CAFR exposition at September 29, 2009, Pinellas County Commission meeting

​From: Liberation Station
Subject: CAFR exposition at Sept. 29 Pinellas County Commission meeting
Date: Monday, September 28, 2009, 3:47 AM

Dear Friends,
     On Tuesday, September 29, 2009, at 9:30 AM, there will be a Pinellas County Commission meeting at the Pinellas County Courthouse, 315 Court Street, 5th Floor Assembly Room, Clearwater, Florida, 33756, regarding the public utilities rate increase of water, as required by Florida Statute 180.136.  As this meeting will take place only two days before the rate increase is scheduled to take effect, this is more of a token meeting for ceremonial purposes.
     In 1998 our water began to be supplied by Tampa Bay Water, but in 2002, according to the Pinellas County CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, a secretive second set of books where municipalities nationwide hide finances so that they can appear more credible as they "cry poor," a lame excuse to raise taxes, fines, fees, rates, etc.) on page 43, under an inter-local agreement, member governments, except for the City of Tampa, transferred ownership rights of their water supplies to Tampa Bay Water.  Pinellas County transferred its interest for cash upon closing and the remainder is to be received as credits toward annual water purchases over the next 29 years.  The value of the credits totaling more than $63 million is recorded in long-term notes receivable. The interest on these notes comes to more than $1.2 million per year.  Pinellas County currently receives free water from Tampa Bay Water and sells it to Pinellas Citizens at an ever-increasing rate to support this agreement who pay more for water so the County and 29 municipalities can add more revenue to its CAFR and pension funds.  More importantly, in the same 2002 Pinellas County CAFR report on page 42 it is stated that all cash, cash equivalents, and investments which come from surplus taxes totaled more than $1 billion.  These accounts cannot be found in more recent CAFR reports because they have been removed by Federal accounting procedure 32 to conceal the true figure.
     A group of concerned Citizens will voice our opinion that the proposed water rate increase is gouging Citizens of Pinellas under a centralized, monoplized, and adulterated water supply which constitutes a serious security risk, particularly in view of the high number of area MacDill Air Force Base personnel.  Before 1998 all Pinellas water came from the Floridan Aquafer, the safest and highest qualty water available according to the U.S. Geological Survey and Pinellas County officials.  
     Issues that we plan to address will include the fact that we have all the water we need right under our feet which is the safest and highest quality water available, the misappropriation of taxpayer funds, public officials' breach of their
fiduciary responsibilities, and violation of the Constitution of the State of Florida, Article II, Section 8, Paragraph (c):

Ethics in government.--A public office is a public trust. The people shall have the right to secure and sustain that trust against abuse. To assure this right: 
(c)  Any public officer or employee who breaches the public trust for private gain and any person or entity inducing such breach shall be liable to the state for all financial benefits obtained by such actions. The manner of recovery and additional damages may be provided by law.

     Please arrive early (9:00 AM if possible) to register to speak.  Each individual is given three minutes to address the Pinellas County Commission.  The CAFR is an issue of corruption concerning the bleeding of the public wealth on the scale of the Federal Reserve, deficit spending, derivatives and toxic assets.  The difference is that the funneling of public finances into the CAFR slush funds can be controlled at the local level.
     Walter Burien (http://www.cafr1.com) produced the documentary, The Biggest Game in Town, which can be viewed freely online at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6703413885850200097#.
     Alex Jones, who often speaks of the great significance the CAFR, has produced a documentary, CAFR Exposed, which can be viewed freely online at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5823209513192072459#.
     Plans for the upcoming September 29 Pinellas County Commission meeting were also discussed in the first hour of the September 10 and 24, 2009, Liberation Station Radio Show, which can be heard or downloaded at http://www.theliberationstation.com/listenarchives.html.
     Recording devices may be helpful.  Please RSVP if you plan to attend.
Take Great Care,
  Chris Steiner, host for Liberation Station Radio Show (http://www.TheLiberationStation.com)