The
inspector general, John Williams, reports to the governing board, not the
agency's executive director. Williams' report praised the board for
"acting prudently when they discovered that all of the consumptive
use permitting rule criteria may not have been applied to the
South
County
permit and requested that the permit be reconsidered."
At
the time the county permit was granted and rescinded, the board was
chaired by Kevin McCarty, managing director of Bear Stearns of Boca Raton
and the husband of County Commissioner Mary McCarty. Some environmental
activists questioned whether the golf-course permit was rushed through the
process so that the county could skirt drought restrictions and the costly
new water-use rule. McCarty, who had been appointed by former Gov. Jeb
Bush, withdrew his application for reappointment and presided over his
final water district meeting on May 10.
The
inspector general found that "favoritism was not a factor in taking
this permit to the governing board for approval before the legally
required date."
From
January 2005 to the present, Williams wrote, 95 out of 535 individual
permits also went to the board before the required date.
"Our
review of the permit database indicated that this is a common
occurrence."
Fires
test animal instinct, survival of the fittest
By
DAVID HUNT,
The
Times-Union
Wildfires
have sent deer running as birds and foxes die on the smoking forest floor.
Songbird and wild turkey nestlings barely stand a chance.
"It
sounds cruel, but it's really part of nature," said Florida Fish and
Wildlife Commission spokeswoman Karen Parker.
Wildfires
in
Florida
and
Southeast Georgia
are common enough that animals have adapted and rely on the flames to keep
the ecosystem in check.
"Some
animals might die, but others will have an improved condition," said
Steve Johnson, an assistant professor of wildlife ecology at the
University
of
Florida
's
Plant City
campus. "Right after a fire, you get regrowth
and animals take over in a hurry."
While
animals' instincts will tell them when it's time to run or burrow into a
safe spot, the escape often leaves the weakest to perish. Parker said the
fires now being battled broke out during nesting season for the region's
songbirds and wild turkeys. Those unable to fly or scurry on their feet
won't be able to get away.
"Birds
are probably going to suffer the biggest toll," Parker said.
Controlled
burns are done each year at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in
Southeast Georgia
to clear underbrush and protect endangered red-cockaded woodpecker
habitat, said Jim Burkhart, a refuge ranger.
As
a result, many areas where the woodpeckers live that have burned in the
swamp were prepared before the ongoing wildfires started, he said.
Longleaf
pines, the preferred trees for the woodpeckers' nests, stand up well to
fire and most of the birds in the burned areas are expected to survive,
Burkhart said.
Wildlife
biologists rescued a bear and its cub Sunday from a charred portion of the
Osceola
National Forest
in
Columbia
County
. Parker said the mother is being treated for burns at the
University
of
Florida
's veterinary school and the cub was not seriously hurt.
For
the most part, wildlife officials have turned their attention toward
helping people and their houses survive the fires, Parker said.
"We
can't save everything. I wish we could," she said. "Nine times
out of 10 the animals are going to get out of there."
Karen
Hamerslag, a veterinarian at
Oaks
Veterinary
Hospital
in
Gainesville
, said she's treated a few pets for minor ailments that appear to have
been set off by wildfire smoke. Her office is southwest of a wildfire
burning primarily in
Bradford
County
.
Veterinarians
said pet owners should be cautious of the smoke.
"It
could trigger a coughing attack, but likely there would be no long-term
damage," said Charles Athey, a
veterinarian at Fort Caroline Animal Clinic in
Jacksonville
. "Pets are going to experience similar problems to what we
experience as people."
Times-Union
writer Gordon Jackson contributed to this story.
david.hunt@jacksonville.com,(904)
359-4025
Now
here’s some twisted optimism for you…
Good
news found in Brevard's dry spell
Drought
conditions lessen flooding chances in event of a hurricane
BY JIM WAYMER
FLORIDA
TODAY
Months
of drought delivered one silver lining: ample room for rivers and
reservoirs to swell this hurricane season before they flood.
Experts
say the extra-dry months have made
Brevard
County
and much of
Florida
less flood-prone than in the past two hurricane seasons. And even if the
region sees several severe downpours during the next few weeks, inland
waters should have plenty of space to spare.
