DECEMBER 2009

Burt Aaronson – Commissioner, District 5
Chair, PBC Board of County Commissioners

I am proud to inform you that the County Commission elected me Chair at its November 17, 2009 Board meeting. Commissioner Karen Marcus was elected Vice Chair.

Being Chair of the Commission means more work for me and my staff.  However, it also allows me to set the direction that the County will take over the next year.  As you all know, unemployment is high and jobs are scarce.  Property values have declined but demands for government services have increased.  Most of us remember the words, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”  This seems to sum up the challenges that the County faces in 2010.

My number one priority as Chair is jobs.  Creating jobs is the key component to moving Palm Beach County’s economy forward.  When a family member is laid off, the family must cut back on expenses.  One way might be to eliminate going out to dinner.  The restaurant they go to has to cut back on its expenses so it lays off employees and buys less food from its vendors.  The vendors that supply the restaurant with food have to cut back so they lay off employees and reduce the supplies they buy from farmers.  This one simple example demonstrates the chain of events that has happened time and time again over the past couple of years.  The bottom line is that we need more jobs.  Jobs generate income.  Income spurs consumer spending.   A family can go out to dinner again.  The economy becomes more robust.  I will be working with the County staff, the Business Development Board and the Economic Council, among others, to find ways to help our existing businesses grow and expand and to bring new businesses to Palm Beach County.

 I will also be working closely with the County staff on next year’s budget that will begin next October.  The County Commission has already started to examine each department and its functions.  It is too soon to comment on the outcome but I can assure you that I want to reduce costs but at the same time, maintain the services that we all expect.

 I will be the featured guest on the Channel 20 program Politically Speaking in December.  I invite you to tune in to learn more about my chairmanship.  For dates and times, go to the County’s webpage, www.pbcgov.com.  You will find the Program Guide in the Channel 20 column.  You can also call the Public Affairs Office (561-355-2205) for the information.

I am pleased to be able to serve as Chair for the next year and I will continue to work to achieve the highest quality of life for the residents of District 5 and all the residents of Palm Beach County.

 As always, I invite your comments on any issue of interest to you.  As your Commissioner, I am here to help you.  You may write me at 301 N. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach, 33401 or call my staff at 276-1310 or toll free at 877-930-2205.  My email address is:  baaronso@pbcgov.org.
 
 

Kelly Skidmore -- State Representative, District 90

Discrimination is Wrong
 
On November 20, I filed a bill to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in employment, housing and public accommodations. I have filed a version of this important legislation every legislative session since I was elected in 2006.   The latest version, HB 391, the Competitive Workforce Act, deserves to be heard, adopted and signed into law by the governor during the 2010 Legislative Session.
 
Years ago, Florida lawmakers enacted the Florida Civil Rights Act and Florida's Fair Housing Act to make sure that all Floridians could have a roof over their head and make an honest living free of discrimination.  Over the years, these two laws have been updated to include additional protected classes, among which now include race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap, or marital status.  Unfortunately, Florida law still does not protect thousands of Floridians from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, and it is long overdue for the state of Florida to give everyone the rights they deserve.  Our wonderful state and all of its 18 million residents should be equally protected under the law.
 
Although progress is slow, some local governments have taken steps in the right direction.   Most recently, the City of Tampa adopted a measure in November 2009, to include gender identity and expression in its non-discrimination law.  In addition, other local governments offering similar protections in Florida include, Broward County, Palm Beach County, Monroe County, Miami Beach, Gainesville, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Gulfport, Key West, Largo, Tequesta, Wilton Manors, Dunedin, Orlando, and Oakland Park.  However, without a state law, countless hard-working Floridians continue to be subjected to outright discrimination with no legal recourse.  
 
I urge you to become involved.  The Florida Legislature makes decisions on your behalf every year that have a significant impact on how we all live our lives.  It is important that Floridians educate elected officials and make sure their voices are heard in Tallahassee.  You can do your part by reaching out to our Broward and Palm Beach County legislators to express your support for HB 391 and ask them to co-sponsor this very important legislation.   Discrimination is Wrong

Kevin Rader – State Representative, District 78

Medicare Enrollment:
Prepare, Compare, Decide
 
Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period began November 15 and will continue through December 31. Now is a good time to review your current health care and prescription drug coverage in case you need to make any changes.

Prepare: Gather all the information you’ll need to make a decision about your health & prescription drug coverage, such as your Annual Notice of Change.

Compare: Compare the plans and all the options that you have.  There are two tools available for your help.

