Scott pushes for tougher pension plan
Gov. Rick Scott today said lawmakers' public-employee pension reform does not go far enough and urged them to adopt his more-rigorous plan. "We don't have sustainable pensions right now," Scott said at a morning news conference announcing a coalition of fiscally conservative groups and business interests pushing for pension reform. "We need to solve this problem. I hope the House and Senate will take my proposal." Both House and Senate have passed bills that require contributions from the more than 650,000 teachers, state workers, county employees, law-enforcement officers and other participants in the gigantic Florida Retirement System. Most of those are in a traditional, defined-benefit pension plan and pay nothing into their own retirement. The House would require a flat 3-percent salary contribution, while the Senate would require various contribution levels between 2 percent and 6 percent, depending on how much an employee makes. [Source: Florida Today]MUST-KNOW FLORIDIAN
Meet Christopher Miller, Chief Operating Officer, Associated Grocers of Florida. As COO of the cooperative that supplies independent grocery retailers, he has led new retail marketing programs and pushed exporting to the Caribbean, Central and South America, an area of rapid growth for the business. |
Broward schools spent $8M on pools, don't teach swimming
Broward schools budgeted more than $8 million on a pair of new 10-lane pools for use after school hours by swim and dive teams.
The pools at Nova and Fort Lauderdale high schools weren't designed with physical education classes in mind and may not be suitable at all for novice swimmers, since they are 7 feet deep at the shallow end.
The expense, and the pools' limited use, has some parents fuming. "No one can say with a straight face they spent $4 million for a swim team. That's absurd," said Nick Sakhnovsky, who thinks at that hefty cost to taxpayers, Nova's facility should be open to his 14-year-old son and other pupils at nearby Nova Middle for swim classes. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Florida has 4 of the Most Miserable Cities in America
When most people think of Florida they think palm trees, sunshine, white sand beaches. Paradise, right? Forbes magazine paints a bleaker picture. Of the magazine's "20 Most Miserable Cities in America," Florida is host to four. Jacksonville ranks 19th, Fort Lauderdale 13th and West Palm Beach 8th.
Miami is #2, the second most miserable city behind only Stockton, California. The good weather and lack of a state income tax are the only things that kept Miami out of the top spot. Forbes considered a total of 10 factors in the rankings including unemployment, crime, taxes, weather and commute times.
Read more from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Forbes and see pictures of the 20 Most Miserable Cities.
COLUMN: It'll always be cheaper to do business somewhere else
Did Florida really sign up for a fool's game of trying to make Florida the cheapest place to do business? It feels like it, given the obsession of our new state leadership.
If Florida costs less, if business regulations are severely pruned, will businesses really flock here? It sounded good during the desperate unemployment days of the governor's race. Pounded upon in unending TV ads, that message — I'll make Florida irresistible for businesses that come here and create jobs, jobs, jobs — was powerful enough, buoyed by $70 million in personal spending, to give Rick Scott his own job as Florida's new governor.
Rarely a day goes by when Scott does not remind us he's making phone calls, personally telling company executives in cold-weather, higher-tax states that pro-business Florida is open for, well, business. If Scott gets his way, he reasons, there soon won't be any state tax on businesses here. So come on down!
At last check of our state border, there's no backup of corporate moving vans clamoring to get into Florida.
Yes, we're only 100 days or so into the Scott era. His mantra — Florida, we're cheapest — is still new. So maybe those vans are still packing up North for the trip, or maybe waiting for gas prices to drop.
More likely, Scott will find business executives elsewhere are not simpletons.
[Source: St. Petersburg Times]
Online booking, rate system puts hotel's profits on track
Bill Parsons is smiling, cautiously, these days.
As the general manager of Wakulla Suites in Cocoa Beach, Parsons said the hotel has been squeezing out improved revenue while some of his competitors are struggling. He credits an online booking and rate-monitoring system the hotel started using nearly three years ago.
The system, which Parsons has exclusive rights to in the Cocoa Beach area, analyzes hotel rates and reacts to any price adjustments by immediately raising or lowering rates through online reservation sites at the 117-room Wakulla Suites.
It's another example of how hotel operators are looking at different avenues, from available technology to better marketing, to find success in the lodging industry.
"Our revenue has actually grown in 2008, 2009 and 2010," said Parsons, who has more than 20 years in the Brevard County lodging business. "That's pretty good when there are some places in Florida where the occupancies and revenues are off 50 percent."
[Source: Florida Today]
What's in a name? |
