Letters to the editor: Gainesville has unfair taxing system, consolidation would help fix

Letters to the editor present the opinions of readers on news stories and other pieces published by The Sun.

Unfair taxing system 

Our community has an extremely unfair property taxing system. Taxpayers within the city of Gainesville provide police, fire and emergency services to the thousands of people who work and play within the city, but pay their taxes to the Alachua County Commission through a Municipal Service Taxing Unit. To compensate for this lack of funding, the Gainesville City Commission takes funds from Gainesville Regional Utilities to balance their budget. This amounts to an extra tax on the poor.    

Years ago, the Florida Legislature copied an annexation statute from North Carolina, whereby urban fringe neighborhoods, upon reaching a certain density, were automatically annexed into the nearest city. Unfortunately, Florida added a codicil that those being annexed had to vote for the change, and the political shenanigans began. 

In Gainesville many wise citizens tried to form a “consolidated government” modelled after Jacksonville/Duval or Columbia, Georgia, in order to create a fairer taxing system. The Sun supported the effort, but it never got off the ground.     

It is time for our wise leaders to work out an intelligent tax plan that does not force the city of Gainesville into using regressive utility fees to compensate for an unfair property taxing plan. 

Jean Chalmers, Gainesville

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Home insurance crisis  

Florida accounts for over 70% of home insurance litigation costs in the country. This is the crux of the home insurance crisis we face in Florida. It’s not natural disasters or hurricanes, although Hurricane Ian will no doubt exacerbate it. This crisis has been brewing for years due to defects in Florida law and the neglect by a state government focusing its energies on bogus social and politically divisive issues, instead of doing the hard work of solving real problems.

Lax Florida laws led to the crisis with unscrupulous home owners, contractors and lawyers suing insurers for money based on questionable insurance claims and with litigation costs becoming increasingly unsustainable for most insurers. Many insurers are leaving Florida in droves or becoming financially insolvent.

Obtaining home insurance is becoming nearly impossible for many Floridians. If you're lucky enough to find an insurer willing to insure you or if you turn to the state-run Citizens Insurance, be prepared for sky-high premiums that are unaffordable for the majority of Floridians.   

Unless we solve this crisis soon, we will face the cascading effects of this crisis with buyers unable to obtain mortgages due to the unavailability of insurance coverage, foreclosures becoming more commonplace and home prices plummeting. We could see the catastrophic collapse of the housing market in Florida.   

Dennis Jaccarino, Gainesville

Mark of an autocrat 

If Ron DeSantis is reelected as governor, he will continue to be responsible for the unacceptable senior death rate from COVID-19. He blames Canada for its “poor” COVID-19 response, but the death rate of seniors (over 65 years of age) stands at 12.40 in Florida vs. 5.67 in Canada per 1,000 seniors. Had Florida protected seniors as well as Canada, it would have saved over 30,000 from dying from the disease. Can Floridians trust DeSantis’ claim to love seniors when the next variants strike?

He will also continue to remove Democrats from duly elected and appointed positions when he personally does not agree with their policies. He will also continue to encourage discrimination against women, minorities, members of the LBGTQ community and teachers. He will continue to punish corporations, such as Disney and the Tampa Bay Rays for using their First Amendment rights to free speech.  A defeat of DeSantis in November would put a damper on his presidential aspirations.   

When it comes to common sense, DeSantis is a contradiction. He defies higher authorities when he overrules national mandates, but he also defies lower authorities (county and city governments) when they issue mandates. This is the mark of an autocrat.  

Jonathan J. Shuster, Gainesville 

Don’t legalize marijuana 

Opium, heroin and fentanyl smuggling attracts much attention as they are so dangerous. But marijuana smuggling dwarfs that traffic in volume.  

Effects of marijuana smoking include brain injury, in some cases leading to depressive psychosis and often suicide. Heavy users do worse in school and are more prone to drop out. They are dangerous drivers, especially at night, reacting as erratically as drunken drivers. We see this too often innocent lives lost because of it.  

Many more revealing findings can be expected but enough factual evidence has come to light proving that recreational is harmful and dangerous— and should not be legalized!  My opinion is that the revenue it brings is not worth the trouble and drug using expense it will cause.  

Tom Pennisi, Gainesville 

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