WHY CITIZENS HAVE SUCH DISGUST FOR GOVERNMENT

Look at both of these stories and remember why we don't trust government, and won't vote to tax ourselves.

Thanks to Dan Christensen, Amy Sherman and Scott Wyman for telling it as it is.

Posted on Mon, Dec. 15, 2008
Broward again considers building new courthouse
BY DAN CHRISTENSEN and AMY SHERMAN
As Broward judges and lawyers clamor for an expensive new courthouse, arguing the old one is falling apart, Broward commissioners have kick-started a six-month search for ways to pay for it.
Much of the money they need used to be in the county's bank account. But commissioners had other spending priorities.

Among them:

• A sixth county jail. Cost: $56.4 million.

• A new headquarters for the Supervisor of Elections. Cost: $23.2 million.

• A replacement library in Pompano Beach. Cost: $13.3 million.

• A new countywide dog pound. Cost: $14.1 million.

In all, the commission allocated $162.6 million to pay for general, nonmaintenance construction projects and related operating costs in recent years, records and interviews show.

That does not include another $50 million in planned capital spending in the next five years.

Commissioner Ilene Lieberman, chairwoman of a courthouse study task force created Dec. 9, disputed the idea that the courthouse -- one that lawyers and judges say is desperately needed -- hasn't been a front-burner project.

''It has been a priority. We had a prior referendum, which voters overwhelmingly rejected,'' she said. ``The courthouse is urgent, but there are some other urgent needs, too.''

''There has been no public outcry for a courthouse,'' said Broward Mayor Stacy Ritter.

``Part of the reason the public doesn't see the courthouse as a priority is they don't see judges and lawyers and others who use the courthouse going out there and saying this is important.''

Day-to-day courthouse users feel differently.

''There were a lot of issues on the agenda they wanted to spend money on,'' said Clerk of Courts Howard Forman. ``Do I think the courthouse should have been prioritized further along? I think the answer is yes.''

BOND ISSUE

In 2006, voters vetoed a $450 million bond issue featuring a new, super-sized courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

The cost of the courthouse alone was to be about $339 million.

The next courthouse plan the public will see won't be nearly so costly, or comprehensive.

The renewed courthouse push, spearheaded by Ritter, began in earnest this month after a water pipe burst Nov. 30, soaking thousands of documents and short-circuiting the phone system.

It was the second time this year a flood shut down the 10-story courthouse. In February, sewage backup spewed across three floors.

The courthouse section targeted for replacement is about 400,000 square feet, and dates to the 1950s. The 2006 proposal would have erected a new, 25-story structure twice that size at an average cost to homeowners of $35 a year.

When the referendum failed, county bureaucrats looked at ways to scale back the project. The size was reduced to about 700,000 square feet.

One job of the task force is to see if further trims can be made in light of the current sour economy. That back-to-basics approach will include getting fresh estimates about how many employees will work in the future courthouse, said Pete Corwin, assistant to the county administrator.

The group will consider possible renovations. But Corwin said that's not feasible because it's cheaper to demolish and build again.

The task force is to report back to commissioners within six months.

Even a scaled-back courthouse on an adjacent site owned by the county will cost taxpayers millions more to build than a standard office building of comparable size.

There are several reasons why.

About 10,000 people visit the main courthouse daily to face charges, serve as jurors, testify or litigate cases. The demands of modern security means extra space is needed to separate the public from criminal defendants. Public courtroom and hallway construction requires the use of marble and costly special finishes.

''We're just looking at the basics now, but even with just the basics it's going to be a nice building,'' said Corwin. ``But it's not going to be gold-plated by any means.''

Identifying ways to fund a slimmed down courthouse project is the task force's central task.

''It's a puzzle,'' said Corwin.

Commissioners have $60 million that was set aside prior to 2006 and not reallocated. But that's not enough.

County officials are looking to the Legislature in Tallahassee to enact a $15 statewide fee on criminal cases.

That would fill a $60 million piece of the puzzle, Corwin said.

If it doesn't happen, and other revenue streams can't be tapped, the county must reorder spending priorities or raise taxes to get the courthouse built, Corwin said.

It won't be easy. Commissioners cut nearly $90 million from the county's $3.7 billion budget this year. Falling property tax revenues portend tens of millions more in spending cuts next year.

