Tonight, the commission will be voting on the millage--the rate that you will pay in ad-valorem taxes.
They have proposed the following:
OPERATING: 5.4945
MSTU: 3.4581 mils
TOTAL: 8.9526
This is the same as last year although the Roll-Back millage is 5.0628. The city reports that we will be getting around $424,000 in additional tax money than we did last year.
So, when this commission tells you that they are NOT RAISING TAXES, and they will be telling you that, don't believe them. Every business fee imaginable is being raised by 5% and the city must have additional revenue to meet their growing expenses and account for the raises they just gave to their top departmental heads. You want to bring your family to the beach? Well, parking fees are going up too, unless this commission has the cojones to vote the suggestion down and stop nickle and diming the residents.
Raises to Department Heads? why has this not been published and has this all been negotiated with all 3 Unions or are you just talking about the Directors? I know the HR Director and CM got their raises although with the HR director she has forced both the Asst Dir and Levonda to resign so easy to give her a raise when she is eliminating everyone in her dept as well as the 15 other employees she has eliminated.
ReplyDeleteSadly the City has to raise fees since so many here in the City don't pay City taxes. In order to pay for services that money has to come from somewhere. I think raising parking rates at the beach makes great sense, since some or most of those parking fees will be paid by non-residents.
ReplyDeleteSadly, the city hasn't made a dent in the slum and blight that attracts more poor people as well as crime. Property values don't rise in 60% of the city. Until we take care of the root problem, many of us will always have low property values and you will be able to bitch until doomsday.
ReplyDeleteLive within your means without raising taxes. Stop the travel and the free lunch. :)
As the beach is considered a Regional destination, and so many users come from outside the city, I think it's good to increase beach parking fees. Let the tourists along with the outsiders pay for the privilege.
ReplyDeleteThe beach complex continues to bleed money, and it has to be made up somewhere. Still no tenant for upstairs… And we're still reeling from the decisions of the previous administration to negotiate bad ten-year deals at below our actual costs. That's our problem. It's like a long-suffering hangover!
Don't like it? Don't go! Why not walk or bike over! Bike racks are free to park at.
Your 2nd paragraph is totally false other than no tenant on the 2nd level. How come no one can do their job and find one????????????? Negotiating "bad deals?" Can you EVER stop your politics and post facts. CAM can be adjusted yearly. We're not losing money at the beach. What we are doing is pouring expenses into certain funds in order to make it look like we're losing money. :)
ReplyDeleteHow many different firms do you think we should get to rent out the top 5,000 square foot restaurant space? Who's idea bright idea was it to put it there in the first place? The same ones who were "saving" the historic structure?
ReplyDeleteThe CAM was set way too low and they were told that by industry professionals in the beginning. They had the opportunity to rent out the top AND bottom to one proposer and passed. That little fopaux has cost us dearly. How often do YOU go to Mulligans? I've been all of three times and found mediocre food at prices that keep me on this side of the bridge. Benny's is probably the better choice.
Amazingly, the 60% of properties you say didn't go up in taxable value aren't in the NSP district. That area went up over 22%. It helped Lake Worth's total taxable value increase and not stagnate like the Citizens Against Virtually Everything who wish to keep Lake Worth poor. You know.... the gentrification thing.
Right now, we are so understaffed that the things that add to our quality of life cannot be addressed adequitely.
Top managers getting raises? Not on board with that either.
why not have folks from outside the City pick up more of the tab at the beach. this makes good sense to me. First, let's have users paying more for the beach rather than city tax payers, those that use it pay, how is that unfair? Second, the beach is very popular, increasing parking fees will help to turn parking over when its busy which will help the businesses that are there.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why anyone would be against this proposal.
You know, it is so exhausting answering this same old stuff from the same old person who is good at twisting facts. Properties might have gone up in LW but not enough to make a difference in ad-valorem contribution.
