When is a tax increase not a tax increase?
A lot of ground was covered in Thursday’s (9/6) City Council meeting. We’ll start with the Fiscal Year 2018/2019 Budget Hearing – the first hearing of two, the second of which is scheduled for 9/20/18 at 7pm. There was no public comment and the proposed budget and tax rate passed 5:0. As usual, Finance Administrator Allan Owens presented a thorough, easy to understand presentation of the proposed budget. His presentation can be seen... [Read More...]
Police Life-Saving Action and 12% Salary Increase Bookends Council Meeting
The August 2nd Council Meeting began with an update by Sherri Pla (the City’s Head PGA Professional) on the Junior Ryder Cup Challenge Trip to Scotland. Also covered during Announcements and Presentations were the Florida Law Enforcement Traffic Safety Award (where the Gardens won first place in the category for departments with 101-200 officers) and American Heart Association’s Mission Life Gold Plus Award to Fire/Rescue for the 4th year... [Read More...]
Palm Beach Gardens Looking to the Future, and in the News
Optimally timed to coincide with his annual evaluation, City Manager Ferris had a comprehensive City Manager Report including an update on a subset of the $54.5 million in Capital Improvement Projects (covering key projects in the City’s budget as well as those funded by the Sales Tax Surtax), a set of news clips from WPTV (click here to watch them) covering a variety of subjects – baseball tournaments, electric cars for Fire/Rescue, free... [Read More...]
Council Agonizes Over Gun Control for Almost 2 Hours
If one adds the time also spent on the topic at the May City Council Meeting, our Council has devoted almost 2.5 hours to Resolution 26, 2018 – a resolution that states their personal positions but has no legislative effect. All on the Council participated, with much of the discussion centering around proposed resolutions by Council Members Litt, Marciano and Mayor Marino. Much less passion and in-depth discussion has been devoted to policy... [Read More...]
Mayor Urges Professional vs Emotional Approach to “Gun Control” Resolution
Much of the May 3, 2018 City Council Meeting was not controversial or included much discussion. State Senator Bobby Powell, as he did last year, gave a very thorough and engaging power-point presentation summarizing the last legislative session. Marcum LLP presented the Fiscal Year 2017 audit report with glowing results. City Manager Ferris presented an award to Deputy City Manager Stephen Stepp (in his former capacity of Police Chief), Laura Schuppert... [Read More...]
First Reading Completed on Three Charter Questions
The Council had a relatively brief and lightly attended Special Meeting on Thursday April 19 to review the proposed language for the August 28th ballot. City Clerk Snider read all of the required ordinance language for Ordinances 7-9, displayed the ballot language and then the Council proceeded to discuss the 3 questions individually. April 19th Ordinance 7, 2018 passed 4:1 with Council Member Lane objecting. He restated his position that 2... [Read More...]
The Face of the City
Council members demonstrated different sensitivities at the beginning of April’s City Council meeting. Mayor Marino wanted to alter the agenda to bring forward Presentations. Council Member Lane requested that the Reorganization be brought forward since he had to leave in observation of Passover. Council Member Marciano was in support of Lane’s request. Council Member Woods was quick to reply that he felt the Presentations should... [Read More...]
Imperious City Staff Publicly Bullies Two Gardens’ Residents
I’ve attended most City Council meetings in the last 7 or 8 years and watched any that I missed. Thursday night’s unseemly spectacle had staff showing what an avenging government can do to the ‘little people’- squash them like bugs. At the same time, staff displayed fear of those same residents. While tempted to walk out, I felt compelled to sit through the entire dog and pony show as Paula Magnuson and Kevin Easton were humiliated. In... [Read More...]