Post reader wants sheriff to account for PBSO spending | Letters

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Sheriff must account for PBSO spending

Palm Beach County has created one Law Enforcement Municipal Service Taxing Unit (MSTU) covering the entire unincorporated county. The millage rate has not yet been established. Why put very different communities into one taxing unit without first showing taxpayers the actual law-enforcement demands and costs in each area?

Florida Statute 125.01(1)(q) allows a county to establish MSTUs for “any part or all of the unincorporated area” and specifically includes law enforcement. The law also provides for services and taxes “within such unit only.” Why wasn't the county's law-enforcement demand and cost separated geographically before creating one MSTU?

PBSO should be able to provide the underlying information: calls for service, deputies, patrol hours, response times, traffic enforcement and line-item law-enforcement costs by geographic area. The Acreage is an exurban community with large lots, agricultural and equestrian properties and rural roads. Our needs are not necessarily the same as densely developed areas with heavy traffic and commercial activity.

At the Sept. 15 county commission meeting, a commissioner also discussed the possibility that additional municipalities could potentially become part of the unincorporated county. Taxpayers deserve the data before a millage is established. This is not about opposing law enforcement. It is about transparency, accountability and fairness. Show us the numbers.

Lisa Johnson, Loxahatchee

Haitian immigrants deserve better

I personally think that any deportation of Haitian immigrants, who came to this country under the TPS program, should only be done on a case-by-case basis. The circumstances and situations of all Haitian immigrants is not the same. Some came in illegally and were later given TPS. Others actually entered legally and received TPS and stayed to become productive contributing members of society. So many of them, like the people who were taking care of my severely autistic nephew, have been caught up in these deportations. However, let's not blame President Trump alone. He had help from the U.S. Supreme Court and from Congress' failure to give Haitians a more permanent legal status.

Jerry Kleiman, Boca Raton

Columnist came close, but no cigar

I never thought I would agree with anything Nicole Russell wrote about Donald Trump, but I did with almost all of her Sept. 23 opinion piece on the war of choice with Iran. She writes extensively about the lack of planning and end game and the cost to the American people, but she starts her whole piece with ”President Donald Trump launched a war with Iran to stop it from building a nuclear bomb.” Once again she falls for the regime’s propaganda.

Does she not remember “regime change,” or “We had to attack them because they were about to attack us”? and “Bibi needed a favor?” Does Ms. Russell not recall Midnight Hammer? When all the other justifications for this debacle failed in public opinion and facts, the regime settled on this ridiculous claim, and Ms. Russell fell for it. I agree with the rest of her column but her opening premise ruins her whole argument. Iran was nowhere near developing or acquiring a nuclear weapon, period. The cost to America and the world is only going to get worse until we get some responsible adults running the show.

Kirk Harris, North Palm Beach

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Post reader wants sheriff to account for PBSO spending | Letters