"Everything
around is dry, so even when it starts to rain, it's going to take a good
bit to saturate the ground," said John Richmond,
a supervisor with the St. Johns Water Management District,
which covers Brevard and 17 other counties.
"It just soaks in."
About
3,800 public officials are gathering this week to talk about the best ways
to respond to floods and other hurricane hazards. The
general session of the Governor's Hurricane Conference begins
today at the Greater Fort Lauderdale-
Broward County Convention Center and ends
Friday.
Hurricane
season begins June 1.
In
2005, Hurricane Wilma flooded west
Cocoa
and elsewhere in Brevard. During the 2004 hurricanes, creeks that lead to
the Indian River Lagoon lapped into yards, eroding lagoon banks and
collapsing sea walls.
Turkey
Creek in
Palm Bay
swelled into yards during that time, soaking yards on
School Drive
and even spilling into a swimming pool near Jersey Waterway, a canal off
the creek.
Flood
waters gushed into the creek from canals at record pace, said John Mongioi,
chairman of Friends of Turkey Creek, a group of residents along the creek
who push for dredging projects there.
"It
might have come eight foot higher than it is right now," Mongioi
said of the creek and
Jersey
Canal
. "From what I heard, it didn't get into any homes, but it came
close."
A
recent dredging of the creek added more room for flood relief this year.
"It's
looking a lot better now than it ever has," Mongioi
said.
Throughout
Central Florida, water levels in key storage areas such as Taylor Creek
Reservoir west of
Cocoa
and the St. Johns River Water Management Area, also known as "Stick
Marsh," remain about three feet below normal.
When
inland water bodies exceed seasonal normal levels, water managers must
begin releases from a series
of levees along the
St. Johns
upper basin into the Indian River Lagoon, to ease flooding in cities such
as Malabar,
Palm Bay
and
Cocoa
.
As
of Sunday, Brevard well levels were about 36 feet above mean sea level,
compared with the long-term average of about 41 feet.
Taylor
Creek
reservoir is about 38 feet above mean sea level. District officials must
begin releasing water when the level crosses 41 feet.
"We're
in fabulous condition,"
Richmond
said. "We haven't made flood-control releases for over a year."
Lower
water levels are good news for the Indian River Lagoon, too, because water
managers won't likely have to release much fertilizer-laden water from
Lake Okeechobee
as storms approach.
The
district tries to avoid releases from the
St. Johns
because too much fresh water can dilute salt content in the lagoon and
carry in pollutants that harm wildlife. Farm fertilizers can trigger excess
algae that kills fish.
The
last time the district made major water releases from Canal 54, south of
Palm Bay
, was during the 2004 hurricane season.
With
Melbourne
's yearly rain at 6.74 inches as of Tuesday, 4.68 inches below normal,
C-54 releases aren't likely anytime soon, district officials said.
The
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also expects
a shift to the La Nina climate conditions, which could further suppress
rain.
The
worst flooding spots in Brevard tend to be near tributaries that lead to
the Indian River Lagoon, such as Crane Creek in
Melbourne
and Turkey Creek in
Palm Bay
.
But
northern Brevard cities such as Mims and Scottsmoor
also can flood, said Bob Lay, the county's emergency management director.
That can be even more dangerous than storm surge at the beach.
"Inland
flooding can certainly create perhaps even worse problems," Lay said.
"People tend to walk or drive through water, (when) in fact you don't
know how deep it is."
Contact
Waymer at 242-3663 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com.
Cargill
Closing Has Officials Worried
By Bill
Bair
The Ledger
FROSTPROOF
- The announced closing of the Cargill Citro
citrus plant has sent city officials back to their calculators to figure
out a rate increase for city water and sewer users.
Interim City Manager T. R. Croley said she had
been getting close to a proposal that was less than the $25- to
$30-a-month increase recommended by city auditors.
That increase would have pushed Frostproof
water and sewer rates to about $80 a month.
The closing of Cargill Citro changes the
picture substantially.
Cargill accounts for almost 25 percent of the revenue generated by the
city's water and sewer departments, said Melody Zobel,
the city's finance manager.
