By Steve Plunkett
Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District commissioners set a tentative property tax rate that is 15% higher than the rollback rate, but assured taxpayers they will trim the rate in September to an 11.8% increase.
The current rate is $1.05 per $1,000 of taxable value; the rollback figure is 94 cents per $1,000. Commissioners approved a tentative rate of $1.08 per $1,000 of taxable value partly because Commissioner Bob Rollins was absent and missed the July 18 discussion.
“I will vote for the higher, tentative millage rate, but when push comes to shove in September, barring unforeseen catastrophe, I will vote for us keeping the millage rate at $1.05,” Commissioner Steve Engel said.
The rollback rate is the tax rate the district would charge to collect the same amount of property taxes as this year, except for any additional taxes generated from new construction.
Briann Harms, the district’s executive director, said the existing $1.05 rate, or 11.8% increase, would be enough.
“By keeping the same rate, we will be able to maintain our facilities, to continue to keep them up to the standards that they’re at, while also making the improvements that are necessary and improvements that we’ve planned on,” Harms said.
Commissioner Susan Vogelgesang said she expects more people at the parks in the coming year.
“With the current environment, economic environment that we have, I think we’re going to see a lot more families utilizing our parks because they’re not going to be able to do things that are really so cost-effective,” she said.
District Chair Erin Wright assured homeowners that she was happy with the $1.05 rate.
“I’m just afraid of, you know, the public thinking that we are going to raise rates. I have no interest in raising the rate,” Wright said.
The rollback 94-cent rate would give the district $644,500 more in tax revenue than it collected this year. The $1.05 rate would yield $4.5 million more; the $1.08 rate would provide $5.6 million extra.
In other business, Harms said the carousel at Sugar Sand Park, closed for repairs since mid-December, was to reopen by the end of July.
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