Dear Mrs Spalvins: We all are experiencing the economic woes. If you look at all the options provided to you by the City, you will see that there is an option for payment that will "carry you" through these tough times. If you pay by Lien, the interest you will pay will be nothing compared to the increase in cost if we wait until everything "gets normal (or better)". When the economy is bad, construction is down. When construction is down, bids for available work are lower and more competitive. So, if you and Mr. Kiester are sincere in playing just "the waiting game", then there is no real benefit to doing so. When things get back to normal, you can pay for the sewer as you were going to originally. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Mr. Kiester's idea had nothing to do with the economy, but rather his goal to derail this project, in opposition to a landslide majority of Marco Island citizens. As a prior "City Planner" Mr. Kiester is very aware, or should be, of the concept of increased costs versus a low interest.
Ed Issler

Mr. Issler, When the STRP was started everyone had equity in their home even if it was only the 10-20% down payment, now people who bought homes as far back as 2002 find they can't sell them for what they paid so people are stuck in their homes unable to move unless they come up with money out of their own pocket at closing to satisfy the loan.
Now the City wants to add a $25,000 lien to property that is worth less then it was 6 years ago and you think this is a good idea because it will cost less now then later.
I think most people would rather pay more later when they have equity in their home then pay a little less now when they have negative equity.
These are tough economic times and the government is bending over backwards to help out but it seems Marco Island is just plowing ahead without considering the impact this will have on people at this time.
The STRP will cause more foreclosures then there are already and it's not like you can say if you don't agree with STRP or can not afford it move because that is not an option for many people.
The City is doing this to keep our waters clean but I wonder what the City plans to do about Isles of Capri and Goodland which shares our waterways, both are on septic.

Dear MarcoIslandres: As much as I respect our ability to share opinions, the underlying facts of what you state above are just not true. Equity in one's home has nothing to do with the Lien. If one has "negative equity" what's another $20,000 (not $25,000). And as far as waiting, that was my point originally. When things "normalize" then one will have paid a minimal amount of interest and can then do whatever they intended to do originally. I think most people are more concerned about their retirement portfolios and the fact that they intended to pay from that and the fact that they are so low now. Not their Home Equity. We can only hope that things improve over time. Nobody is going to be foreclosed as a result of the Sewer Lien. It would be the other debts on the house that would cause this.
As far as Isle of Capri and Goodland, we can only change the World one step at a time. What about your neighbor that doesn't recycle. Does that stop you from doing it ?
Ed Issler

Ed, you and the City of Marco Island are completely blind to the recession/depression that we are now and will be impacted by the foreseeable future. People are really hurting and the pain will continue to grow. While Marco Island is repainting its brand new police cruisers and providing $80,000 to provide two new racquetball courts for a club that has 200 members, our citizen's suffering increases.
We don't all make $500 per hour as Mr. Arceri claims to. Every nickle the city takes from many of us will mean some else will be missing under the Christmass tree.