As president of the Communication Workers of America Local 3179, Stephen Sarnoff represents 800 members working in Clearwater, Madeira Beach, St. Pete Beach and Port Richey. He is also one of the lone voices coming out against the finalized recommendations of the Clearwater Budget Task Force, a group of citizens appointed by the City Council to study the general fund and suggest money-saving measures. Some of their proposals include closing the beach library, contracting out city services like lawn care, limiting take-home vehicles for police, eliminating some full-time employees and revising aspects of employee health benefits and pension plans. Sarnoff says he is not happy with the recommendations. Here's the 20-year Clearwater resident on …
How the task force recommendations may affect Clearwater:
"The good news: some business owners will save some tax money. The bad news: Most homeowners will have a much harder time selling and re-selling their homes because less people will want to live here. Who would want to live where you have less services?"
The "taxpayer revolt" in Pinellas County:
"This is a phony tax revolt [created] by some people who are better off financially and have real estate investments, so they don't have to pay taxes. The majority of the citizens of Clearwater are not behind this taxpayer revolt. There's more anger about insurance and Charlie Crist's false promise that he was going to reduce their rates. That has more people angry, including me."
The union's next move:
"We have the ability to stop this at the City Council meeting on April 4. We will be [there] to make our case about these recommendations so that every council member will see the faces of the very people who could be put out on the street so somebody with a million-dollar condo on the beach can save themselves $2,000 a year."
This article appears in Mar 28 – Apr 3, 2007.