The first tool is The Plan Finder Tool on www.Medicare.gov.  This link allows you to search and compare all the available plans in the area. The Plan Finder Tool also  sorts your options by premiums, deductible or other items that are important to you.     

The second tool is the help of a trusted volunteer SHINE counselor. The Department of Elder Affairs’ SHINE (Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders) is a volunteer-based counseling and assistance program. SHINE can help you navigate Medicare’s website, compare plans and answer additional Medicare and other health insurance questions for free.

Decide: When you have finished comparing plans, it’s time for you to make a decision for the coming calendar year.  A volunteer SHINE counselor can also help you enroll– in person, by phone or at a public event in the community.
To find out more about the enrollment process or to get free help, call Florida’s Elder Helpline toll free at 1-800-963-5337.

For a list of SHINE community events in our area, please visit the SHINE website at www.FloridaSHINE.org

**REMEMBER** This is the one chance this year that most Medicare beneficiaries will have to make changes to their health and prescription drug plan.  Enroll as early as possible so you don’t have any issues at the pharmacy counter in January!
 

South Florida Water Management District’s New
Year-Round Landscape Irrigation Rule

Recognizing the need to conserve water and increase protection for South Florida’s water resources, the South Florida Water Management District Governing Board unanimously approved a sweeping, year-round water conservation measure that places permanent limits on landscape irrigation throughout the region.

The rule limits irrigation of existing landscapes to 2 days per week, except for counties south of Lake Okeechobee including Pam Beach, which are allowed to water existing landscapes 3 days a week.

Avoid Paying Excessive Fees For Your Records

Residents of District 78 should be wary of solicitations from private companies possibly charging too much for copies of official records. This problem appears to be resurfacing after an official-looking letter advertising the importance of citizens having certified copies of their records, such as property deeds, was reported in Palm Beach County.

Copies of deeds, mortgages, liens, courts judgments, marriage licenses and other public records are available from the Clerk & Comptroller’s office for $1 per page and can be certified for an additional $2. 

For more information on receiving copies of your public records, please contact the Records Services Center through your county website.

Protect Yourself this Holiday Season

The holidays are peak season for identity thieves. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), identity theft affects ten million American victims each year, costing individuals and businesses about $52 billion.

Here are a couple tips to help protect yourself this season:

• Before buying on a website check for the locked padlock image on your browser's status bar or look for "https://" (rather than http://) in your browser window.

• Write "Check Photo ID" in permanent ink on your credit card, near your signature. This is an effective way to remind cashiers to check your identity before processing your card.
 

Dr. Sandra Richmond – PBC School Board, District 6
Vice Chair

This has been an extremely challenging fall for everyone involved with the School District. Although we were unable to acquire the Gates Foundation grant, the pursuit of change in order to meet the needs of the students who are not experiencing academic success in our district is still a priority for us.

Dr Johnson has seen fit to make extraordinary changes in the curriculum and implement these changes at a rapid pace. He admits now that there should have been more lead time to make such changes. This rapid implementation caused stress at our school centers. One of the major changes from what we have been doing for the last eight years is a centralized management focus rather than school-based management. Dr Johnson has realized that this was a mistake and has gone back to school-based management.

There are many other issues that need to be addressed, such as allowing teachers flexibility to implement the curriculum as they see fit for the children they serve.

I greatly appreciate the parents who have been involved in this process and care so much about what is happening in the district. Their leadership has made it easier to move forward with the changes that are necessary and best for all our children. Please continue to be involved and work in collaboration with us. Through working together, we will make the necessary adjustments to benefit all of our children.

OCTOBER 2009

Burt Aaronson – Commissioner, District 5
Vice Chairman, PBC Board of County Commissioners

The H1N1 “swine flu” is a hot topic and I would like to update you on how your county and communities are responding.
 
There will be an initial 3.4 million doses of H1N1 vaccines to the United States. Palm Beach County (PBC) can expect 64,100 doses of that first round. Vaccinations will be distributed throughout Florida following the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidelines. This priority list contains five target groups that are more susceptible to the virus. They are: pregnant women; persons who live with or provide care for infants aged less than 6 months such as parents, siblings and daycare providers; health-care and emergency medical services personnel; persons aged 6 months to 24 years; and persons aged 25 to 64 years who have medical conditions that put them at higher risk for influenza-related complications.

