Happy New Year

Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008

We have accomplished much this year but there is still tons to do to get this neighborhood back into tip-top shape.

Completed Projects

Tennis court re-surfacing (2 south courts)
Tree/stump removal & trimming
Brush pile removed (YEAH!)
Lake front area cleaned and trimmed
New signage for Walking path and Playground
Village-wide sprinkler system updated and monitored
New Pressure-relief valve for sprinkler zones
Both basketball courts newly lined (blacktop redone on sm court)
Enhanced entrances with foliage
New pool maintenance company
Clubhouse breezeway repainted
Clubhouse parking lot repainted

TO BE COMPLETED IN 2008

Tennis court hut remodeling
re-surface 2 north tennis courts
Rebuild Pool pumphouse
Tennis court parking lot painting
Re-install Tennis backboard
Inspect Playground
New Clubhouse Foliage in front
Repaint North Entrance Sign

As you can see, we have a ton of work to do. Contact someone on the Board or Rosemary in the office if you want to pitch in - we'd be thankful!

Christmas Grinch

I have been approached by a number of my neighbors and quizzed as to why (like last year) I don't have my Christmas lights up???

First, let me declare that last year was out of PURE laziness! I'm guilty of putting it off until it was too late. Yep, that's me. Guilty as charged.

This year is for completely different reasons. First, let me tell you that I do not have any political party affiliation - I am affiliated with the CS & D party...the party of Common Sense and Decency. I have scrutinized my day-to-day activities ever since watching Al Gore's telling docu-drama "An Inconvenient Truth".

Real or exagerrated, global warming scares me not for my sake, but for the sake of my neighbor's kids I see playing in the yard and for the children that I will have in the very near future.

With the approach of Christmas and the ritualistic hanging of the lights, I have been reading about how much pollution and waste incandescent Christmas lights create. So I am taking a stand and putting my money where my mouth is (and maybe my foot, too).

Incandescent Christmas lights can create as much as 4x's the amount of carbon emissions as non-lighted homes. That's alot. The electrical costs can be limited by incorporating timers, but the power company is still churning out electricity to support the lights.

This link can explain it alot better than I can - it's logical and supported by numbers.

http://www.celsias.com/2007/10/23/christmas-lights-scrooge-or-savior/

So come Dec 26, when they stores discount their decorations, I will be shopping for LED light displays. And next December, when my neighbors see my lights, I will proudly say that they are Earth-friendly.

Just a thought...Rich

Westlake Village Community Garage Sale Jan 19 & 20

Get your stuff together - we're having a GARAGE SALE...

January 19th and 20th

Westlake will do all of the advertising for you!

Call the Office with any questions 784-3054

1.35% Tax Cap Grows

Cut Property Taxes Now!
www.CutPropertyTaxesNow.com
1.35% property Tax Cap –

1) 25-40% tax cut for Florida taxpayers;
2) applies to homesteaders/non-homesteaders;
3) Preserves Save Our Homes cap,
4) Applies to Taxable Value,
5) Allows school Funding to be preserved;
6) forces local governments to cut their budgets down to size. ……we need you to gather signatures!

¨ Coalition Grows – Floridians for Property Tax Reform add their support and volunteer network to get 1.35% plan on ballot! (http://www.saveourhomesforever.com/)
¨ Bradenton Herald offers supportive comments for 1.35% plan!
¨ Anna Maria city Commissioner endorses 1.35% plan!
¨ We need you to collect signatures for our 1.35% petition and donate at www.CutPropertyTaxesNow.com

Below is a letter of endorsement and an opinion piece in the Bradenton Herald supporting our 1.35% plan. Will you join our campaign?

In Today's Bradenton Herald (12/2/07) (letter to the editor)

Help pass 1.35% cap

I read with interest and hope about a ballot initiative supported by House Speaker Marco Rubio that calls for a flat 1.35 percent cap on all property taxes. The ballot proposal is sponsored by the coalition Cut Property Taxes Now and you can read more about their proposal at their Web site www.cutpropertytaxesnow.com.

