This is it, Folks!!! If you want change, you’ve GOT to vote on Tuesday!!

This is it, Folks!!!  If you want change, you’ve GOT to vote on Tuesday!!

OK, folks, if you haven’t already voted by absentee ballot, or already voted at one of the early voting locations, you’ve got one last chance: to vote this Tuesday January 31!

Our City has for too long been controlled by special interest groups, career bureaucrats and politicians. Our budget has swelled to double the size just 8 years ago and cannot be sustained. Our pension costs are 1.2 BILLION and the unfunded portion (which we taxpayers will be responsible for) is now over $400 million. We have hundreds of employees getting over $150,000 in total compensation now from our tax dollars, thanks to Jack Seiler! We must return fiscal sanity to our budget and stop wasteful spending! We must insure that no more money is taken from our City’s savings account simply to pay for more pay raises and bonuses.

We must insure that the city works for us and the employees work for us, not vice versa. And the only way that will work is if you GET INVOLVED! VOTE on Tuesday!

If everyone of you insure that you vote on Tuesday and make sure that at least one other person also votes, then we WILL be able to restore fiscal responsibility.

Remember, here are some of my goals for the first 12 months:

• Educate the rest of the Commission on fiscal reform and place cost reduction on the agenda of every Commission meeting.
• Demand through the City Manager that EVERY Department tighten their belts and develop a cost reduction plan, lowering their costs by 10% in the upcoming year, with further reductions thereafter.
• Work toward eliminating take-home vehicles to City employees who live outside the City (that’s over 80% of our employees!).
• Develop an incentive plan to get more of our emergency services personnel (police and fire) to move into and live in Fort Lauderdale.
• Eliminate longevity bonuses and measure Department Managers on how well they control overtime.
• Develop an action plan to reduce the $400 million portion of our unfunded liabilities.
• Benchmark our City Departments with similar Cities to determine which Departments are overstaffed.
• Build marked, safe and well-lit bicycle lanes around our City.
• Develop a beautification program for our main thoroughfares: Sunrise, Federal, Broward, and Commercial Blvds.
• Develop a legally defensible “get-tough” policy with our chronic drug addicts and alcoholics that inhabit our streets and parks.
• Develop new Economic Destination zones for the Sistrunk, South Andrews and 13th Street corridor, among other locations,
• Bring Commission meetings in to different neighborhoods, rather than always at City Hall.
• Encourage volunteers to take my 20-chapter “Vision for Fort Lauderdale” and develop cost effective implementation plans for each chapter.

And if enough of you vote on Tuesday, we WILL be able to make these goals a reality!

Thank you for your continued support!

Earl Rynerson

Candidate for Mayor of Fort Lauderdale