First 2014-2015 Budget Hearing (and City Council Mtg) on Wed. 9/3!

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The next City Council Meeting will be this Wednesday, September 3rd at 7pm at City Hall.  There’s a lot on the agenda.  Note that this meeting falls on Wednesday so as to not conflict with required Budget hearings from other governmental entities.  Note also that this is the first of two required 2014-2015 Budget hearings for the City.  The second meeting will fall on Thursday, September 18th at 7pm.

Please at a minimum, review the Budget overview letter . If you are a property owner, you should have already received your TRIM notice.  Note that our Council will be telling us that they are responsibly holding Operating Millage (tax rate) flat at 5.7404 mills. Due to the increase in property valuations, however – this means that with a flat tax rate the City would be increasing property tax revenues by 6.14%.  Most of the other governmental entities in your trim notice also propose similar actions taking advantage of the property evaluation ‘windfall’.  This is a return to attitudes and approaches taken during the boom.  It is up to you as active residents to evaluate whether some or all of that ‘windfall’ should be returned to you, the taxpayer, or is properly being used for infrastructure repairs, improvements,  and salary increases.

The Budget will presented early in the meeting under Presentations and will be the first item that is part of the Public Hearings as Ordinance 15, 2014 at which time public comment will be allowed.

The City Manager Report, also early in the Agenda includes 3 items of particular interest:

• Update on FEMA Maps.  The new maps impact property/flood insurance rates and there will be a series of public hearings prior to adoption.  This link shows the dates and times for the Open Houses throughout the County in early September.
• Contract Extension for City Manager through June 2018 (currently ending in 2016) – you might recall that in July, Council Member Jablin “proposed an extension of the City Manager’s Contract for an additional 2 years to June,  2018 – primarily because if term limits are imposed, “the council will be wiped out“.  (It’s important for you to watch the discussion here! )  The motion was withdrawn until the contract could be reviewed, and placed on the agenda for transparency and public vote.  Retirement intentions and a succession plan need to be discussed as well.  It will be on the agenda in the first budget meeting in September.”  It’s up to you as active residents to also determine whether this is a valid action or not.
• Also postponed from the August meeting is City Attorney Retention: Max Lohman has left the employ of Corbett, White and Davis and has formed Lohman Law Group.  The City Manager proposes that Mr. Lohman be retained rather than taking the services of another attorney from his former employer.

Public Hearings include several Resolutions, among them:

• Resolution 53, 2014 and Resolution 54, 2015 making upland preserve modifications and approving a site plan for a ‘341-MULTI-FAMILY DWELLING UNIT DEVELOPMENT, WHICH SITE IS APPROXIMATELY 33.93 ACRES WITHIN THE 50.58-ACRE PARCEL 31.04 PLANNED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (PCD), AND IS LOCATED SOUTH OF VICTORIA FALLS BOULEVARD AND EAST OF CENTRAL BOULEVARD AND INTERSTATE 95
• Other resolutions affecting signage in Gardens Towne Square, a time extension for a modular temporary building at PGA National Core Golf Course, and a request by Cotleur and Hearing, Inc., on behalf of Palm Beach Community Church, to approve an expansion of an existing Major Conditional Use for Discoveryland Preschool, a day care within Midtown Planned Unit Development (PUD). The site is located on the north side of PGA Boulevard, approximately 0.25 miles west of North Military Trail. The 2,600-square-foot expansion, located within the existing building, will provide a total area of 6,157 -square-feet of day care use. The Applicant is also seeking to increase the maximum number of students permitted from 85 to 152.
• Updated schedules and fees for fiscal year 2014/2015 is the final item on the Agenda.

The complete Agenda can be viewed here.  The proposed 2014-2015 Budget can be viewed here.

We get the government we deserve – and it’s up to us to watch what they do. Hope you can make it.  If you can’t make the meeting try and watch live-streaming or on-demand.