24% Tax Increase for Ft. Lauderdale!
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Fort Lauderdale City Commission votes to boost taxes, fees
By Brittany Wallman
Staff Writer
Posted September 14 2004
FORT LAUDERDALE · Property owners have seen their city services dwindle in the past year, but the price they pay is about to leap.
City commissioners supported a 24 percent tax increase Monday night, saying it would contribute toward the stability the teetering city desperately needs.
Commissioners didn't stop at supporting higher property taxes. After final commission votes are cast, residents likely will find they are paying more for a host of general services, including water-sewer affecting customers in six other cities, stormwater, fire assessment and responses to home alarms that go off unnecessarily.
Commissioners voted 3-2 on the increased tax rate, with Mayor Jim Naugle and Commissioner Christine Teel dissenting and asking for more cuts. A final vote is required next Tuesday.
The taxes would amount to $5.77 for every $1,000 of taxable value. That's 11 percent higher than last year's tax rate, and when increased values are factored in, it's 24.22 percent higher than last year.
New City Manager George Gretsas called it a "building year," as he offered a compromise to the originally proposed 33 percent tax increase and $426.7 million budget.
The budget would provide money to hire 13 police officers and fill officer vacancies, though that still would leave the department far short of its staffing level last year. Gretsas' budget also extends the time the city takes to shore up some of its problems.
"It's more about evolution vs. revolution," Gretsas said.
He told commissioners and the public that he's taking the city on a new path, toward a more efficient government that one day will meet the public's needs and desires. For now, he conceded, no one is going to be completely happy.
Commissioners said they didn't want to raise taxes -- it's never a popular proposition for elected officials -- but they thought the city's bare reserves, heavily reduced police force, downgraded bond rating and continued multimillion-dollar problems demanded it.
The changes in individual tax bills will vary depending on how much the assessed value of the property went up, whether it was recently purchased, and whether it's a person's homestead and thus limited this year to a 1.9 percent increase in taxable value.
Those who stand to be hurt the most are owners of rental, investment, commercial or other non-homesteaded properties.
Owners told commissioners Monday that they had poured their money and lives into city property, but with the soaring assessments and double-digit tax rate increases, their hopes were sinking.
Lake Ridge resident Martin Nebojsic told commissioners his tax bill in the multi-unit investment property he owns was $1,949 last year, but this year would have leapt to $4,050 under the originally proposed tax increase.
He didn't expect to receive twice the service next year, he said. He suggested deep budget cuts were necessary.
"I'm a CPA. I make a pretty decent living. I can afford that," Nebojsic said, "but I can tell you a lot of my clients are going to have to go into their line of credit to pay that."
Alan Stotsky said the apartment owners' group he represents hated to see the proposed increase because the working class can't afford the rents that will come, and living in Fort Lauderdale will no longer be an option.
Rental property "is where waiters, waitresses, hostesses, the people who serve us in our homes, live. These increases, the ones I know about, will probably increase the rental rate $40, $45 a month," he said. " ... Please reduce the spending and do not increase the taxes."
County Commissioner John Rodstrom said he was speaking as a private citizen, something he had never done before at a city budget hearing. That changed, he said, when he saw his tentative tax bill and found that his $12,429 tax bill on Nurmi Drive in Fort Lauderdale would be going up 25 percent |
