2024
