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Front page of the local section in the Palm Beach Post is the headline, City might seek $60 million for repairs. It's an article on the City's 2020 program and the infrastructure repair program along with the Park of Commerce thrown in for good measure. We know that the cost will be higher than that and they have told us that they will take the cash reserves.
Get prepared. Living in one of the poorest cities in Palm Beach County has its consequences...we are taxed to nearly the max. If the general obligation bond passes by the voters, the tax rate will be over and above the 10 mills set by law. The mayor says the cost will affect every property owner in this city even those who live on a county road and have their own private streets. We will be possibly paying on three separate bond issues so that the bleed and the shock of it all does not seem too awfully bad at first. We will be paying for Collge Park's 2" pipes to be replaced which will result in humongous water bills as this cost will be tacked on to our water rates and the commission can just vote to do that. Revenue Bonds don't need a vote of the people.
One thing for sure, we WILL be paying. The mayor has promised this. We will be one of the highest taxed cities in which to own property (and values just went up 8.2%) and still living in the 2nd poorest one in the County. You can't get much crazier than that.
17 comments:
The only way that I see this passing is for the city to concentrate on the renters to vote it in. They will feel it's no skin off their backs (even though rents will escalate), they won't consider that. They will only be looking at that huge pothole in front of where they rent. The city is privy to all of that information through rental licenses and utility bills where they can blitz a certain segment. As they are 60% of the residents in our city, the commission might just get its debt dream.
I not a renter and I see the need to upgrade our infrastructure. It has been neglected by many past commissions including your BCE and even before that, bandaides were applied to slow down the bleeding but never meant to substitute for the eventual replacement of sidewalks, streets, and underground utilities. Even the gas company realizes it must change the pipes, hopefully before we have some catastrophic failure which will cast us more in the ling run.
We now have adults in the room that are looking more long range not just to the next election cycle.
Since you happen to oppose ANY initiative the current majority brings up, it is not surprising you oppose this too. I generally agree the work must be started and should nt be delayed any further. To what extent and how much we can "afford" will still need to be discussed. But in this town, it will no doubt be discussed into the dirt and never see the light of day. But then that's your strategy. Delay is denial.
You seem to hint that you think that revenue bonds are a better choice. Is that your opinion? Why?
There are many properties in Lake Worth with homestead exemptions that pay no taxes. If there is another way (other than general obligation bond) to raise revenue I'm all for it. Any suggestions?
Revenue bonds are a terrible choice.
And all your sarcasm as well as your guesses on my opinion are noted. Thanks.
Will History Repeat Itself?
PSL 'City Center' Field of Dreams:
"The city originally entered an agreement with Jupiter developer George de Guardiola in 2005. The city built the infrastructure, the Civic Center and a parking garage. Guardiola was to build out the rest of the property with shops, restaurants and residential areas."
"Guardiola went bankrupt and could not hold up his end of the deal. He stopped paying taxes and the property went into foreclosure."
"Last year, Zhong bought the property from Guardiola with the outstanding tax balance, but she has not paid it. Until she pays the taxes, permits cannot be issued to begin the building process."
"Real unintended consequences."
"When Zhong purchased the property, she also purchased the redevelopment agreement. Bremer said this is a “colossal issue” because the construction of the center is now years behind schedule and it is something the city doesn’t have full control over."
"Zhong originally planned to use the City Center as an international trade center. She set up a regional EB-5 center — a federal program that requires foreign investors to put down at least $1 million and create 10 American jobs per investor in exchange for green cards. Commercial and residential amenities were a part of the plan."
http://thelibertycaucus.com/psl-city-center-interventionism-gone-awry/?utm_source=The+Liberty+Caucus+Newsletter&utm_campaign=aaaaacbb30-statist+coast&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1e3506429b-aaaaacbb30-17640437#.U2eUf1edL0-
9:40--you continue to say that there are many of us who don't pay ANY taxes. That statement in itself is flat wrong. I believe you are talking about ad valorem.
My suggestion would be for the city to enforce its code, and get rid of slum, blight and reduce crime. Once you do that, property values will go up in spite of the economy and in spite of us being a poor city.
