About "Vote NO on 4"
If you like the recession, you’ll love Amendment 4.
Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy, Inc. is a non-profit, non-partisan organization working to defeat Amendment 4—a statewide "Vote on Everything" initiative—which will lead to higher taxes, fewer jobs and endless litigation at taxpayer expense. More than 270 leading business, civic, labor and planning groups have opposed Amendment 4; more join the fight every day.
Amendment 4 will require California-style, taxpayer-funded referenda for any change to a local government’s comprehensive plan. Under this measure, it would not be uncommon for voters to decide 200 to 300 technical land-use planning amendments every year at the ballot box. The higher costs, longer delays and greater uncertainties imposed by such a measure will hurt small businesses the most. According to The Washington Economics Group, Amendment 4 would cost more than 267,000 jobs in Florida. Each year, it would drain more than $34 billion from our state’s economy while taking nearly $12 billion out of the pockets of Florida’s working families.
After three failed attempts to reach the ballot, the special interest lawyers promoting Amendment 4 have finally succeeded in placing their amendment on the November, 2010 ballot. Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy was founded by Sunshine State business and community leaders to alert voters to the dangers of this extreme amendment. Every small business, working family, teacher, health care provider, community leader, elected official, and mainstream environmentalist - every Florida voter - needs to know that our unique quality-of-life is at stake. If Amendment 4 is passed this November:
THE DISRUPTION of local communities and the daily lives of Floridians will be extraordinary. Cities and counties will be required to hold elections for each proposed comprehensive plan change - not just major projects, but even minor technical details. According to a review of state records, this amendment would have required an average of over 10,000 additional local votes per year in Florida. In fact, had Amendment 4 been law in 2006, the voters of Carrabelle - a small Franklin County town - would have seen 617 separate questions on a single ballot!
THE DISORDER will further disenfranchise Florida's already-fatigued electorate. Voters will be deluged with highly technical background materials prepared by the local government planning staff. The legalese of proposed comprehensive plan changes, often puzzling for expert engineers and attorneys, will further dampen voter turnout. Lines at voting booths will grow as Floridians attempt the virtual impossibility of voting on hundreds of separate and often confusing ballot questions.
THE COST will be astronomical. Every city and county in Florida will be burdened with the time and cost of holding additional elections to vote on proposed changes to comprehensive land use plans. The Orlando Sentinel wrote that the costs of these elections would “soar into the millions.” In these tough times, the last thing Florida needs is an amendment that will cost jobs and waste taxpayer dollars.
THE RESULT will be a system that is far worse, not better. That's why respected environmental leaders refuse to support the amendment. They know this amendment will not put a stop to all development, but will make well-planned, smarter growth impossible - thereby encouraging sprawl that reduces green space and makes effective growth management unachievable.
