By John Pacenti
Ocean Ridge Town Manager Lynne Ladner made the same mistake this year in preparing the budget as the one that led to the town’s inadvertently violating state law last year, Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy said at the Aug. 5 commission budget meeting.
The meeting had already been contentious with Cassidy and Ladner locking horns over staff salaries. Then Cassidy said Ladner was again using net values of property rather than gross values as the state requires to determine property taxes to be collected. The right figures were presented at the meeting, however.
The town in December was forced to call a special meeting to approve its budget and tax rate again after it was determined the wrong figures were used in publishing advertisements notifying residents of the FY 2024 rate and budget. Florida revenue officials determined the town “to be in violation of the law.”
The correction led to $58,738 more in tax revenue.
Ladner has proposed the same tax rate as last year at $5.40 per $1,000 of taxable value.
When Ladner sent out the information to commissioners, Cassidy said she again included net values, not gross values, in calculating taxes. The commissioner said she corrected Ladner twice but the manager “was a bit defensive about it.”
“I’m worried about the mistakes and the errors and the defensiveness,” Cassidy said. “So it’s just a great frustration.”
That’s when Commissioner David Hutchins — who had been largely quiet through the workshop — said, “May I make a suggestion? You’ve said it three times. We get it. You’re pissed off. Why don’t we just lower it a little bit and move on?”
Ladner, when asked about Cassidy’s comments on Aug. 14, said she has a good working relationship with the commissioner.
“There are times where we don’t see eye-to-eye,” Ladner said.
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