The Saga of Polk City

Everyone in Polk City has their own reasons for living in this peaceful, rural community.  Many have been born and raised here, some have moved here for it’s peaceful tranquility and slow pace of life to retire here.  There are also those who commute to Orlando, Lakeland or elsewhere but found Polk City a “nice place to come home to at the end of a busy day” and it was affordable living compared to living near their jobs.  When we moved here 10 years ago, we built a home in the outskirts of Polk City in the county.  We had to get our permits from Bartow and Lakeland, which was NOT an inconvenience at all.  Our roads were taken care of, our trash was picked up twice a week and the sheriff stopped and talked to us on occasions during his frequent patrols through our neighborhood.  We paid $13.00/month for our water bill,  $98.00/year for the trash pickup, which was included in our annual real estate tax bill.  The Town of Polk City (yes, then it was still called a TOWN) had all the little stores you would expect in a small rural town and the citizens were happy to be here. 

Then everything changed with the housing boom nationwide.  Our town officials expected the same aggressive expansion that the rest of the nation was experiencing, and they needed to prepare for this building boom by preparing the necessary infrastructure like sewers, higher demand for water, better roads, a bigger city hall.  So they went into the sewer business when they purchased this problematic Mt. Olive sewer system.  Had the “housing bust” not occurred it might have been a good business plan. However, the city’s business plan did not include a back-up plan in case of an economic recession.  The enormous debt had been created, and no way to pay for it.  Money was squandered in legal battles with Auburndale and Fantasy of Flight.  The city officials had to find a way to finance this debt by aggressive, forceful annexation practices, raising taxes and finally skyrocketing water and sewer rates. 

In a very short time this little peaceful community was burdened with huge debts and no way to pay for it.  New City officials with expert business backgrounds but not experienced in running a city, stepped in confident that they can fix this mess IN TIME.  Maybe they can if they can lure businesses into town with a temporary partial waver on impact fees.  But why would a business be interested in coming to Polk City when it’s much cheaper for them to establish their business in Auburndale or outside city limits where overhead fees and taxes are MUCH lower?  Landlords are stuck with many empty rental properties because tenants can’t afford the high water/sewer bills.  They can live much cheaper in Auburndale, and have a higher standard of living. People planning to come to this area drawn to the new USF Polytechnic Campus which will be built in Auburndale, will also find that it’s too expensive to live in Polk City.

To preserve this unique town, it is imperative to lower the extremely high cost of living and the high cost of doing business here.  If this is not done, the existing businesses will disappear, one by one.  In recent history we lost the Polk City Pharmacy/Medicine Shoppe, the IGA grocery store, the donut shop, the movie rental store, the Sub Shop, the original beauty shop, the original flower shop, the Antique Store, a car repair shop, a small general store, the bait shop, and several restaurants have changed hands.  Woodman’s Realty closed its doors.  Most of the gas stations in town have changed hands several times. All new business owners are complaining about the high cost of doing business in this town. How long will our unique Feed Store be able to hang in there, and the Ace Hardware Store?  The empty storefronts speak for themselves.  Real Estate agents are not motivated so show Polk City properties due to our high taxes and fees.

One of Polk City’s residents spoke so eloquently towards the end of the “Business Plan for Polk City” meeting on Sept. 21.  She told the story of this old dresser she acquired in a yard sale and paid a couple of dollars for.  The top was distressed and warped, but it had good bones.  She worked hard at it, and placed a heavy aquarium on the top to force the top to straighten out.  Her hard work paid off and now it’s worth a lot more than what she paid for it.

It will be hard work, but we can also do this with the city by dissolving Polk City to stop further skyrocketing debt. Spreading out the debt over 25 – 35 years adds millions of dollars to the existing debt.  Lawsuits with Fantasy of Flight in a higher court, County litigation over the Mt. Olive sewer system, and the Cardinal Hill Sewer Plant, the Mt. Olive Shores North de-annexation process, are inevitable.  Unpaid county impact fees in excess of $500,000, plus the unpaid lease of $300,000 on the Cardinal Hill WT plant are still to be paid.  This lease expires in 2012.   Land purchase needed to utilize the Cardinal Hill WT plant to its full capacity will be very expensive.  The city coffers are depleted after the interest payment on the Mt. Olive ST plant debt in excess of $348,000 was paid to the county on 9/20/2010.  The Mt. Olive ST plant needs to be returned to the county, since that was the beginning of our downfall.

If we dissolve the city, no more debt will be created.  Prime real estate that the Polk City currently owns will be attractive to prospective buyers, due to our easy access to the interstate. The possibility exists that we will be able to keep our library.  Miami-Dade added a small millage rate to their assessment to pay for their library system. Working together with Dade County, they were able to dramatically improve and expand their libraries to award winning status.  Utility rates will be brought back to county levels, police coverage will be dramatically improved over the 1 police officer who now covers the city in a 40 hour shift, our roads will be fixed.  Local businesses will start making more profit with lower overhead costs, and we will still be able to preserve the small town atmosphere that we all love.  Neighbors will be less stressed over their high costs of living. It will still be called Polk City, and we will still be the same community with the same citizens who care for each other and are proud to call Polk City their hometown.  Polk City will still be on the map and our history will not change.