Greg Folley Speaks with Forked Tongue

Councilman Folley is critical of Council Candidate Christine Dowell for her comment at Citizens for a Better Marco meeting. Maybe he should be critical of comments he made in his Re-Elect Greg Folley Facebook page on July 9th: “What sets this council apart is that it actively works to control the size of city government by holding the tax bills for our citizens flat, even as property values are skyrocketing.” 

Lesson to learn: As Taxable Values Increase, Millage Rate Decrease, Taxable Values Decrease, Millage Rate Increases. Plus, the city did not reduce the size of government, it increased the size of government.

The only reason this council is able to continue to do a rollback Millage Rate (same taxes as previous year) is due to the one-percent sales tax increase in January 2019, which generates a windfall of $3.5 to $3.7 million in revenue for seven years to fund city infrastructure projects, which would normally be covered by general fund revenue.

In addition to the above, Councilman Folley states in his July 7th Re-Elect Greg Folley Facebook page concerning the Rental Registration Referendum “citizens have a right to sue the city if they disagree with the city attorney’s position that the city lacks authority under State law to regulate or ban short term rentals. Citizen may also sue individual property owners who they believe are creating a nuisance to the neighborhood under the restrictive covenants included in the deeds for every single family home on the island.” What he doesn’t say is that the CITIZENS FOR A BETTER MARCO PAC needs the city to officially respond to a ‘Request for Interpretation” to our city Land Development Code (LDC) ordinances, since September 2001, related to allowable USES for RSF-1 through RFS -4 zoning ordinances. The Director of Community Affairs, City Manager, City Council and City Attorney refuse to provide that “official” response.

Residents and property owners who want to find out more about Citizens for a Better Marco can go to the website at www.c4bm.org.