Cargill paid $225,000 for water and sewer services last year. The city's
total revenue from water and sewer was $903,000.
"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what a blow it
will be to us," Mayor Larry Sullivan said.
Cargill, which employs 150 to 200 people in its juice plants in Frostproof
and
Avon
Park
, announced this week that it would shut down the two operations within 18
months.
Cargill President Tom Abrahamson said this past season was the last season
the plant will be operated.
That means the city will receive less water and sewer revenue than normal
until the closing is completed and the bill cut to nothing.
It all comes at a time when city auditors had already recommended the
major rate increase to meet legal requirements of a bond issue used to
finance a $2.2 million treatment plant and construct $2.3 million worth of
sewer lines.
The base rate for sewer service is now $44.73, while the base rate for
water is $9.
The $25 to $30 increase auditors recommended, which officials had hoped to
decrease, would have put monthly water and sewer bills into the $80 range.
Croley said officials are now reworking the
numbers and hope to have a recommendation by the time the City Council
meets May 21.
Meanwhile, Croley and Zobel
said the city has not yet looked at the impact Cargill's closing would
have on city property tax revenue.
Cargill is now the city's largest taxpayer.
Zobel said she had not yet determined the
total in tax revenue generated by Cargill. Nor did she know how much the
closing would affect the assessed value of the property.
Bill Bair can be reached at bill.bair@theledger.com
or 863-676-7118
"Buy
land. They ain’t making any more of the
stuff."
Will
Rogers
How
to Make $8,700 a Month Selling Grass
By
Justin Ford
One
of the great things about rental property of
any kind - apartments, office, industrial, or
retail - is that, after you’ve built up your portfolio, there comes a
point where you have thousands of dollars pouring into your mailbox each
month. And it’s truly passive income. Management takes care of your
properties and the net income takes care of you.
But
the fact is, you can also generate real estate
income without being a landlord. In fact, you can do it without owning a
single building. You can do it with raw land.
I
was first introduced to this idea on an investment tour in
South America
seven years ago. While touring vineyards, oceanfront condos, and cranberry
bogs (yes, cranberry bogs… in
Patagonia
!), I met Hal, an 80-year-old Californian who had made a fortune
subdividing timberland.
It
was from Hal that I first learned the "pizza principle" of real
estate.
A
pizza generates more money when sold by the slice. Bubble
markets notwithstanding, the same usually goes for selling
individual condos as compared to selling an entire apartment building. And
the same goes for subdividing land.
So
how do you generate ongoing income from this? You sell on
"terms" (meaning you provide the financing and hold the
mortgages).
Let
me explain…
Land
by itself usually can’t generate enough rental income to pay for any
significant mortgage - so you don’t get the benefit of leverage, the key
wealth builder in real estate. Even if you have 100 acres of prime
corn-growing land in
Nebraska
, you probably can’t rent it for more than a couple percent of what
you’d pay for it - even in today’s corn-craving, ethanol-delirious
market.
But
when you buy right in the first place, then subdivide and sell your land
with owner financing, you can create a big profit margin and a steady
stream of income that lasts for decades. To see what I mean, consider the
case of my friend Richard.
Richard
is from
New Jersey
. About 20 years ago, he decided to try sunny
Florida
. So he moved there, and proceeded to build a successful business and a
portfolio of investment properties. After a time, his properties were
worth a lot more than he ever dreamed they would be. Meanwhile, he noticed
that
South Florida
had become as crowded and expensive as the Northeast he’d left behind.
So
he became a "halfback."
Halfbacks
are people who moved from the Northeast to
Florida
10, 20, or 30 years ago… and are now moving "halfway back" to
the mid-Atlantic states. Once again, they’re
finding places to live that are far less crowded and a lot less expensive,
and where the pace is less hectic.
Richard
sold a few of his properties in South Florida for a nice profit, and began
to buy properties in an area of
Tennessee
he fell in love with. He also began to move his business there.
About
three years ago, he bought a five-story 10,000-square-foot 1920s bank
building on the main street of a small post-bellum city rife with
neoclassical architecture. The building is large enough to house his
business, and there is room left over for him to collect some rental
income to boot. (He already has tenants.)