This is a grassroots initiative and they need more than 600,000 verified voter signatures by the end of January for it to be placed on the ballot. What particularly caught my attention was the acknowledgement by Rubio that we (the people) need to rein in government spending. Our Legislature, local representatives and Gov. Crist have clearly demonstrated a lack of will and competence to address the citizens' concerns about spending and taxes; therefore, we, the people, need to take action. I strongly urge all concerned citizens to complete the petition form and notify your friends and family about this important ballot initiative. Let's show Tallahassee we, the people, can make a difference.

Dale Woodland
Anna Maria city commissioner
City of Anna Maria

Tax plans aplenty (12/2/07, Bradenton Herald)

Finding fairest of them all

Just in the past few weeks the war against property taxes has expanded across several more fronts - each one more responsible than the Legislature's vain effort at reform during October's special session.

One proposal, a citizens petition, restricts property taxes to 1.35 percent of a parcel's taxable value. The tax bill on a piece of property valued at $100,000, with no exemptions, would be $1,350, amounting to a 26 percent reduction on average. The plan, which retains Save Our Homes and the homestead exemption, cuts property taxes by $8 billion statewide.

A new statewide coalition called Cut Property Taxes Now is sponsoring the measure, which could land on next November's ballot.

Another proposal, from a powerful statewide panel, seeks to repeal many of the state's sales-tax exemptions and exclusions and use that money, estimated at $9 billion annually, to replace local property taxes that fund public schools. The savings on property-tax bills would range from 30 percent to 45 percent.

The Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, which is appointed every 20 years by the governor, House speaker and Senate president, is charged with re-examining the tax code and can place proposed constitutional amendments before voters - this one, too, in November 2008.

Both merit further discussion and analysis.

And both come on the heels of an act of desperation by the Legislature, which spit out a last-minute plan for property-tax relief during the waning moments of yet another special session. Their proposed constitutional amendment, which comes up for a vote Jan. 29, would chop property taxes $12.4 billion over five years with school revenues taking a $2.8 billion hit.

The plan doubles the $25,000 homestead exemption, amounting to an average tax savings of $240 a year; allows homeowners to retain their accrued Save Our Homes benefits when they move; and sets a 10 percent annual cap on nonhomesteaded assessments. The doubling of the homestead exemption would not apply to schools.

This ballot issue has come under fire from a number of quarters, including those who question its fairness to nonhomesteaded property owners and those concerned with education. A St. Petersburg Times-Bay News 9 poll taken in November shows waning public support - at 53 percent among registered voters, well short of the 60 percent required for passage of a constitutional amendment. That number plummets to 47 percent when respondents learn about the plan's specific provisions.

This proposal is not measuring a passable pulse, yet Gov. Charlie Crist - who campaigned on Save Our Homes portability and doubling the homestead exemption - is plowing full steam ahead. He has appointed a top aide to run a statewide effort to boost support for the plan, and he is seeking donations from business trade groups in order to fund an advertising campaign.

This plan, though, only serves to compound inequities in the state's tax system, and we suggest Crist put his efforts elsewhere.

The 1.35 percent proposal, though, applies to all properties, including homes owned by snowbirds - making it more fair than January's amendment. But the plan faces a steep uphill climb in order to secure a spot on the November ballot, needing some 61,000 signatures on petitions by the end of December to trigger a Florida Supreme Court review of the ballot language. If that passes muster, roughly 550,000 signatures would have to be collected by the end of January.

The sales-tax measure - long a pet project by Bradenton businessman and former state Senate president John McKay - targets hundreds of materials and services currently untaxed. Many are justified and such "necessities of life" items as food, prescription drugs and health services would remain exempt. McKay is also not going after lawyers or advertising. The commission's tax code committee is looking at Internet sales, courier services, pro sports franchises, lawn care and swimming pool services, to name a few.

With support from two-thirds of the commission's 25 members, the amendment could be placed on the November ballots - though it, too, would require 60 percent passage.

With another $1 billion revenue shortfall predicted several weeks ago and continued economic grief ahead for the state, Florida will be challenged to come up with a more equitable tax system - whether that comes from a citizens initiative or a political effort. At least now there are more ideas on the table. We hope voters agree on one thing: January's ballot measure is not the answer.