Jan-31-2012
Seminole Beacon
Seminole supports fire pension changes
SEMINOLE – The city of Seminole has joined an increasing effort by the Florida League of Cities to send a nonbinding message to the Florida Legislature concerning firefighter pension reforms.
Jan-17-2012
Seminole Beacon
SEMINOLE – City leaders are crafting a resolution in support of the Florida League of Cities’ efforts to lobby state legislators on the return of local control for firefighter pension plans.
Jan-09-2012
Palm Beach Post
GREENACRES — The city council urged Florida legislators tonight to reform pension laws to correct "unfunded mandates" that have more than doubled the city's costs for police and firefighter pensions during the past three years.
Dec-17-2011
Panama City News Herald
House Bill 4025 and Senate Bill 760 would prevent the city from collecting the merchant license fee, which charges merchants 1 percent of the total amount charged to customers. It is often passed on to customers and can be seen printed on some...
Dec-10-2011
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — After nearly 40 years in public education, Patrick Godwin spends his retirement days running a horse farm east of Sacramento, Calif., with his daughter. His departure from the workaday world is likely to be long and relatively...
Dec-06-2011
Flagler Live
The Florida League of Cities on Monday outlined a list of legislative priorities, urging Senate Community Affairs Committee members to avoid the temptation to restrict the ability of local officials to levy taxes.
Nov-29-2011
St. Petersburg Times
It's not easy to amend the Florida Constitution, but that never stops the Legislature from trying.
Nov-17-2011
Orlando Sentinel
Florida law pre-empts the regulation of smoking to the state government, tying the hands of cities and counties that wish to enact stricter smoking policies. Shouldn't our locally elected officials be able to respond to their constituents...
Nov-07-2011
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Some cash-strapped cities have started pulling money from funds intended to sustain these amenities to pay for other city needs, causing a cash crunch when a golf course or ice arena needs updating. Making matters worse, many of the amenities that...
Oct-28-2011
Governing
Since the Occupy Wall Street protesters took up residence in Manhattan in September, mayors in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston, Oakland and Washigton, D.C., have been forced to walk a thin line in their responses. Generally, they have opted...
Oct-03-2011
Politico
Two-thirds of Americans have confidence in their local governments’ ability to handle local problems, a marked contrast with the withering dissatisfaction that voters feel toward the federal government, a new poll shows.
Oct-03-2011
CNN
Nearly 70% of Americans have a great deal or fair amount of trust in their local government, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.
Oct-03-2011
Politico
Two-thirds of Americans have confidence in their local governments’ ability to handle local problems, a marked contrast with the withering dissatisfaction that voters feel toward the federal government, a new poll shows.
Sep-17-2011
The Miami Herald
After more than two decades working in Miami Beach’s 911 call center, Pamela Kindle wanted her golden parachute. Her $60,000-a-year job would provide a modest pension for retirement, but Kindle wanted more. So, she launched into a “marathon” of...
Sep-14-2011
Daytona Beach News-Journal
When you look out your front door, office window or the window of your car...your view will include a county, school district and municipal service.
Sep-07-2011
Naples Daily News
I’m drawn to the level of government where people can "pick up the phone" and actually reach their elected and appointed officials, where budgets, by law, must be balanced and there’s no printing press that creates money to make up the...
Sep-07-2011
Naples Daily News
When I think of the aftermath of that day, I’m drawn to the roles of public servants, not at the federal or state level, but at the level where citizens receive most of their services; the level where first responders are employed and where disaster...
Sep-06-2011
The Current
A Senate committee is recommending that the Legislature clarify a phrase in the Florida Constitution that has played a key role in a recent local government law challenge.
Sep-04-2011
The Associated Press
Uncertainty about where their next dollar is coming from has chilled the municipal
bond market, meaning cities and states will be breaking ground on fewer public
works projects, canceling or delaying projects worth tens of billions of dollars and...
Aug-31-2011
New York Times
Florida has long been the nation’s center of the illegal sale of prescription drugs: Doctors here bought 89 percent of all the Oxycodone sold in the country last year. At its peak, so many out-of-staters flocked to Florida to buy drugs at more than...
