News

Correction

      An April story about the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency’s goal-setting session gave the wrong attribution about the reasons behind a proposed tax rate reduction. The CRA executive director told his board members that the city wants the CRA to cover an additional $2 million in projects and services so that the city could reduce its overall property tax rate. 

By Jane Smith

    The city of Delray Beach is working with its Community Redevelopment Agency to make sure the agency’s spending aligns with city goals.
    An example of that new relationship was seen March 10 when the Delray Beach city manager and his two assistants attended the CRA goal-setting workshop for the first time.
    The city has dropped its efforts to reduce the size of the CRA or the amount of property tax money the agency receives. The city is concerned that reducing its share would lead to the county asking for a similar reduction, said Don Cooper, city manager. “I’ll take every dime,” he said.
    Instead, the city wants the CRA to cover an additional $2 million in projects and services so that the city could reduce its property tax rate by 3.42 percent, according to the city’s chief financial officer.
    The Delray Beach property tax rate is slightly more than double the rate paid by Boca Raton property owners, but it’s about 12 percent lower than the tax rate in Boynton Beach.
    The proposed reduction would result in the owner of a Delray Beach home, valued at $200,000 for tax purposes and with a $50,000 homestead exemption, to save about $38 a year on property taxes, CFO Jack Warner calculated.
    The extra items include two more police officers for the CRA’s Clean & Safe program in the downtown area, an additional code enforcement officer for the northwest and southwest neighborhoods, increased contribution to the tennis center tournaments and covering the cost of a tennis stadium study.
    CRA Chairman Reggie Cox asked his executive director to give the board options about what to pay for so that the agency sticks to its mission of curing blight.
    “The tennis center dollars could be used elsewhere,” Cox said.
    The City Commission and CRA board have a joint workshop planned for April 12.   
    “It’s not gloom and doom,” Cooper said. “It’s just a difficult time.”
    For Delray Beach, most of the property value increase happens in the CRA area, which covers 20 percent of the city.
    CRA board member Paul Zacks said, “I look forward to the workshop if it’s cooperative, but cooperation does not mean capitulation. I am for working with the city to work out solutions.”
    The subject of the downtown trolley also was discussed. Cox and board member Bill Branning were concerned about the CRA’s return on investment for the $400,000 annual operating cost. Both said ridership was too low to justify the amount.
    Board members asked whether the CRA can expand its office because it now has more staff and interns and an increased workload.
    Cooper suggested that they try asking the city library about its unused upstairs space since the children’s area moved.
    “It’s a balancing act with limited resources,” he said. “No one ever comes to me and asks for less.”
    The CRA received good news March 15 when the City Commission approved waivers and the site plan for the proposed iPic theater complex on CRA-owned land. The theater company needed those approvals to purchase the 1.59-acre site for $3.6 million. The sale will not close until October, which means the CRA will have to wait until the start of its next budget year to be paid.
    “We should be excited about where we are,” said resident Chuck Ridley, also vice chairman of the West Atlantic Redevelopment Coalition.
    For the past year, the CRA board members grew concerned that the agency’s area might be reduced or the amount of property tax money it receives would be cut. The money talk came up at nearly every CRA meeting since last April, when a joint workshop was held with the City Commission.
    “We should not be at this time in our evolution worried about reducing millage and whether we should have a CRA … If I would close my eyes, it reminded me of the Republican (presidential) debates,” Ridley said.