News

By Rich Pollack

For at least two decades, Highland Beach town leaders have raised concerns about being handcuffed by a spending cap that requires voter approval for any project over $350,000.
First imposed in 1991, the limitation has caused hand-wringing among many town leaders who have said that although Highland Beach and its needs have grown since then, the $350,000 number has not changed.
Though efforts to adjust the number have been stymied, the current Town Commission is hoping voters will agree in March to change the Town Charter and allow elected officials to spend as much as 5% of the town’s annual combined budgets on a project without voter approval.
Five percent of the town’s current total budgets equals just more than $1 million, a number town officials say will be enough to cover major projects going forward, including those that would be part of creating a new fire department.
“Keeping the spending limit at $350,000 is far too low to manage the town,” Mayor Doug Hillman said, adding that much has changed in the town since the limit was put in place.
Over the years, at least one previous commission attempted to modify the spending cap, but without success.
In 2012, commissioners voted to modify the charter and raise the cap to $1 million by ordinance following a recommendation by the Charter Review Committee. They subsequently spent $850,000 on renovations to Town Hall.
In 2014, however, the Palm Beach County Inspector General’s Office questioned the procedure Highland Beach used to raise the limit, saying that since it was put in place by referendum in 1991, it could be modified only with the approval of voting residents.
That led to current efforts to adjust the limit.
The proposed change to the spending cap is one of five questions commissioners plan to bring to voters in the spring.
Others include giving commissioners the ability to raise their salaries through an ordinance rather than a vote by residents; adjusting commission term limits by allowing a third three-year term instead of just two in a single seat and limiting commissioners to a total of 12 consecutive years in any elected position; and eliminating a clause in the charter that requires a commissioner signature on every town check.
The final proposed change commissioners will send to referendum is one that would require voter approval before the town can turn over managerial control of the police department, fire department or water facilities to another government agency or individual entity.
The proposed changes were brought to the commission by a Charter Review Board made up of town residents who met over several months prior to making recommendations.
Recognizing that any charter changes can have long-term impacts, the board took a cautious approach and opted to leave most key decisions in the hands of elected officials who can create and approve ordinances.
“A number of suggested changes were not recommended and left to the discretion of the town commissioners,” said Charter Review Board Chairman Barry Donaldson.
The spending limit, Donaldson said, was discussed at length by the committee, which eventually recommended the limit be set at 10% of the town’s total budgets.
Total budgets represent the town’s general fund budget, and enterprise fund budgets for water and sewer.
“We didn’t want to tie the hands of the commission,” Donaldson told commissioners. “But we also felt it wise to keep some power with the electorate. It was the simplest thing to send to the electorate.”
He said the majority of board members believed it would be best to pivot from a fixed dollar amount cap to a flexible cap to be “responsive to broader fiscal shifts such as inflation.”
Throughout discussions of the funding limit, some raised the possibility of eliminating the cap altogether, while pointing out that very few municipalities put spending limits on elected officials.
At one point commissioners proposed putting two questions on the ballot, giving voters the option to choose the 5% limit before a referendum is required or no limit on commission spending. That proposal was dropped as being too confusing.
Commissioners, in discussing eliminating the spending cap completely, concluded that doing so could fail to get voter approval, meaning the commission would revert to the $350,000 limit.
Eventually commissioners voted to propose the 5% limit and agreed that an educational campaign would be needed.
In crafting ballot language, commissioners hoped to explain to voters why the change was necessary.
The ballot language is:
“To recognize the growth of costs and support the delivery of town services, including items like the water treatment plant, library, police, and fire rescue, shall the town of Highland Beach amend its charter at section 2.01 (30) to provide that the funding limits be increased from the current limit of $350,000 which was established in 1991 to five percent of the town’s total annual budget?”