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Beach burg's budget is all of one page
By AMY WIMMER, Times Staff Writer BELLEAIR SHORE -- This town's budget is, well, kind of cute. Stacked against bigger counterparts on the beach or the inland, who pack pie charts and color illustrations into pages often numbering in the hundreds, Belleair Shore manages its town of 85 people with a one-page budget. That doesn't mean the page is without controversy. The town's office supply budget will increase 150 percent this year -- up to $500 from last year's budgeted $200. "Every other year," Mayor John Robertson explained, "I buy envelopes." For those who would like to speak out about the envelopes or anything else in this year's budget, Belleair Shore will host a public hearing on its budget at 7 p.m. Sept. 5 at the Belleair Bluffs City Hall. That the meeting is in Belleair Bluffs helps explain the one-page budget. Belleair Shore has no town hall, no community buildings to maintain, no fire trucks or public works machinery to buy. Like other beach municipalities, Belleair Shore once again will benefit from a double-digit spike in property values this year. So even though the town's tax rate will stay the same, residents will pay 12.41 percent more in taxes on their homes, netting Belleair Shore almost $10,000 more this year. A resident with a beachfront home valued at $500,000, with a $25,000 standard homestead exemption, would pay $842.40 next year in town taxes. (That figure does not include the amount to other taxing entities, such as the county and the water management district.) Belleair Shore has occasional legal expenses and a part-time clerk, in addition to its biggest expenditure: $19,833 for Belleair Beach police protection. The tiny town also gets a sliver of the Penny for Pinellas sales tax. It received $3,244 last year, which it used for installing no-wake buoys near its beach to protect swimmers from boaters. The town also pays for upkeep at its beach accesses, which are open only to residents and those of neighboring Belleair Beach. Outsiders aren't allowed to park there, which accounts for another portion of Belleair Shore's revenues. The city collected $2,729 last year in parking fines. The town's reserve fund is healthy -- about $200,000 -- enough to keep the town running for two years even without tax support. The town hopes to bolster that fund this year to help the county pay for Gulf Boulevard improvements, if necessary. That's assuming the fax machine the town hopes to buy this year doesn't break the budget. Said the mayor: "Small is good."
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From the Times South Pinellas desks Editorial Letters |
