Workers lay asphalt in Gulf Stream’s Core area on July 27. The work is part of a two-year capital improvement plan. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Steve Plunkett
Just as Roadway Construction LLC was about to lay the final asphalt on streets in Gulf Stream’s Core area, town commissioners were looking ahead to paying for similar work in Place Au Soleil.
Meanwhile, town commissioners for the sixth consecutive year set the tentative property tax rate at $3.67 per $1,000 of taxable value for the upcoming fiscal year.
The capital improvement plan “continues to drive the budget with the transition from analyzing the impacts of the two-year project here in the Core to planning for the engineering work and construction of the Place Au Soleil project,” Town Manager Trey Nazzaro told commissioners July 10.
The tentative tax rate will generate $7.53 million, up about $544,000 from the current year, Nazzaro said. Taxable property values rose 7.9% to $2.05 billion.
Commissioners spurned the rollback rate — the rate that would have collected the same amount of taxes as this year, except for new construction — that would have generated $6.99 million.
“I think it’s important to maintain the millage rate as it is,” Mayor Scott Morgan said. “We have been financially responsible for over a decade (and) more now, building reserves without raising the millage rate.”
Nazzaro said Gulf Stream now has $6.7 million in undesignated reserve funds.
The roadwork in the Core area still had $1.4 million left to pay. The Place Au Soleil construction will cost an estimated $2.8 million.
In addition, Nazzaro will take $1.2 million from the water enterprise fund to pay for a planned connection with Boynton Beach’s water plant, which he said will take place in spring 2027.
The town now anticipates completing both projects without having to borrow money.
Nazzaro also proposed a 4.5% cost-of-living raise for the town’s general employees to match the step raise being given to police officers.
“Investing in quality personnel and maintaining them is of utmost importance to the town to continue our efficient provision of services,” Nazzaro said in a memo to commissioners.
Under the tentative tax rate, the owner of a house with a $1 million taxable value would pay $3,672 in town property taxes in addition to county, school and other levies.
Commissioners can lower that tax rate but not raise it at public hearings they scheduled in Town Hall for 5:01 p.m. Sept. 11, after their 4 p.m. monthly meeting, and for 5:01 p.m. Sept. 23.
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