Thursday, June 19, 2014

Dependency Conflict


People are born completely dependent, although with some frustrations.  They don't get all their "needs" met.  They then strive for independence, although not without resistances, sometimes mutual.  Many of them then have someone who is dependent on them, though with plenty of tension, as development progresses.  And many of us end by being dependent once again.  No one escapes the first stage.  Not everyone experiences the third stage.  Likewise, some never experience the fourth stage.  The second stage is a bit up for grabs.

We wind up on a continuum of adaptation regarding dependency.  Some never really develop adequate independence, while others become fiercely independent.  Most of us fall somewhere between the extremes.  Many people expect the same adjustment of others that they work out for themselves, with one exception.  Those who remain comparatively dependent require someone else to do the providing.  The dependent ones don't always give careful consideration, or gratitude, to those on whom they depend.

As we always say to each other, our Village is unique.  One of its unique features is its peculiar limitation.  We have special charm, which translates to special value, but our properties are comparatively modest in value and price.  Since we can't depend for revenue on anyone but ourselves as property owners (one of our charms is that we have no commercial pockets to pick when we need money), we are limited in what we can provide for ourselves.  This leaves us with things we can't do, or at least not easily and without special exertion.  One of the ways some of us have thought of to confront that limitation is to try to rely on people who have nothing to do with us.  A popular mechanism is to pursue "grants."  But grants are not without complication.

This past weekend, I attended a three-day seminar sponsored by the Florida League of Cities.  The seminar was for recently elected municipal officials.  Many topics were presented, and one of them was about revenue.  Mention was made of grants, and the problems to which they can lead.  The bottom line, frankly, was that grants should be sought only after very careful consideration, and their complications must be kept in mind.  One statement made about grants is that they can cost more than they provide.  An example of that problem is grants that carry a requirement for upkeep or maintenance, and that requirement can sometimes exceed the wishes, expectations, or even ability of the beneficiary of the grant.

I'll give you two examples of the real or potential problems of grants.  We have a central park and recreation complex in the Village.  You might not know this, but the reason we have it, and the reason we could afford to develop it, was a contribution by a grant from the State of Florida.  But here's the problem.  The park and recreation area, because it was contributed-to by a State grant, does not exactly belong to us.  It belongs, in some sense, to everyone, including everyone in the State of Florida.  There have been times when some BP residents have wanted to claim, or as they thought re-claim, the park and recreation area, so that it would belong to us, and we could permit whom we want and exclude whom we want.  Nope, can't do it.  We took the grant money, and the park/rec is to be shared with anyone at all who wants to use it.  So some thought further of offering to reimburse the State, in effect to buy back the park/rec from them.  No, thank you, they told us.  We don't want the money.  We want you to keep the park open to everyone.

But you don't understand, we pleaded, we had to take a State grant.  We couldn't afford to do this on our own.  Oh, but we certainly do understand, the State replied.  The thing is, though, you took the money, because you weren't independent, and now you play by our rules.  That's the price you pay for being dependent.  You want to borrow money, don't go to the Mafia.  You want a grant, be very careful before you ask the State (your 19 million neighbors).

The second example is a potential one.  I don't know the details, and I don't yet know how they will come out.  Very recently, we received another grant from the State.  This time, it was for renovation and expansion of the log cabin Village Hall.  Funny enough, we applied for a grant for this purpose last year.  We requested $500K.  We didn't get it, because the Governor vetoed our application.  He didn't think the State should pay its money for something like renovation of the BP Village Hall.  This year, however, he's running for re-election.  Or he got new glasses.  Or he sharpened his pencil.  This year, we requested $1M, and the Governor didn't veto it.  So now, we have $1M to spend to renovate the log cabin, and add a wing for Village administrative services.  But the question is what requirements might come with the $1M.  We never kept the log cabin in proper condition, in part because we couldn't afford to.  But the structure is a "historic" one, and to keep it that way, we have to provide a certain style and level of maintenance.  Suppose the $1M grant holds us to that.  Suppose it requires us to do things our fiscal limitations, or inertia, or lack of ambition, never before permitted.  I'm glad the Governor didn't veto our application, and I will be glad we can now do what we never did before, but frankly, it makes me a bit nervous.  We are potentially now called upon to be responsible and independent in ways we never were before.  Can we handle that?  Are we up to it?

We have also sat idly by and allowed our medians to deteriorate, and our streets to crumble.  We do not provide proper lighting to various places in the Village, we have not updated a very marginal sound/recording system, and we can't even do tree maintenance unless someone cuts us an amazing deal, because they piggyback us onto someone else's contract.

It's perilous being dependent.  There are things you can't do, and shots you don't get to call.  We really need to think about that.  "Budget season" is about to be upon us.  We have a millage rate to consider, and we have to think through the idea of special assessments.  We have a lot of responsibilities as an independent municipality, and we have thus far failed to meet many of them.  The big decision is how independent, and how grown up, we want to be about this.

