Flagler Beach eyes 33% tax increase — at least for now
Every year, the final rate is lower than the proposed rate
FLAGLER BEACH – In a move one of its members called “a little extreme,” the City Commission has purposely set the proposed 2019-20 tax rate high with the idea than it can be reduced later during the budget cycle.
The proposed rate of $6.50 per $1,000 of taxable value would represent a 33% increase, though that's unlikely to happen. The commission initially proposed the same rate last year before reducing it to $5.39 in the final budget. The vote Thursday was 4-1 with Commissioner Rick Belhumeur dissenting.
“I just think when people get that first notice in the mail, they’re going to go berserk,” Belhumeur said.
The commission hasn’t seen the actual budget figures yet but had to approve a proposed rate so that it can send out notices to residents. Every year, the city sets its rate high because it’s easier and more cost-effective to reduce it during the budgetary process than to increase it.
“We have to let the general public know what could be the worst-case scenario,” said Commissioner Kim Carney, who referred to the rate as “a starting point.”
Belhumeur also balked last year when the commission initially approved the $6.50 rate. But Thursday, Finance Director Kathleen Doyle reminded him that the city hadn’t received any significant backlash from residents then.
Asked by Commissioner Eric Cooley whether the proposed rate could be set lower, City Manager Larry Newsom said he and Doyle had looked at the potential expenditures for the coming year and felt that $6.50 was an appropriate proposed rate. Should the commission choose a lower rate after studying the budget, Newsom said he would make adjustments.
“We figure out a different strategy because we know where the board stands on what we’re proposing outside the millage rate,” he said.
Doyle predicted about a 5% increase in expenditures next year.
“I’ve worked in the city a long time, and I can say during a lot of those years we neglected a lot of things that needed to be taken care of, and this is the price of that neglect,” she said. “Things need to be taken care of, and that takes money.”
If the proposed rate were to go unchanged, it would mark a 20.6 percent increase over this year’s rate. It would be $1.61 higher — a 33% increase — than the rolled-back rate of $4.89. The rolled-back rate would produce the same revenue as the current rate, using new assessments of the same properties.
For the owner of a $250,000 home with a $50,000 homestead exemption, the proposed rate would mean a tax bill of $1,300. Under the current rate, the same homeowner would face a tax bill of $1,078.
The commission set budget workshops for 9 a.m. Aug. 13 and 17. It will vote on the tentative budget Sept. 12 and the final budget Sept. 26. Those hearings begin at 5:01 p.m.