- October 27, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
Several weeks ago, the Palm Coast City Council was unable to accomplish a routine task of city governance: setting the maximum tentative property tax rate that will be listed on TRIM notices sent out to property owners.
The maximum tentative rate is not the final rate: It's a cap, set before council members hold the series of budget meetings in which they'll work out the details of which city expenses could potentially be trimmed from the coming year's budget. Councils tend to be conservative with the tentative rate, knowing that they can come down for the final rate, but, if they make the error of setting the tentative rate too low, can't come back up.
When the council tried to set the rate at a meeting on July 20, it deadlocked: councilmen Nick Klufas and Eddie Branquinho wanted to set the tentative rate at the current rate — which would bring in more revenue this coming year because of rising property values — while councilmen Ed Danko and Victor Barbosa proposed setting it lower.
Two attempts at a vote failed with 2-2 ties, and the council resigned itself to waiting until its next mayor would be sworn in to revisit the topic. That happened Aug. 3, the night before the state-established deadline for local governments to set their maximum millage rate.
But although the council again had only four members at the dais — Barbosa, hospitalized with COVID-19, missed the meeting — the council this time converged around the current rate of $4.6989 per $1,000 of taxable value.
Alfin explained his reasoning for sticking with the current rate at this point, saying that he's still digging into the line items of the budget and would want to spend more time with it before committing to a rate that would require cutting costs.
"I’m praying that each of the City Council members will do their very best to reduce the tax burden on any of our residents and taxpayers," he said. "What that means is a commitment from each of us to look at each line item ... and make sure that we not only understand it, but that it makes sense for each of us."
Branquinho, a former police detective, compared the higher tentative rate to police officers' attitude toward their firearms. "We had a saying in the police department, which is: I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it," Branquinho said.
Danko reiterated that he'd like to find places to trim back the budget and cut taxes. But he agreed to vote with his colleagues to set the tentative rate at the current rate.
"I'm encouraged by our new mayor, that he's going to dive deep into this budget and look for items that he can possibly cut," Danko said. "I'm on the same page with you on that. ... I would like to see us roll back the millage rate and give the taxpayers a break — I've made no secret of that — and I hope we can find the cuts we need to do something like that."
He clarified that the rate under consideration was only a cap, not a final rate. When Branquinho motioned to set the cap at the current rate of $4.6989 per $1,000 of taxable value, Danko voted in favor.