True, "We now have adults in the room that are looking more long range not just to the next election cycle."
Take out the "Field of Dreams"
Park of Commerce Infrastructure
and do the roads (JOB ONE) as you
say. Even the sidewalks might be debatable as my neighbor and I call each other a few times a week about 7th Ave N - we see about 1/2 & 1/2 of the people use the sidewalk. Most surprising part is the number of mommies w/babies in carriages or holding kids hands IN THE STREET when a Brand New Sidewalk
IS there to choose to use!?!
"We now have adults in the room that are looking more long range not just to the next election cycle."
That is one big dirty lie. This BCE delayed even talking about it until after the election. They were scared out of their little minds to bring up unfathomable taxes.
Here's an idea I'd like to hear more about. It would shift our elected reps focus from US as Revenue Generators to supporting local businesses because the more the
locals sell the more the muni's would make. Eliminates the 'throw up' fee we pay 'above' (state/fed) and the embarrassment in watching our elected reps BEG GRANT for the money back. It's like eating the carrot while Poking US w/the Stick.
"We then implement a 100% Homestead Tax Exemption for every Floridian’s primary residence. This means that you pay ZERO property tax on your home. Property tax is currently the primary revenue source for counties to fund local government and schools.
Counties would then offset the loss in revenue from residential property tax cuts by adding to the portion of sales tax that they receive.
For example, let’s examine Miami-Dade County, where the total sales tax is 7%. Currently, the 6% portion goes to the state, and the remaining 1% portion goes to the county. Once the state sales tax was reduced to 4%, Miami-Dade could make up the shortfall by adding 2% collected by the county.
The end result is the total sales tax in Miami-Dade would remain at 7%. However, thanks to the state’s reduced revenue requirements, three times more sales tax collected would remain in the county where the purchase was made. The county portion of the sales tax would increase to 3%, instead of 1% as it is now.
Most counties would see a revenue increase under this model, or at least no net revenue loss.
All Florida homeowners would see a significant tax decrease, and see their mortgage payment drop an average of $125 per month. Floridians who do not own their homes would see no net tax increase at all, because sales taxes would not increase.
This plan will also stimulate the real estate market by making home purchases more affordable. People could more easily qualify for home purchases due to the elimination of taxes in the monthly payment calculation. Thus, my plan would turn more renters into homeowners, and put more money in the pockets of existing homeowners."
http://wyllieforgovernor.com/issues-2/property_taxes/
Personally I don't trust giving the city one million so you can forget about 60. They are not accountable for any of the crap they do or even the last bond.
Clearly we do need to upgrade our infrastructure, I don't know how anyone can think otherwise. Our roads, pipes, alley ways, etc. are a mess. And the problem has been around for years, I don't really think you can blame one commission over another for this problem as its been a long time coming.
So, the question is how do we solve it and how do we pay for it? We can't raise our mill rate any more than it already is at b/c its close to the top, that means some other way, a bond being one of them.
I do agree that code enforcement can help to clean up blight and improve our tax base, but it can't improve the situation so much that it will cover the costs of this project.
The business community will be hardest hit should this pass. Our property is not homesteaded and we face major increases in real estate taxes each year. Adding additional taxes to our bills could put some of us out of business and decrease property values. This is the last thing we want to see happen. I know we need to make improvements but borrowing this amount of money when we are dead broke makes no sense.
ASSESMENTS on EVERY PROPERTY....
Yeah, right. Let's tax granny who lives on $4,700 a year and her ss who is struggling to stay in her house who will pay the same as a 1 percenter. Sounds fair to me. Absolutely fair. Is that socialism?
Why should Granny or any property owner get a pass on paying for basic city services like roads, pipes, etc. Why is it fair to ask me to pay more and let Granny get a free ride?
We all agree that our city needs infrastructure help, who should pay for it? I think everyone should pay .
I am against giving this corrupt city one more penny until they explain every cent of the millions that have gone missing since 2005.
Little granny or any other person will not have a choice if the city decides to raise revenue for this through upping utility water rates. This is a tax even if they don't call it so. I can see it now--a shower will cost you $5.90 just to turn on your cost savings shower head. Water your grass? That will be a laugh.
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