Dr. Alina Alonso, Director of the PBC Health Department, recommends that people with respiratory illnesses stay home from work and school to avoid spreading infections. The health department has developed a checklist of items that will be distributed at Publix, Walgreens and CVS urging people to prepare for illness as they would a hurricane. Other helpful tips include:

• Avoid close contact with people who are coughing or otherwise appear ill
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth
• Wash hands frequently to lessen the spread of respiratory illnesses
• If you are sick with flu-like illness, the CDC recommends that you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities and that you stay away from others to keep from making others sick

It is important to know that even if you receive the seasonal flu shot you will not be protected against H1N1, or vice versa. Many of you are already planning on getting your seasonal flu shot shortly by way of the Alliance of Delray Beach, the Coalition of Boynton West Residential Association (COBWRA) or by another means. Throughout the month of October the Alliance of Delray Beach will be supplying the serum to 40 communities within their membership and COBWRA is scheduled to administer the serum to 9400 residents in 47 Boynton communities. Both organizations are planning on providing similar services with the H1N1 vaccine as it becomes more readily available. The PBC Health Department is strongly recommending that people get both vaccinations and will be hosting outreach events to get vaccines to residents. For more information on these events, visit www.PBCHD.com or call 561-840-4500. 

I would also like to suggest that individual communities make instant hand sanitizer available to its residents in all your common areas such as clubhouses, pool sides, card rooms, dining halls, etc.

For more information on H1N1 and the availability of vaccines, visit the CDC online at www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu or by calling 800-232-4636. Updates can also be found through the Florida Health Department at www.myflusafety.com or by phone at 877-352-3581. 
 

Kevin Rader -- State Representative, District 78 

The Chinese drywall problem is huge across the state of Florida.  To date there has been 549 “cases” of dry­wall reported throughout 30 counties according to the Flor­ida Department of Health. Quotations surround the word cases because the data is self reported and the actual num­ber of cases may be higher.

Currently Florida is wait­ing on multiple federal and in­ter-state agencies to finish their investigation of these Chinese drywall “cases” before we are able to move forward with this issue.  

Last month I wrote a letter to Surgeon General Ste­ven K. Glason, who is facilitat­ing the investigation, express­ing my concerns with this issue and encouraged him to pro­duce the investigative reports as soon as possible so that our state and our people can rap­idly move forward in resolving this horrendous problem.   My office has been in­formed by multiple agencies that Florida can expect the results of the investigation by mid-October. 

Consumers that are af­fected by Chinese drywall are asked to register with the CPSC website listed below or by calling 1-800-638-2772.

As more citizens come for­ward and report problems with defective Chinese drywall, the CPSC and other federal agencies will have a more thorough under­standing of the extent of the problem and they will be better able to develop assessment and mitigation measures. 

For up to date information, people to contact, links to Chinese drywall resources or to subscribe to the drywall email updates from the Florida Department of Health please visit the link provided be­low: 

www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/incident.aspx
www.doh.state.fl.us/environment/community/indoor-air/ drywall.html

STAY HEALTHY THIS FLU SEASON
          
H1N1 (referred to as “swine flu”) is the new influenza vi­rus. This virus spreads from person-to-person, in much the same way that regular seasonal influenza vi­ruses spread.

There is no vac­cine available right now to protect against 2009 H1N1 vi­rus.  However, a 2009 H1N1 vaccine is cur­rently in production and may be ready for the public late this fall. For the last couple weeks, parents have been signing a new note coming home in their children's back­packs asking permis­sion for students to be given a free flu vaccine.

This year, thanks to a $206,640 federal stimulus grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Ser­vices, all 108 public elementary schools this fall in Palm Beach County will offer the permission slips.

The Palm Beach County Health Department will offer the “FluMist” sea­sonal nasal vaccine in every public elemen­tary school beginning  on Oct. 5th and run­ning through Nov. 20th.

For more infor­mation or to get a permission slip con­tact your child’s school.

IRS FORM 982: TAX RELIEF FOR STUGGLING
 
According to the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 there is a tax relief for struggling homeowners.  If your mortgage debt is partly or en­tirely forgiven at any time dur­ing 2007 through 2012, you are able to claim special tax relief on you federal income tax re­turn for that year by completing IRS Form 982 and attaching it to your federal  income tax re­turn.

The debt must have been used to buy, build or substan­Debt used to refinance qualify­ing debt is also eligible for the exclusion, but only up to the amount of the old mortgage principal, just before the refi­nancing. 
 
For more information about the Mortgage  Forgive­ness Debt Relief Act of 2007 and Form 982 please visit the IRS Website at  www.IRS.gov.