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Tax rate to remain unchanged
By MELIA BOWIE, Times Staff Writer TAMPA PALMS -- Flush with cash after selling equipment and contracting out landscaping, Tampa Palms supervisors voted last week to hold the line on taxes. The millage rate will remain unchanged at 2.6, which works out to $455 on a $200,000 home. Add that to $102,000 from the equipment sales and other sources, and Tampa Palms' community development district will enjoy a budget of $1.7-million in its general fund for the coming year. The financial cushion prompted some supervisors to suggest lowering the millage rate to 2.5. But a move to do so failed earlier this month, when residents raised concerns about the extent and price tag of an upcoming community revitalization project. Keeping the status-quo was more conducive to long-term planning, some supervisors said in passing the budget Wednesday night. "We need to be taking in revenues to meet the recurring needs," said board member Ed Copeland. If tax rates were cut now, he said, they might have to be bumped up later. "I think this was the right move." Supervisors Mark Fitzpatrick and Curtis Stokes had argued in favor of the cut. "If I were not on the board, I'd be at the back of the room asking them to justify where the need is to collect that amount," Fitzpatrick said. But he acknowledged the community is in the middle of a large project. Residents met with a community architect Saturday at Compton Park for the second of two "visioning" workshops to discuss what Tampa Palms should look like. "My hope is, if we later discover we don't need that amount in taxes to operate the district they can be lowered next year," Fitzpatrick said. Separately, district officials hired Maggie Wilson as a part-time consultant after the resignation of newly hired field manager Brian Lamb of of Moyer & Associates. "With his commitments and time constraints, it's just not going to work out where he's going to be available three days a week," as originally intended, said John Daugirda, assistant district manager for Tampa Palms. Wilson will earn $31,000 a year -- $5,000 less than Lamb. In addition to the financial savings, "she'll be here more often and be more dedicated," Daugirda said.
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From the Times |
