News

By Dan Moffett

    South Palm Beach struggled more than its coastal neighbors to recover from the damage of the real estate crash during the Great Recession. For five years after the 2008 downturn, the town showed virtually no recovery at all.
    But property values finally have started to show signs of life — with a 5.4 percent increase in 2015 and this year a 7.9 percent rise that matches the average improvement throughout Palm Beach County.
    Total property values in South Palm Beach have climbed to $301 million, up from $279 million last year. For the eighth year in a row, the Town Council has set the tax rate at $4.32 per $1,000 of assessed value.
    After nearly a decade of belt-tightening, the town has some budgetary breathing room, with $1.6 million in the reserve fund and another $1.5 million set aside for the long-awaited beach restoration project.
    “You almost have 11 months of operation in the reserves,” said Town Manager Bob Vitas. “Property value is slowly growing as it did before the insanity started.”
    “We’re in good shape,” said Councilman Robert Gottlieb.
    And the town figures to be in even better shape soon.
    Developer Gary Cohen has dropped his request for a referendum on height limits for his condominium project on the old Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn site. Cohen is moving forward with construction of a 30-unit building that will be marketed to high-end buyers.
    Town officials believe that, once completed, the project has the potential to add between $50 million and $100 million to the tax rolls. Depending on how sales go, the property could increase the town’s valuation by perhaps as much as 30 percent. In the interim, the town will collect a steady stream of building permit fees from the project, which is expected to pick up steam by year’s end.

Sand shifted north, for now
    Cohen raised some eyebrows among South Palm Beach residents in July with the disclosure he had donated to the town of Palm Beach 6,300 cubic yards of sand excavated from the site to help replenish a 1,300-foot strip of beach between Via Marina and Hammon Avenue.
    Some South Palm residents wondered why Cohen’s Paragon Acquisition Group couldn’t have given them the sand to help repair their beaches.
    “They wanted to give it to us,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said, “but they just couldn’t do it.”
    Fischer said that state environmental agencies restrict sand donations to shores that have dry beaches and gradual slopes that allow sea turtles to enter the water. South Palm Beach doesn’t have that, and the town also couldn’t provide access for delivery.
    “Eventually, we’ll be getting that sand anyway,” Fischer said with a smile, predicting that ocean currents gradually will move Cohen’s sand south from Palm Beach back near to where it was.

New manager praised
    Council members are giving Vitas high marks for working overtime to provide line-item detail in this year’s budget, a departure from previous practice. The new manager, who came to the town in November, said officials now can see exactly where each dollar of spending goes.
    “Breaking out the costs gives more transparency,” Vitas said. “When it comes to budgets, you have to do it right, or just don’t do it. It’s that simple. It takes away a lot of the debates and fuels happiness instead of fights.”
    Fischer called Vitas’ budget approach “phenomenal.”