ST. PETE BEACH – The Barrier Islands Governmental Council has been influential over the years in promoting policies that benefit the Barrier Island’s 11 municipalities. The organization wants to do even more.
At its May 28 meeting, BIG-C Chairman and Indian Shores Mayor Jim Lawrence encouraged members to help identify issues the organization should support.
Lawrence posed two questions. Should the BIG-C become more proactive? And should the organization endorse candidates for election?
The former was endorsed. The latter was quickly shot down.
“Our strength is in our numbers,” Lawrence said. “We should pick things we all agree on.”
The alleged misuse of the bed tax came up as one issue. BIG-C members are concerned that bed tax revenue, primarily earmarked for beach facilities and maintenance, has been used to help finance their programs.
In discussing that issue the council identified the need to respond to such issues in a unified manner. Belleair Shore Mayor John Robertson said “problems arise when we can’t reach a unanimous decision on an issue. Just what we don’t need is a split on issues. At one time we had people on BIG-C that said ‘no’ to everything.”
North Redington Beach Mayor Bill Queen said he favors establishing a super majority vote rather than a unanimous decision vote on issues.
Lawrence encouraged members to back a unified position on the bed tax funds issue and to help identify additional issues worthy of BIG-C support.
Homeowners insurance update
Carol Everhart, a private Realtor and member of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp., briefed the BIG-C on important aspects of the Citizens Property Insurance program, particularly mitigation measures to reduce premiums.
“A lot of people can save incredible amounts of money if they use mitigation,” she said.
Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is the state’s homeowner insurance safety net. Established in 2002, Citizens provides an “insurer of last resort” for those homeowners who cannot get homeowners insurance from private insurance companies.
As more private insurers stopped offering homeowners insurance, the number of Floridians who were forced to get their insurance from Citizens grew.
Today, according to Citizens’ Web site, approximately 20 percent of all homeowners insurance policies in Florida are written by Citizens, making it the second largest insurer in the state, behind State Farm.
Legislative update
State Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Treasure Island, and State Rep. Jim Frishe, R-St. Petersburg, gave an update on legislative action.
Jones said distribution of the state’s dedicated $30 million for beach preservation from dock stamp funds was at risk due to much of those funds directed elsewhere, reducing the beach funds to $1.1 million. With the help of local governments and appropriations staff, Jones said he was able to come up with almost $19 million in “recycled dollars” for beach management.
Frishe said that the troublesome policy of “highest and best use” no longer exists except in special cases. Legislative improvements in pedestrian cross walk safety and a complete rewriting of the Child Custody and Support Act featured the house session.