Lieberman declined to discuss funding options in detail.

But she said one would be to look for a federal handout in President-elect Barack Obama's brewing economic stimulus package.

Commissioners could ask voters again to approve a courthouse bond issue. Voters have approved tax hikes for parks and libraries in the last decade.

But a courthouse doesn't have the same appeal.

''A lot of people come to the courthouse not because they want to be here but because they have to be here,'' Forman said.

TOUGH TIMES

Tough times are also a hurdle. Taxpayers didn't bite when times were flush.

''No way are people going to give government any more money,'' Charlotte Greenbarg, who heads up a coalition of Broward homeowner groups.

Still, Forman is optimistic. He believes county government's renewed interest in replacing the courthouse is genuine.

''I've never seen them so serious,'' he said.

sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbhotel1215sbdec15,0,2451525.story

South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Hotel builder's critics in Texas warn Broward County
By Scott Wyman

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

December 15, 2008

Like Fort Lauderdale, San Antonio wanted a hotel dedicated to serving its convention center. And like Fort Lauderdale, San Antonio officials hired developers at FaulknerUSA to bring the dream to reality.

San Antonio's Grand Hyatt project fell so far behind that the hotel was only partly complete in time for the college basketball finals at the convention center this spring. More than a dozen subcontractors have filed claims that Faulkner owes them millions of dollars. Last week, JPMorgan Chase Bank sued to collect $6.1 million in loans.

The Fort Lauderdale hotel plans are a year behind schedule. There's no final agreement drawn up with county government nor any financing arranged. Despite that, the county recently agreed to reimburse $1 million in expenses to Faulkner, including salaries of its top executives.

Faulkner's critics in Texas warn Broward County to be wary.

"I cannot believe Fort Lauderdale hired them," said Kathryn Carlisle, president of a steel fabrication company who says Faulkner owes her $600,000 for work on the San Antonio hotel. "With all the problems and how poorly the project was run and how behind they were, I'm stunned."

Broward commissioners have warred over the hotel plans since choosing Faulkner and its partner, Hilton Hotels, last fall. Two Faulkner-Hilton supporters — Commissioners Ken Keechl and Suzanne Gunzburger — say they want more information about what has transpired in San Antonio, but Mayor Stacy Ritter said Faulkner's troubles there are not substantial.

"I challenge you to find any large company that has not had problems," Ritter said

Faulkner executives listed the San Antonio project as one of their success stories when they bid on Broward's plans. They said that lengthy periods of bad weather are largely to blame for delays and that the number of claims and suits filed by subcontractors is not out of the ordinary.

"Faulkner's commitment to this [San Antonio] project was pivotal and instrumental in making this hotel a reality," Faulkner executives Mark Schultz and Mark Armstrong wrote in a letter to Broward County officials.

The city of San Antonio selected Faulkner to design and build the Grand Hyatt in December 2004 and wanted it completed by spring 2008. According to Faulkner, a fifth of the hotel rooms were not ready in time for the basketball finals in April. The San Antonio Express-News reports that some work will not be complete until April.

Initial estimates were that the Grand Hyatt would cost $217 million. Faulkner executives have acknowledged more than $77 million in cost overruns, but they said that is due largely to higher costs for construction material and rerouting utility lines discovered on the property.

An Express-News article last month said subcontractors have made $15.9 million in claims against Faulkner and its partners alleging unpaid work. Drywall workers picketed outside the hotel at the start of the basketball tournament and a Web site has been launched attacking Faulkner over the claims.

One subcontractor, United Forming Inc., won a $6.6 million judgment from an arbitration panel over allegations that Faulkner wrongly fired the firm. According to the panel's June 30 ruling Faulkner falsified an accelerated work schedule and used that as basis for terminating United Forming.

The panel termed Faulkner's dealings with United Forming as tainted by "dishonesty, malice and prejudice." Faulkner accused the arbitration panel of bias, but a federal magistrate in Texas has agreed with the decision.

Doug McMurry of the San Antonio chapter of the Associated General Contractors said Faulkner's history should raise red flags to Broward County. "The project here has been an epic disaster," he said.

Scott Wyman can be reached at swyman@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4511.