To The Editor:

The East County Water Control District, of Lehigh Acres has been running on a course of self destruction over the past years for many reasons.

Questions of governing. Two million dollars collected from selling fill dirt along the canals. Instead of putting that extra income in to a reserve account,

it is gone – where did it go?

Two million more dollars collected from back taxes and penalties. It is gone. Where did it go?

Why wasn’t this extra income put into the reserve fund?

Commissioner Neal Horrom supported from the $89.80 tax for a $102 tax increase in the budget meeting “and vigorous defense of the budget.” Then

he turned around and voted against the budget increase of $105.15.

Is Neal Horrom doing the same thing as Desmond Barrett did last year because he is running for reelection? Horrom got very perturbed when Commissioner Mike Welch broke the agreement of going along with the boys and breaking his word

like Barrett did and vote to increase taxes. They cut 5 percent and raised 17 percent.

Now let’s look at Commissioner Nate Stout – although he says they spent years to bring the cost down, they have increased taxes 47 percent over the last few years, that is not getting “more bang for the buck” as he says. The doubling of the debts we owe from $231,000 to $432,000 (to be paid each year) this year proves the wild unrestrained spending still is going on, and that is deducted

out of a $5,000,000 income.

The newly crowned king of the tax raisers, Commissioner John Boardman’s off the wall pronouncement to increase the taxes this year high enough so they will not have to raise them for seven years.

Do we really have to dignify that stupid statement with an answer?

We cannot take Boardman too seriously, remember he is the fire commissioner that wanted to put collection agencies upon the poor who could not pay that obscene ambulance transport bill.

This year the board prohibited the budget committee from considering the payroll of the personnel, which makes up over 80 percent of the budget. When the union asked how many of the staff gave up a raise, the number was three,

and that number was not given until asked. We were lead to believe it was the whole staff reduced pay. And they gave up a bonus which they did not even know they would get.

We are wondering when the meetings with the union come to the conclusion that their will be no pay deductions and no layoffs at this time quoted by Manager David Lindsay. The union voted not to give up the 4 percent contracted pay raise(so they could save all their jobs) and challenged the board to

terminate them.

Of course the commissioners know that layoffs occurred in Florida, Lee Cape Coral, Fort Myers and Beach, Bonita. Three fire departments so far.

And what does ECWCD do? Raise our taxes 17 percent and $2.54 of the new tax increase is to

build a reserve fund for next year. We thought reserves were supposed to come from savings.

The first shot in a taxpayer uprising was started by citizens holding up homemade signs saying Nate Stout raises taxes (why would Nate raise taxes on

his customers unless he is daring them to get their taxes done free at the library) – if it catches on it will build up a good size “throw the bums out”

starting in the 2010 election.

So the answer to the question is board mismanagement by not keeping a closer

check on the manager. Wild spending, hiring not needed but good ole buddy, buddy jobs, and most of all the arrogant disregard of the peoples’ feelings,

opinions and pocketbooks in the wild borrowing and spending spree in the past, all four of the long time commissioners must be voted out of office.

Citizens Against Increased Taxes (CAIT) will work toward that end in the next two years.

Frank Lohlein

Lehigh Acres