Trusting politicians with Amendment 6 cash

The “Another Viewpoint” editorial from Broward County Mayor Beam Furr recommended voting “Yes” on raising taxes to approve transportation improvement funding.

I have already voted, by absentee ballot, and I voted “No” and recommend other voters do the same. While we DESPERATELY need improvements to our transportation infrastructure, politicians cannot be trusted to use the money we vote to give them to spend it on what it was intended for. Fort Lauderdale, for instance, is paying higher utility taxes in order to update the aged sewer system, to prevent sewage spills in our roads and waterways.

The result? The funds supposedly dedicated to sewage infrastructure got spent on other things, for years, and we have experienced massive sewage spills on our roads and waterways, and are now, as taxpayers, paying hefty fines levied by the state for polluting our waterways. In Miami-Dade County, the voters approved an additional tax to update and expand Metrorail, to relieve traffic congestion. Nothing at all was done for years, and now the mayor wants people to believe that extending the Metrorail system is too costly, and they will have to settle for buses.

In short, if our local politicians had a history of spending the money we vote to give them for the purpose we voted for, instead of using the old bait-and-switch scam, I could support the amendment. However, this is not the case.

Frederick Mitchel, Fort Lauderdale