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The instructions to the grader operator are "grade the Roads"
People must realize that they are not the only people that live on this island, the very bad weather we experienced has put a huge strain on the Town Board, both financially and equipment wise. The town board has to share it's resources with the whole island community, this means that we cannot concentrate on one area, no matter how important some people feel their area is.
It seems we constantly find ourselves in a "Dammed if we do, Dammed if we don't" situation, we hope that people would stop and think of others instead of thinking only of themselves and realize that the Town Board has the whole islands interest at heart. We know the roads are in very bad shape but the budget is not there to do the necessary repairs as we would like, including the permanent solution which would be to pave all the roads. We are working on trying to get Government to assist us more, and some of our priorities is the paving of the roads North and South, also the Marina road, but it is a hard battle as it involves a huge amount of investment.
So please, if you have some constructive ideas, which we would gladly welcome, let us know.
The workers doing the road repairs work very hard trying to fix all the roads, and they get very little thanks for their efforts. Finally, we know that grading is not the solution to all road repairs, but it does allow the people of the island to move around more easily, or would you rather we did nothing and wait to see what if we can secure assistance from Central Government.

Tracker says: "but the budget is not there to do the necessary repairs as we would like, including the permanent solution which would be to pave all the roads." and "So please, if you have some constructive ideas, which we would gladly welcome, let us know."

OK, here goes:

1. SPTC needs to link payment of property taxes to issue of vehicle permits, drivers licenses and trades licenses. If you haven't paid your property taxes you don't get any of the above even if you have paid the fees. This alone would result in a huge revenue boost for the SPTC.

2. The newly announced BWS Water and Sewer project for north of the bridge for which $30,000,000 is being borrowed needs to be trimmed to "Water Only." Residents north of the bridge have always managed their own sewer disposal. I would imagine that would save about $25,000,000 as it's much cheaper to lay water pipes which generate revenues than it is to construct sewer pipes, smelly lift pumps and waste ponds which create no revenue at all. I'd say that $25,000,000 would go a long way to paving most of the most frequently used roads on the island, the road north being an obvious candidate.

3. SPTC should allow a committee of concerned and knowledgeable citizens to view all of the SPTC financials transparently so that other revenue streams and savings could be identified. The only critical jobs the SPTC really has to do well to be worth their salt are garbage disposal and road building/maintenance. Anyone looking at the books would almost certainly find an awful lot of unnecessary fluff/waste. Count me out, I hate book keeping.

"We are working on trying to get Government to assist us more"

Further to (1) and (3) above: It is important that the SPTC exhausts all possible options to fully collect the revenues to which they are entitled. Failure to do so will mean the Government will just say "If you're not willing to help yourself why should we?" (even though it's our tax money.)

Edit: Forgot to mention...I am VERY glad the road has been graded.

Ahh but Chris. You missed the implicit part that was if you have constructive advise "that isn't political suicide". No San Pedro Mayor is ever ever ever going to enforce Land Tax payments from larger families that have large numbers of registered voters.

If you really want it to happen you will have to force it. The concerned Citizens ie Gringos - should band together under squeaky clean, ducks arse tight as a drum, legal advice - and not pay Land Tax, or any other taxes potentially, to SPTC - but pay into an interest earning Escrow Account controlled by the lawyer and several other co signees.

Be prepared for a nasty fight and the potential ruin of our Industry.

2 Possible and smart but needs funding for inspection rights that septics etc are up to standard.

3. Err.....is that a flying pig. Not one of the UDP SPTC Members, including the Mayor- to my understanding - have lodged their legally required financial statements at the point of being elected. When was that 2 years ago?! .........and you want to see the books...........

This is the best Mayor and therefore Council in my 13 years here. They have got stuff done. A lot. You still have no chance of any of that happening in my view - but keep trying.

Take this point of view with a grain of salt but it is from a tourist's standpoint.

We stayed about 4 miles north of the bridge a couple weeks ago, and traveled around the island by golf cart or foot.

We knew going in the roads were bad...so we were not surprised. However, a tractor w/ a simple grading implement behind it would help tremendously by taking down the high spots and filling in the low spots. This would not help the larger holes, but i am not convinced the roads need to be perfect in order for people to be happy.

There are great restaurants North (Rendezvous, Aji, Lazy Croc) that are real assets to the island. Above all getting around by Golf Cart is a huge asset to Ambergris...it is very unique to the island and adds a lot to the experience. I truly think that maintaining the road would add business to the North.

Tracker -
You asked for constructive advise and totally missed the point the by grading the roads so that water RUNS OFF is constructive.

I never asked that this be done in my area.
All grading should be done to facilitate run off - then -- just think --- maybe we would need to be graded less often.

I would like you to take a look along side the north road in several areas where the hardcore that was dumped has now been graded into BANKS ALONG SIDE THE ROAD with the original roads in the middle.

I grew up in rural Oregon with small gravel roads with ditches on each side. (I put a Model T Ford in one on one of my joy rides at the age of 13.)

I don't remember them ever having to be graded because they were banked correctly in the first place.

I have a Restaurant down south and have spent nearly BZ$1,500 on my road and laid it myself just so people can walk in. Now people want us to pay for roads up north. Forget it.

John

(Tastes of Thailand)

John, government is borrowing 30,000,000 (it's not a grant. You a taxpayer, will pay) to put 10 of those green sewer lift stations north of town. Now, would you sooner see your hard earned tax dollars spent on road paving (and obviously the road past your place would be a prime candidate) or would you like to see your tax dollars pissed (literally) away?

Phil, the politicians must love it when they read posts like yours which basically say "It'll never happen because it never has." They feed off that because it relieves them of their responsibilities.

As for the tax revolt idea.....I personally wouldn't want to try that with the present government.

If you read my post the money IS there....it just needs to be diverted from unnecessary sewer to much needed roads. Tracker who is obviously close to the SPTC wanted ideas.

FYI, another 50,000,000 HAS been allocated for roads but only after the water and sewer are in. Dump the sewer and the roads ought to go in much faster.

I have to wonder who - up north - told our Mayor we needed sewers? Is there some great new development that doesn't want to do what everyone else has done making contributions?

Think I speak for a lot of us, if not all of us, when I say that we really love reading "good news" stories once in a while. With all the horrible negativity we're soaked in every day, to read something like people are being affected by these horrible weather, just gives me a boost in the old morale. ScubaLdy!!!!....LOVE

The sewerage and water to be put in up North has nothing to do with the Mayor, it is a Government project that has been in the pipeline (excuse the pun)for years, it has nothing to do with "who asked for it" The island is growing fast and the infrastructure is being put in place so as to try to avoid what happened to the town. The Mayor does not have that kind of power or finances for such a project. So if you want to complain, complain to Government not this notice board. As for diverting the funds allocated for this project to build a road, forget it, once funds have been allocated to a project it must be used for that project. It would be nice to have a paved road all the way up North, we could have nightly drag races then that would really P***off the Northerners. LOL.