Obviously, the Village is not a person.  It's not even a small family.  It's a good size collection of people, some of whom have different ideas and expectations about independence than do others.  Hence, the "conflict."

9 comments:

  1. Fred,
    Are you saying that if the Village decided to charge some sort of fee for the use of the park for non-residents, we couldn't do it.
    If not, why? State parks charge for admittance.

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    1. Milt,

      We can certainly charge for special programming. I don't know if we could charge for general use of the park. What we can't do is charge preferentially to people who do not live in BP, and we can't simply keep those people from using the park. If we can charge for general use of the park, we would have to charge everyone, including BP residents, the same.

      The charge state parks make is based on state statutes, and the charge is made to everyone. Florida residents do not get free admission to Florida state parks.

      Fred

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    2. There was some talk previously about trying to find a way for the park to create revenue. Parking fees, fees for the use of the basketball court, etc. I'm not sure if any were a good or realistic idea. This was the basis for my question. Thanks to both you and Chuck.

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    3. There was some talk a few years ago about charging for parking. It didn't go anywhere, isn't friendly in that BP way, and probably wouldn't earn enough to talk about. Likewise, there has recently been talk about charging to use the basketball court. It's sort of fair, but again, how much would we make? If we charged each user $1 a day, are we talking about $20 a day? Hardly worth the trouble. But let's keep looking at options.

      Fred

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  2. I think he means that he wants us to make sure that we take care of our stuff and do whatever it takes to do so. I'm going to be optimistic and say that we are up to the task.

    As to the grants for a park and a grant or appropriation for an administration building, I don't think you can compare the two. Parks are generally open for one thing and intended to be used for recreational use, further they don't contain records and equipment that need to be safe guarded.

    Also, there are fees that we currently charge for certain uses of the park both inside and out despite the fact that in the past we have received both state and local grants to renovate the Rec Ctr.

    Chuck

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    1. Chuck,

      I hope your optimism is well-founded. I guess we'll see. It may be of some concern that we have kept the park/rec in the condition it is only because we have received past state and local grants. And it's not even in perfect condition. For me, there's a real and unanswered question as to how dedicated and resourceful we are on our own to "tak[ing] care of our own stuff and do[ing] whatever it takes to do so." You're up to the task, and I am, and a number of others of us are. But, as Hillary Clinton famously wrote, "It takes a Village."

      We have to show what we've got. Is charm only charming enough to chirp about, or is it worthy of investing in? That is, do we put money where our mouths are? As you know, I'm part of an effort to help a family on 9th Court. I've let it be known that the big task is to help these people afford a new roof. I've sort of reached out to Village residents in general, and to one of the central advocates in particular. The general suggestion has resulted in a few not-yet-solicited offers of significant amounts of money. The particular request was that the advocate go out and solicit $20 donations from a lot of people. 600 would do it completely, and 250 would put a very nice dent in this cause. The only response I have gotten is that I should go ask the County. That's the difference between independence and dependence. And oddly enough, the person I asked is more than happy to bring over a casserole, and to ask other people to do the same. But donate $20? Apparently not.

      Fred

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  3. Fred,

    We have moved off the original subject but,Rox and I contributed money to the family sometime last year. Rox made a point of going to their house and we met with the Father. I know that they had a fund raiser (a tennis match in San Souci) also sometime last year that sounded to be successful. Perhaps another fund raiser would help to raise money for a new roof. I'm not sure what the County has to offer them but it's a thought.

    Officer Tommy Harrison and I plan on visiting them next week as we have been making our way around the Village meeting with Special Needs/Elderly residents in connection with Hurricane preparedness.


    Chuck

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  4. Hello and sorry if this is off topic but whatever happened to the annexation idea? When I moved here, it was presented as a do or die need.

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    1. Not at all off topic, Peter. We submitted an application, it was deficient, it was bounced back, and it has been resubmitted. There are a few reasons to think our application will ultimately fail. An important reason is that although the County claims it wants these unincorporated tracts absorbed by municipalities, it is behaving as if it doesn't want that at all. We shall see.

      Yes, it was presented as a life or death need, and I'm afraid it really is. We are at great pains to figure out how to support ourselves without this kind of infusion, and one elaboration of that dynamic starts tonight (Thursday, July 17). We are setting the millage rate for the coming year, and we will also consider if and how we can use assessments to increase income from ourselves. No matter what we do, without annexation, we are in very bad shape. But we'll try. There's been a contingent of BP residents who have tried to angle us into municipal foreclosure, and they may yet get their way. If they do, I will certainly make sure they get full credit for their accomplishment, even if it occurs belatedly, on my watch. By the way, wouldn't it be a twisted justice if we "annexed" the area in question after all-- by becoming unincorporated County along with them? That's the most likely outcome of our failure to remain independently afloat.

      Please come to the meeting tonight.

      Fred

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