Another decrease in valuations in 2012?
As you may recall from last year, county property valuation fell 1.8%. This put pressure on the commissioners to raise the millage in order to avoid cutting spending. As it turned out, the final millage did result in a budget reduction of $7.9M or about 1%, helped enormously by the Legislature's passage of pension reform that provided a county windfall. This year, Legislative action will again impact county budgets. One way is through HB251/SB928, which changes the rules under which county property appraisers operate. Specifically, this bill would require consideration of "open market transactions..", ".. including, but not limited to, a ...
Fire/Rescue Contract Negotiations – Back to the BCC
TAB members have been attending these, mostly once/monthly, negotiations since mid-June. It was clear that little or no progress had been made in six months, and we of TAB wondered how many more billable hours would be spent for attorneys from both sides, sans resolution to anything. Well - apparently, the County management team's patience has been exhausted. The County expected the Union to appear with a wage proposal, or at least an analysis of the County's 22% across the board cut for new employees. The Union said 'No - the person who was doing the analysis had surgery and so we don't ...
County Adopts New Financial Standards
The county commission today discussed and approved new accounting standards for the next budget year that will adopt a more standard accounting methodology, making comparisons with peer counties possible (perhaps). For a full description, CLICK HERE. Highlights included: Adoption of GASB 54, reporting spendable fund balances in 4 categories, possibly providing more transparency. During the discussion it was stated that since Hillsborough is already using this standard, it was not possible for TaxWatch (or anyone else apparently) to compare the currently reported Palm Beach County reserves to theirs. John Wilson mentioned they have had numerous discussions with TaxWatch on the subject since ...
Fire/Rescue Contract Talks Postponed for Another Month
Meet the Negotiating Team For the county: Steven Jerauld Appointed to the top Fire/Rescue position in 2009, Chief Jerauld came up through the ranks. He participated in the last contract negotiations as Deputy Chief of Operations. Robert L. Norton Partner in the firm Allen, Norton & Blue, P.A. which calls themselves "The Management Labor & Employment Firm", Robert Noyce has 38 years of practice in Labor and Employment law. He holds a JD from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and a BS from U Florida. Mr. Norton negotiated the previous contract for the county in 2009. For the IAFF Michael J. ...
2012 Millage set at 4.7815
Click HERE for Channel 20 Video of the meeting. In a relatively short meeting last night, the County Commission approved a 2012 budget by a 4-3 vote. Setting the county-wide millage at $4.7815 per $1000 valuation, the rate is an increase of 0.66%. TAB has been working over the last few months to avoid any increase, but this outcome is acceptable, given it is a lot closer to our $4.75 target than the rollback rate proposed in June at $4.922. We would have liked to see more restraint in the Sheriff's budget (it is actually increasing when pension reform savings are taken ...
Featured
Another decrease in valuations in 2012?January 19, 2012
As you may recall from last year, county property valuation fell 1.8%. This put pressure on the commissioners to raise the millage in order to avoid cutting spending. As it turned out, the final millage did result in a budget reduction of $7.9M or about 1%, helped enormously by the Legislature’s...
Fire/Rescue Contract Negotiations – Back to the BCCDecember 16, 2011
TAB members have been attending these, mostly once/monthly, negotiations since mid-June. It was clear that little or no progress had been made in six months, and we of TAB wondered how many more billable hours would be spent for attorneys from both sides, sans resolution to anything. Well –...
County Adopts New Financial StandardsNovember 1, 2011
The county commission today discussed and approved new accounting standards for the next budget year that will adopt a more standard accounting methodology, making comparisons with peer counties possible (perhaps). For a full description, CLICK HERE. Highlights included: Adoption of GASB 54, reporting...
Fire/Rescue Contract Talks Postponed for Another MonthOctober 17, 2011
Meet the Negotiating Team For the county: Steven Jerauld Appointed to the top Fire/Rescue position in 2009, Chief Jerauld came up through the ranks. He participated in the last contract negotiations as Deputy Chief of Operations. Robert L. Norton Partner in the firm Allen, Norton & Blue, P.A....
2012 Millage set at 4.7815September 28, 2011
Click HERE for Channel 20 Video of the meeting. In a relatively short meeting last night, the County Commission approved a 2012 budget by a 4-3 vote. Setting the county-wide millage at $4.7815 per $1000 valuation, the rate is an increase of 0.66%. TAB has been working over the last few months to avoid...
F-bombs Fly at Fire/Rescue NegotiationsSeptember 15, 2011
TAB has been attending the meetings between County Fire/Rescue management and IAFF Local 2928 since they began four months ago (See Genesis of a Collective Bargaining Agreement, Fire / Rescue Contract Talks Continue, and Little Progress in the IAFF Contract.) We had been advised that the meetings tended...
A Surrealistic Budget HearingSeptember 14, 2011
Click HERE for Channel 20 Video of the meeting. At about 11:00pm Tuesday evening, the County Commission voted to set the county-wide tax rate at $4.79 per $1K valuation. This is up 0.84% over last year – a small increase, but an increase nonetheless. After the last meeting, the rollback rate of 4.8751...
The 2012 TAB Proposal – September UpdateSeptember 7, 2011
The county has published their First Public Hearing package for the September 13 budget meeting. It presents a budget at the “rollback rate”, a 2.6% increase for the county-wide portion, generating $607M in ad-valorem revenue, and retains the current 2011 tax rate for Fire/Rescue and the...
Florida TaxWatch Report on County Reserves, Debt, and Property UtilizationSeptember 6, 2011
At the request of the Palm Beach Civic Association, the Palm Beach County Taxpayer Action Board, and the Town of Palm Beach County Budget Task Force, Florida TaxWatch conducted a study of several aspects of Palm Beach County Finances. In addition to an analysis of the county debt and reserves compared...
September Budget Hearings – Some BackgroundSeptember 5, 2011
At the end of September, the 2012 budget will be in place. In spite of 4 years of decline in real estate values, the county keeps raising the tax rates to prevent any decline in tax revenue. If the private sector worked like government, all you would need to do to maintain your standard of living as...