Javier Baños
Baños is the Editor of Gables Insider
This morning, August 1, 2024, at 9:00 am, the commission will convene once again in an effort to reach a compromise on setting the millage rate. Below, you’ll find a set of slides from the Town Hall meeting held on July 30, 2024, organized by Commissioner Castro. These slides provide an overview of the operating unfunded requests from various departments, illustrating the overall needs of the city. Additionally, there is a hypothetical allocation of the proposed 2% millage reduction endorsed by Vice Mayor Anderson. This does not include capital improvements, which are funded through the surplus variance at the end of each budget year, if any.
Final budget hearings will take place in September, when these numbers will be finalized. Therefore, it’s important to approach these proposals with some skepticism, as no final decisions have been made yet. However, most of the budget is already in place, and the primary question is the impact of Anderson’s proposed reduction. The commission will have the authority to reallocate funds, which could differ from the current descriptions.
Many residents have raised the obvious question: if the budget has increased by over $10 million in revenue this year, why can’t the city continue to operate under the previous year’s budget and simply tighten its belt? The answer is straightforward: while the city could operate under the 2023-2024 budget, the demand for services funded by these additional dollars remains high, as shown below. We could theoretically operate under the budget from 1954, but we wouldn’t have anything near our current level of services. It’s a matter of choice, and we pay for the services we receive.
This morning’s meeting promises to be an interesting game of chicken. You can join the meeting here.
Fake event, orchestrated by a Commissioner that does NOT
own property so she has NOTHING at stake.
Unfortunately, some “bobos” go along with it because they
know both the Mayor & Vice-Mayor want a reduction, so they
want to side with the Three Musketeers!!
Tax reduction of 2% for most residents in gated communities
would be $1.000 & more. So, YES, reduce the tax millage
rate!
Lower the taxes!! The talk about “cuts” is inaccurate. There are no actual “cuts”. The real question is how much of a raise do we (the property owners who work hard for our money) should give the city to function as a government for only necessary government functions (not a party planner). The increase in property values results in potentially taxing the property owners an extra potential $10.2 million more than expected. If we stay the same, and don’t pay this extra money the $10.2 remains with the public and the city continues to work with its same existing budget. I think that’s fine and more work needs to be done to reduce the budget further. Under the 2% adjustment to the millage rate (which is now disproportionately too large), the property owners pay the city $7.6 million and the people save $2.6 million. Stop the talk about “cuts” and creating scare tactics. Comparing our millage rate to other municipalities’ rates is absurd. Because our tax base is much larger than most cities, I suspect the dollar amount we pay is greater. Reduce my taxes! Some senior citizens who have long term homestead don’t seem to care about people who are paying much higher taxes.
It is always a pleasure to read the profound comments from readers like Jose Menendez. I learn a lot from folks like him.
Anderson is doing a great job…