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Town commission sets millage cap
By HARLAN WEIKLE
| Article published on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 |
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BELLEAIR – In the wake of last season’s property value implosion, Belleair officials faced with a reduced tax base set the town’s final millage rate at 4.56, the rollback rate. Now on the eve of this year’s budget deliberations, with the tentative rate set again at 4.56 there is nowhere to go but down.
State law prohibits municipalities from raising the millage rate beyond that set at the beginning of the budget process; the rate may be lowered but not increased.
Town Manager Micah Maxwell, whose job it is to present a budget to the commission for final action, proposed the tentative millage rate then reminded the commissioners that last year’s property value adjustments had left the town with a $350,000 revenue shortfall, about 10 percent of the town’s budget.
The shortfall had been offset in part, Maxwell said, by a number of savings including $120,000, the difference between the new fire contract with Largo and the previous contract with Belleair Bluffs. The town saved an additional $70,000 with a new, lower insurance premium and saw further savings from monies originally budgeted in preparation for an extended legal defense to the Belleview Biltmore variances challenge.
“As a result we now have a surplus of $60,000 and it’s the staff recommendation that we use that surplus to retain a code enforcement officer,” Maxwell said.
A final budget must be approved by the end of September.
Town attorney recommends emergency ordinance
Town Attorney David Ottinger recommended an emergency ordinance granting a 60-day stay on the requirement that Belleview Biltmore owners Latitude Management Real Estate Investors apply for a building permit within six months of receiving a variance approval.
LMREI faces an appeal in their successful defense against a suit aimed at halting construction of the Cabana Club on Sand Key. A similar suit brought in Belleair was recently denied a hearing and LMREI officials had indicated that construction would be delayed pending the outcome of the Clearwater appeal. The delay means the six-month time limit in which to apply for the building permits will run out before the appeal can settle.
Ottinger sought the stay in order to allow time for the commission to craft an ordinance extending the period of time to make application from six months to one year. A proposed ordinance requires two public readings before scheduled commission meetings before becoming law. Ottinger fearing that time would expire before the ordinance was passed proposed the two- month stay saying, “We can come back to the ordinance schedule and two readings at a later date.”
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Article published on Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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