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Editorial: Tuesday elections
Naples, Bonita, Marco voters have big decisions
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A summary of Daily News editorial board endorsements for Tuesday’s elections:
NAPLES
Mayor
Bill Barnett is the clear choice for re-election. In his prior terms on City Council and the past four years as mayor, Barnett has proven over and over there is no better champion of the city or goodwill ambassador for the community as a whole.
Also in race: Henry Kennedy.
City Council
-- Incumbent John Sorey epitomizes commitment and follow-through, specializing in water issues. Naples City Council is a better governing body for his presence.
-- Teresa Heitmann is a veteran of volunteer leadership roles with public schools and the Boys and Girls Club, Naples Alliance for Children and her neighborhood Aqualane Shores Association.
-- Dorothy Hirsch has a knack for challenging the status quo and getting results. She has fought to protect neighborhoods from the harsh impacts of construction sites and pushed for fertilizers more gentle on Naples Bay.
Also in the City Council race: Gloria Kovacs, incumbent John Nocera and Margaret Sulick.
-- Who can vote? All 18,979 registered voters in the city. This is a nonpartisan election system.
-- What happens next? The top three vote-getters in the council races are the winners; there are no runoffs. The top vote-getter in the mayor’s race likewise takes office.
-- Any questions about voting? Call the Collier County Supervisor of Elections Office at 252-8450.
BONITA SPRINGS
Mayor
Ben Nelson is the positive leader the city needs. The eight-year City Council veteran can be an effective ambassador beyond the city as well, working with Estero and the rest of Lee County on roads and revenue sharing.
Also in race: Incumbent Jay Arend, Mike Fulker, Bob Vandegrift.
City Council
-- District 2: Janet Martin is bright and enthusiastic — and a listener. Martin has led her neighborhood to lobby the city to change the alignment for the East Terry Street widening and convinced City Council members that the city’s Mayhood property was the wrong location for a family resources center.
Also in race: Incumbent Alex Grantt
-- District 6: Ronda Lyles Lawhon’s vision for Old 41? A G-rated New Orleans. Right on.
We sense in this fourth-generation Bonitan a desire to help the city hold on to some of the quaintness she saw here as a child.
Also in race: Bill Lonkart
-- Who is eligible to vote? All 19,636 registered voters in the city limits may vote in the mayoral race. Council races are by district, which is specified on voter registration cards.
-- What happens next? Top vote-getters in council races win. If a candidate fails to win more than 50 percent of the vote for mayor, a runoff for the two top vote-getters will take place April 8.
-- Any questions? Call the Lee County Supervisor of Elections Office at 533-8683.
MARCO ISLAND
City Council
-- Joe Batte, who first ran two years ago, still impresses as a citizen with the heart and skill to make Marco and its council as good as they can be, without further sewers.
-- Roger Hall is a leader of the opposition to the sitting council and its policy on sewers. His forceful style ought to be put to the test in the public eye where it counts, on council.
-- Frank Recker, pro-sewer, is a dentist-turned-attorney who calls for more fact-based decision making, less vitriol and getting more public involvement in long-range planning.
-- Bill Trotter is the lone non-term-limited incumbent brave enough to seek re-election in the past two elections. His stewardship is well worth keeping.
Also in race: Butch Neylon, Wayne Waldack, Jerry Gibson and Dr. Andrew Guidry.
-- Who can vote? All 12,332 of the island’s registered voters can take part in each of these at-large, nonpartisan races.
-- What happens next? The top four vote-getters win.
Florida Property Tax Amendment
There is a doubling of the homestead exemption to $50,000; there is the exemption for $25,000 worth of equipment, effectively eliminating the intangibles tax for many small businesses; and there is the extension of a Save Our Homes-style annual taxable value increase cap — 10 percent, where there now is none — for owners of second homes and commercial and other nonhomesteaded property. All contribute to tax relief.
Yet, it is another component of the package, portability of Save Our Homes tax breaks, that is the linchpin. It has the potential to re-awaken Florida real-estate sales and the myriad industries and jobs that bank on that marketplace.
-- Who can vote? All registered voters in Florida.
Agree or disagree, please get out and vote when polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Thank you.

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