Letter To The Editor: Response to Commissioner Coyle

Commissioner Coyle: I could not help but read (in the Marco Eagle) with amusement your comments with regard to the policy or ongoing activity of Marco Island and Isle Of Capri Fire Departments providing support for each other.

For you to be so naive as to insinuate that the county should consider charging Marco Island for those instances of assistance from the county fire department is laughable.

But, in keeping with the spirit of your suggestion, I as a citizen of Marco Island, welcome a citywide and countywide audit of taxes. Marco Island pays to the county for services that we do not receive.

If the county were to agree to this and promise to adjust the results accordingly, I can’t speak for Marco Island, but I feel that there would be a great chance that we would even pay for such an audit. But before you agree to this concept, I strongly suggest that you review the 89 percent of Marco Island taxes that go to the County, versus what Marco Island gets in return.

Look closely at the sheriff assessment. We respond to every police call on Marco Island with our local police. Do we charge the county for those calls? Do we use the schools of Collier County in the ratio that we pay for them? Roads, utilities, all aspects of what we pay the county are currently skewed in favor of the county.

So unless you are willing to fix everything wrong with the Marco Island/Collier County taxing structure, I suggest you be careful about being selective with payment/reimbursement issues. It may actually go to court in the future, but in the interim, I suggest you don’t add fuel to the fire.

Ed Issler

Marco Island