He
bought the building for just $120,000. It’s worth at least three times
that much today, though it’s become nearly impossible to find anything
of that character and quality at any price.
And yet, perhaps his best buy was 85 acres of pastureland a few miles
outside of town, which cost him just $2,000 an acre. These days, land like
that is selling for $11,000 to $15,000 an acre - and the market is rising
steadily as more halfbacks flee high-priced, high-tax, high-insurance
Florida, California, and other pricey parts of the U.S.
If
he so chooses, Richard can now turn his one-time investment into a steady
stream of purely passive income of $8,700 a month for the next 20 years.
And he can do it without dealing with toilets, trash, and tenants… or
even taxes, for that matter.
Here’s
how…
If
Richard sells on terms, it’s likely he can get the higher range of the
market, since, when you offer terms, you are usually able to command a
higher price. That’s especially the case with raw land, because
financing is not as readily available for raw land as it is for
income-producing property.
What’s
more, he could subdivide the land into smaller parcels of a half-acre,
maybe even a quarter-acre. That could result in a higher average sales
price per square foot and a greater sales price overall than even $15,000
an acre.
But
let’s suppose he subdivides his 85 acres into 85 one-acre parcels at an
average sales price of $14,000 apiece.
And
let’s say he takes just $2,000 as a deposit from each buyer. With 85
acres, that’s $170,000 he gets upfront. That covers the initial
investment he made in the land. And since Richard happens to have used an
equity line of credit from another property to buy this land, he can now
pay off that line in full. But he now also has 85 people who each owe him
$12,000. That works out to $1,020,000. That’s his gross profit. And
he’s going to take it - with a hefty interest rate - over the next 20
years.
Let’s
say Richard lends the money to his buyers on a 20-year amortization
schedule at an average rate of 8.25 percent. In today’s market, that
rate would be quite reasonable for land. For each $12,000 borrowed, that
works out to a monthly payment to Richard of $102.36. Multiply that by 85,
and you have gross monthly inflow of $8,700!
And
from that money, does he have to pay insurance? No…
Does
he have to pay property tax? No…
Does
he have to pay a property manager? No…
Does
he have to repair roofs or sinks or toilets or windows? No, no, no, no…
It’s
all his. What’s more, a portion of each monthly payment he receives
qualifies as long-term capital gains. So, for someone in his income
bracket, it will be taxed at a much lower rate. Only the interest portion
would be taxed at his regular income tax rate.
Now,
before you run out and buy your swath of paradise, a few points to keep in
mind…
You
always have to buy right first. You can overpay for raw land, just as you
can overpay for any other kind of property. It’s even more of a concern
with land, since your purchase price isn’t supported by rental income.
And especially if you’re a lazy outsider, you’ll end up paying far
more than the locals if you don’t do your research first.
You
can also buy at the wrong part of a market cycle. What you want to look
for is an area with growing jobs and employment, and where the
fundamentals of the other local real estate sectors (single-family homes,
apartments, offices, etc.) still make sense on a price-to-rent and
price-to-household-income basis.
And
remember that while this is a great strategy, the mortgages are wasting
assets once you’ve sold the land. Richard might create over a million
dollars in extremely
passive income over the next 20 years - and with
favorable tax treatment. But at the end of that
20 years, the party’s over.
With
rental property, on the other hand, your income tends to grow over time.
And so does your equity. Your tenants pay down your mortgage and give you
net income each month, and every dollar of appreciation in the building
and land is yours for as long as you own it.
Nonetheless,
both of these strategies can fit into your real estate portfolio. The key
is to learn the fundamentals of creative real estate investing - and to
always apply them with a sharp eye toward value.
[Ed.
Note:
Justin Ford
is an active investor in real estate and global
stock markets and the author of Main
Street Millionaire,
a value-focused real estate investment program. To learn more about
creating multiple streams of passive income through creative real estate
investing, check out Justin’s just-released special
report.]
Insurance
industry report refutes Crist
Spokespeople
claim that governor has downplayed risks of reform plan