- November 28, 2024
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Should the city keep its tax rate low, or should the rate go up to increase funding to help the city maintain its properties? The Ormond Beach City Commission is leaning toward the latter option.
On Tuesday, July 18, the commission voted 4-1 to set the tentative millage rate at 4.0060 mills for fiscal year 2023-2024, or about $4 for every $1,000 of taxable property value.
While the tentative millage is 4.16% above the current fiscal year’s tax rate, the commission opted for the rate increase to be able to add $300,00 dollars to the city’s Facilities Renewal and Replacement fund, which is used to maintain city-owned facilities, and to add $500,000 to be dedicated to Leisure Services capital projects.
Mayor Bill Partington voted against the tentative millage rate, saying the proposed tax rate — which is 13.71% above rollback, the rate needed to generate the same amount of tax revenue as the previous year — was too big of a burden for the city’s financially-constrained citizens, particularly when he wasn’t sure what Leisure Services projects would utilize the funding.
“Everybody has tons of additional things that they want to do,” Partington said. “And that’s our hard job — is to prioritize and balance that against available resources, keeping in mind the senior citizen that is single and living by herself on a fixed income and has to pay for her medicines.”
Partington favored adopting the tentative tax rate proposed by city staff of 3.8410 mills, which while 8.94% above rollback, was 0.13% less than the current fiscal year’s millage rate.
The proposed rate increase, to cost the average taxpayer $62.04 more next year, was recommended by the city’s Budget Advisory Board, whose members felt it was time the city began financially addressing maintenance issues that have fallen to the wayside over the years. The Facilities Renewal and Replacement Fund is allocated about $500,000 of tax dollars every fiscal year, and it's used in full. In fiscal year 2021-2022, the city went over $220,000 over budget.
Budget Advisory Board Chair John Olivari said there was “no honor” in keeping the city’s tax rate as the second lowest in Volusia County. The city of DeBary has the lowest tax rate.
“We’re behind the eight ball, and the longer we wait on any of these additions, it’s going to be that much harder to get us out of the hole,” Olivari said.
Commissioners Lori Tolland, Travis Sargent and Harold Briley were in agreement with the board’s recommendation, all mentioning the needed maintenance at the baseball fields at Nova Community Center. Commissioner Susan Persis was supportive too, but expressed a desire to explore a lower rate before the budget is adopted in September once a list of projects has been brought before the board.
“I don’t want to kick the can down the street, because we need to do something — clearly,” Persis said.
Tolland referenced the city’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan that was recently updated, citing that 69.5% of surveyed residents said they would be willing to pay $12-$60 a year to fund Leisure Services programs.
“I think it’s absolutely the right time to move the needle and be proactive,” she said.
Sargent said he felt the city’s budget of $118.6 million (calculated before the higher tax rate) this year was about catching up with needs.
“We have almost a million dollars for upgrading equipment, the website,” he said. “That’s almost a million that we’re budgeting for items that are 30 years old.”
Yes, it’s a tax rate increase, Briley said.
“But it’s also an investment in our facilities to keep them to the standard our residents have come to expect,” he said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 6:44 p.m. to reflect that 69.5% of surveyed residents in the city’s Parks and Recreation Master Plan Update said they would be willing to pay $12-$60 more in taxes to fund Leisure Services program. A previous version of this story reported it was $12-$16.
The Ormond Beach City Commission unanimously approved a 24-unit condominium development for 121 E. Granada Blvd. at its meeting on Tuesday, July 18.
The 121 East development will be composed of one- to three-bedroom units in a five story building, with parking underneath on the ground floor, at the 0.76-acre beachside parcel. The commission approved both a rezoning for the property from “B-4 Central Business” to a Planned Business Development as well as a development order.
Commissioner Harold Briley, who mentioned he was part of the Downtown Revitalization Taskforce in 1993-1994, said this was the exact type of development sought for the district.
“Actually when I saw this, I got kind of excited about it,” Briley said.
The commission agreed.
“I think this is an epic project for Ormond Beach,” Commissioner Susan Persis said. “It’s exciting to have this new kind of housing for our residents to possibly buy.”
The development is consistent with the city’s Downtown Master Plan, she added.
The City Commission also unanimously approved two rezoning amendments and a development order for the Ormond Enclave development, to become new multifamily apartments between Dix Avenue and Highland Avenue.
The development, formerly known as “The Courtyards at Ormond Beach,” will be located at a 6.34-acre property at 145 N. Yonge St., next to the existing Dollar General. The apartments will have 64 units.
This approval comes four years after the commission approved three comprehensive plan amendments for the property for the construction of 48 units and a 10,889-square-foot commercial building. After feedback from neighbors, the developer — CST Holdings, LLC — decided to eliminate the commercial portion of the development and build 16 more units instead.
Mayor Bill Partington thanked the developer for listening to residents to bring back a better project that will benefit the nearby downtown district.
“We already have a walkable downtown with a lot more people that we’ve ever had, and this is just going to add to that,” he said.