ReplyDeleteThe CAM was NOT set too low but it was set on a professional and educated best practices decision by experts in finance. It has been looked at and adjusted every year.
They did not rent out to Johnny Longboats because that one store would have had control over 50% of our casino building. If they had failed, the entire project would have collapsed. It was a fiscally and financially sound decision.
The "historic structure" as you call it was not necessarily about saving it but being allowed to build on the same footprint. If it were built down by A1A as suggested, it would have been a failure.
No one wants to keep Lake Worth poor. If you come over here one more time with one more outrageous lie, it will not be posted. That is a promise. Keep the BS on that other blog where it belongs.
Thanks.
It's the same a as last year. Hope they pass it!
ReplyDeleteAs a reminder, we are getting $424,000 in extra ad-valorem. Overall, it was reported by Bornstein that this is a 9.4% increase.
ReplyDelete@1:40. I'm for it as well. It is still, however, raising taxes as the value of your home probably went up the average of 9.4%.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of people that go to our beach are from outside the city. I see no problem raising the parking fee. I would like to see the city do what Disney is getting ready to do and use demand use parking fees there. Charge more when the demand is greater, weekends/holidays. We should also have premium pricing for the parking up top. $5 per hour. Resident decals wouldn’t be affected by that pricing schedule. Restaurant and shop owners could offer incentives to patrons who shop and dine while they visit our beach to offset the increased parking fee if they’ like.
ReplyDeleteDemand parking fees would be great, but I think it would be difficult to manage as you wouldn't know the parking rate until you parked and went to the pay stations. I think if you did demand parking you would need to post the fees at the entry.
ReplyDeleteIf we can't do demand parking fees, then increase fees the longer one stays (again to encourage turn over which frees up spots when its busy and helps businesses). Charge standard rate for first two hours, anything longer, rates go up. Also, why not charge parking fees for handicap spots (Lantana Beach does). And I like the idea of charging more for upper parking.
City needs to get more creative on parking fees.
You may not like hearing it but it is not a lie. The definition of gentrification is improving surrounding properties that in turn raise property values around them driving up rents and making it less affordable for poor people.
ReplyDeleteWhat in the above statement is a lie?
So all your new found friends who are so adamantly against gentrification are by definition the ones who want to keep Lake Worth POOR! Open borders. Anti-development. But if you don't agree with a point of view, just shut it down. Refuse to post it. Good for you.
It is like liberals saying they are not racists. They are more racist than conservatives. Look how upset they became when called out on it recently. The democrat party is the party of Wallace and the KKK. The republican party is the party of Lincoln. You might remember him as the one who freed the slaves. Martin Luther King Jr. didn't want anything to do with the democrat party.
The parties didn't magically change polarity. The democrats became the party of "give me free shit" and suddenly, the party of self reliance and rugged individualism doesn't seem so enticing to the EBT crowd.
So all your new found friends who are so adamantly against gentrification are by definition the ones who want to keep Lake Worth POOR! Open borders. Anti-development. But if you don't agree with a point of view, just shut it down. Refuse to post it. Good for you.
ReplyDeleteAre you for F-ing real? Just who are you talking to?
It's hilarious you wouldn't post my last comment responding to yours above. Another case of following all your rules but simply having a different point of view gets you shut down. At least on Wes' blog, even the over the top critical comments of him are posted. He can take it; you cannot.
ReplyDeleteSo when I explain how the "outrageous lies" of how some gentrification actually helps the city and those against it strive to keep Lake Worth poor, it s too much for you to take since it doesn't work into your drivel about anti development.
Just remember this each and every time you go off on how the city should do something about all the blight and slum. You are actually promoting its continuation.
You are worse that MSNBC. Only allow comments that agree with your small backwards ideas.
1:23--Don't know about your last comment...were you hurling personal attacks at me like you did in this one? If you are here to attack and be insulting, then you will get deleted. If you want to make your point, great. Different points of view are fine.
ReplyDelete