Corkscrew Island Neighborhood Association February 18, 2014 ________________________________________________________
A meeting of the Corkscrew Island Neighborhood Association (CINA) took place at the Corkscrew Sanctuary meeting room on Tuesday, February 18, 2014. Thirty-three people attended including 10 new members and 5 guests. Guests were: Harry Sells and Michelle Arnold from Collier County Alternative Transportation Department; County Commisoner Tim Nance; Rita Greenberg, Fire Chief, Big Corkscrew Island Fire and Rescue; and Barry Liebowitz, also of Big Corkscrew Fire and Rescue. President Bill McDaniel opened the meeting at 7 pm with the pledge of allegiance. There being no agenda, he asked for an approval of the last minutes of October 2013, which had been emailed to the members with emails.
Motion: a motion was made that the October 2013 minutes be approved with no corrections or amendments. It was seconded and passed unanimously. Continued discussion of MSTU’s President McDaniel passed out copies again of the maps of Options A & B, which we had received at the October meeting. The plan was to vote on these options.
Secretary Doug Wilson next explained that there were two more options to vote on: Option C, which the County originally proposed and subsequently cancelled as being too costly. Since this is a straw vote, Wilson explained, we can vote our say. Also there was an Option D, which would be “None”. Discussion took place about these three options, including expanding on Option C, and how to proceed with the voting. This discussion served to shed more light on the issues involved. Option A is south and east of Immokalee Road; Option B is the CINA neighborhood service area.
Harry Sells next re-explained the options that he had presented at the October meeting. Referring to the maps just passed out:
Option A - Selected Parcels including Platt Road Option A is the map showing the area south and east of Immokalee Road. This map is labeled “Selected parcels for MSTU-BU Proposal“, which includes Platt Road. There is an outstanding debt for an emergency road repair on Platt Road of approximately $10,000 which the county wants to collect back via an MSTU, either voluntary or involuntary. The County is giving CINA the opportunity to weigh in on how to collect that debt.
Option B - entire CINA service area Option B is the map showing the entire CINA neighborhood service area, entitled “Bi Corkscrew Island Community”. Option C was taken off the list, but Secretary Wilson has re-instated it for the purpose of our membership voting on it as a voluntary alternative. Option D was proposed by Secretary Wilson, for our members to vote on "none of the above" if that was their choice.
Option C - Only properties touching Platt Road - Discarded Harry Sells further explained that at the October meeting Option C was originally presented as just those properties touching Platt Road, but upon reexamination decided it wouldn’t generate enough revenue and took it out. The county can charge up to 10 mill (millage rate of .01) of assessed value but they seldom go over 5 mill (.005). On page 3, options A, B, and C, there’s 5.6 million dollar assessed. Follow the math. Income [to the county] would be $28,000 a year, less some small fees. There’s an outstanding bill from Platt Road hanging. We need to deal with it. No matter what you end up with, it will be a year and a half before they start, late 2015. We wanted to look at the larger area because, using Rock Road MSTU as an example, the Rock Road MSTU is $32,000/year. They’ve been maintaining the road for seven years and it is slowing improving.
Harry Sells: Option B comes out to $86,000/year [$17.2 million dollars of assessed value at 5 mill]. Some roads are good, some mediocre, some terrible. The Commissioners don’t like calls from emergency districts saying their vehicles can’t get through. $86,000 will allow you to bring some roads up to shape. We choose the larger area. We discarded Option C because it generates very little revenue - $1.9 million dollars assessed from 53 properties. That’s why we discarded Platt Road. (Further discussion took place.)
Harry Sells: If you live in Option B, anywhere on the column tells you how much your taxes will be. MSTU’s have always been 5 mill rate. The fire chief called to complain they couldn’t get down Platt Road. They have to get through. So there was a meeting and it was decided to fix Platt Road. The people were not informed. When there is an emergency call from Fire or Rescue, the county has to respond and improve it.
Commissioner Vance said he takes care of his own dirt road, and has probably $27,000 in it because he lives at the end of one mile. If there’s a big hole in the road the county will come in and fix it if you don’t. That’s why there are MSTU’s. It can be voluntary or involuntary, but somebody has to put money into the road.
The discussion continued until 9:15 when the meeting adjourned. Doug Wilson Secretary February 19, 2014
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.