News

By Dan Moffett

    Gulf Stream town commissioners have just begun thinking about a budget for the next fiscal year, but already they are close to a consensus that they can’t afford to give taxpayers a rate rollback.
    The decision to hold the line doesn’t mean that homeowners’ tax bills will hold steady, too. They are poised to go up because of a sizable jump in real estate values.
    According to Town Manager William Thrasher, preliminary numbers from the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office show that property values in Gulf Stream have soared 12.25 percent in the last year. Compare this with a 5.38 percent increase in 2013 and modest 1.13 percent rise in 2012. Thrasher said most of this year’s increase is attributable to the 16.6-acre county pocket the town annexed in 2011 that is just now coming onto the tax rolls.
    Legal fees to defend numerous lawsuits have depleted the town’s reserves, and there’s also a $400,000 bill for new street lighting. The budget is stretched too thin to even think about a rollback, commissioners said during a May 9 special meeting on fiscal issues.
    “I definitely don’t think at this time you can lower the millage rate,” said Commissioner Thomas Stanley, a strong supporter of keeping the town’s rate at $3.70 per $1,000 of taxable property value.
    “I believe, at the very least, we should try to maintain the millage where it is,” said Commissioner Robert Ganger. “I think everyone has realized that we have some housekeeping to do and that’s going to cost some money.”
    The town has had to hire outside counsel to defend itself against the lawsuits of residents Martin O’Boyle and Christopher O’Hare and is expecting a legal bill of at least $300,000 this year.
    But Mayor Scott Morgan said the town also has to be concerned about the budget’s “unknowns … just looming.”
    There is the uncertain future of the fire and emergency medical services the town gets from Delray Beach. Political leaders in Delray have explored eliminating the city’s fire-rescue services and getting them from the county instead, a move that could put Gulf Stream in a serious bind.
    But the prevailing wisdom on the commission is that Delray won’t be dropping its services any time soon — but the city certainly could raise the rate it charges the town.
    Thrasher puts it this way: “We have more unknowns of material sizes than we have ever faced.”
    Morgan says he still intends to appoint an ad hoc finance committee later this year to get residents more involved in setting the town’s fiscal course.
    Ganger admits getting an uncomfortable feeling when he sees that the budget reserve fund has fallen to a little more than $700,000. Six years ago, it was three times that.
    “This community has, for an eternity, tried to be as judicious with its taxpayers’ property tax funds as it could possibly be,” Ganger said. “We’ve tried to run a very efficient, fiscally responsible organization. It is a remarkable time in our history where it isn’t a natural cause — it isn’t a hurricane — but it’s an internal matter that’s affecting our ability to plan and budget.”