By John Pacenti
The Manalapan Town Commission on Sept. 24 passed a $19.2 million budget for fiscal year 2025, which began Oct. 1, carrying over the same tax rate as the previous year.
However, because property values increased 5.7% over the last year
By Mary Thurwachter
The last couple of years have brought a steady stream of residents to Town Council meetings with complaints about Lantana’s green, yellow or dingy water.
Some lamented the olive-green water that filled their swimming pools. One wo
Town secures LEED designation — Town Council members congratulated Development Services Director Nicole Dritz and other staff for their efforts in achieving a silver LEED designation for the town.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a g
Aside from scattered power outages, downed tree limbs and beach erosion, south Palm Beach County survived Hurricane Helene with minimal impact. ABOVE: (l-r) Donna Johnson makes a mock Weather Channel video of her brothers Eddie Catapane and John Cata
By Mary Hladky
A 26-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to five charges stemming from a 2021 fatal hit-and-run crash along North Ocean Boulevard in Boca Raton that claimed the life of a New York federal judge.
Nastasia Snape was sentenced on Sept. 26 t
Delray Beach’s new fire rescue chief comes from Louisiana but is no stranger to Florida, previously serving in the fire department in Fort Myers Beach for two decades.
Ronald Martin will start on Oct. 7, taking over a department still in turmoil afte
Finance chief leaves after 2½ years — Delray Beach Chief Financial Officer Hugh Dunkley was leaving to take a job “out of municipal government” in waste management, he confirmed after the Sept. 10 City Commission workshop.
“I consider it an opportuni
By Brian Biggane
The South Palm Beach Town Council addressed its lingering vacancy at its September meeting, but it’s likely to be some time before a fifth member is added.
Vice Mayor Monte Berendes said near the end of the meeting that the vacancy —
Budget passed, tax rate set — Helped in great part by a 10% increase in property values, the Town Council passed a $2.412 million budget at its final budget hearing on Sept. 16.
The council has agreed to keep the property tax rate at $3.40 for each $
By Mary Thurwachter
An interlocal agreement to add sand to the beaches in Palm Beach, South Palm Beach and Lantana this winter may be losing one municipality: Lantana.
It’s all about money.
When the dune restoration was hatched a few years ago, South
By Mary Thurwachter
After two public hearings in September, the Lantana Town Council adopted a $29.5 million total budget with the same tax rate as last year — $3.75 per $1,000 of assessed taxable value.
Property tax revenues are estimated at $6.95 m
Ocean Ridge resident Rich Mascolo has been pouring his efforts into volunteer work at the Soup Kitchen of Boynton Beach since his retirement. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
The fact that 12% of Palm Beach County residents live below the poverty line pr
By John Pacenti
While art classes are set to start in November at the Crest Theatre, the theater itself remains somewhere between a modest work in progress and the problematic house in the movie The Money Pit.
The latest concern is whether its balco
The remains of a hedge that Ocean Ridge ordered Jay Wallshein to trim to 6 feet in response to a complaint. It
turns out the town has no such ordinance. Coastal Star staff
Related: Ocean Ridge: Route to beach becomes path of much resistance
By John P
By John Pacenti
Some summer blockbusters deserve repeated viewings. The Delray Beach City Commission is no summer blockbuster.
At their Sept. 16 meeting, commissioners again bickered over the budget and proposed tax cuts before finally approving a “n
By Steve Plunkett
Town officials are looking past the looming presidential election to next March, when voters will decide who will fill Seats 1, 3 and 5 on the Briny Breezes Town Council.
Mayor Ted Gross on Sept. 26 proclaimed March 11, 2025, as the
New beach lighting rules — The Town Council on Sept. 26 approved amendments updating its ordinance on sea turtles and beach bonfires after discussing the matter at three monthly meetings and a workshop and a “second first reading” of the changes in A
By John Pacenti
A budget resolution put in front of the Ocean Ridge Town Commission by the town manager on Sept. 20 failed to deduct cuts made by elected officials at the previous meeting earlier in the month.
It was Commissioner Carolyn Cassidy who
By Jane Musgrave
State environmental regulators want Boynton Beach utilities to pay a $182,000 fine for a July 2023 sewer line break that caused 22 million gallons of sewage to spew into the Intracoastal Waterway.
The proposed consent order, which is
Property taxes, fire assessment on the rise — Boynton Beach city commissioners on Sept. 23 unanimously approved a property tax rate of $7.80 per $1,000 of taxable value to support the city’s $130.3 million general fund budget.
That budget will pay fo
