By Mary Hladky
Still smarting over its financial obligations to the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District once again is seeking to control how much it must pay.
District commissioners unanimously voted on Jan. 3 to notify the city that they will hold a Feb. 21 public hearing when they are expected to vote on a resolution to cap payments so they do not exceed the $2.3 million owed this fiscal year.
“We are not trying to get out of the obligation. We are trying to cap it,” said Commissioner Robert Rollins Jr.
The CRA was created in 1980 to breathe new life into the then-moribund downtown. Its first major project was the development of Mizner Park.
A 1986 interlocal agreement between the district and city obligated the district to make payments for acquiring, operating and maintaining park and recreational facilities in the downtown.
It was amended in 1989 to allow the CRA to use the district payments to pay off $68 million in bonds that financed the Mizner Park project.
District officials last raised the payment issue in 2020 when they sought to stop making them altogether, saying the money would be better spent on improving the many parks it operates.
They contended that since the Mizner Park bonds were paid off in 2019, they should no longer be obligated to make the payments.
The City Council swatted down that request. “Obligations are obligations,” Mayor Scott Singer said at the time.
The district has revived the issue now as its annual payment has jumped from $1.4 million to $2.3 million and could increase further.
“Our contribution has gone up significantly,” Commissioner Craig Ehrnst said. “For us, it is a significant fee.”
In addition, in 2020 the CRA was expected to cease to exist in 2025. But over the last two years, City Council members have discussed possibly extending the CRA’s life, which would mean that the district’s obligation would live on.
District officials now acknowledge that they can’t simply stop paying the CRA, but say they are allowed under state law to cap future payments.
Assistant City Manager Chrissy Gibson said city officials will be better able to comment on the district’s request once they hear what is said and decided at the Feb. 21 public hearing.
But she noted that the city’s position remains that the state statute cited by the district applies only to CRAs created after 2006.
The district’s public hearing will be held in conjunction with its regular board meeting in its office at the Swim and Racquet Center, 21618 St. Andrews Blvd., at 5:15 p.m.
In other business, district commissioners reelected Erin Wright as chair, Rollins as vice chair and Ehrnst as secretary-treasurer for calendar year 2023.
And Briann Helms, the district’s executive director, said she will ask commissioners on Feb. 6 to approve a “soft opening” of Ocean Strand Park on State Road A1A with a ribbon-cutting to follow once signs are installed. The district is waiting for city approval to install the signs, she said.
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