 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
County rescinds Lealman tax increase
By EDIE GROSS © St. Petersburg Times, published October 18, 2000 LEALMAN -- When county commissioners agreed last week to raise taxes in the Lealman Fire District, they did so because they thought the fire department needed the extra money to meet its budget. Turns out a little miscommunication among county officials had led to that mistaken impression. The original tax of $5.50 per $1,000 of taxable property value was just fine. Commissioners, who had raised that tax to $5.82 on Oct. 10, restored the lower tax Tuesday night after learning of the error. "To say we erred is not easy to say, but we did and I'm sorry for it," said Interim County Administrator Gay Lancaster. At the lower tax rate, the owner of a $100,000 home with a $25,000 homestead exemption will pay $412.50 in fire taxes this year, a 12.2 percent increase over last year's fees of $367.50. The confusion over the tax rate started in June, when the city of Seminole annexed a large chunk of Lealman, reducing the area from which the fire district could draw property taxes. At that time, Lealman was planning on a $3.3-million budget for the 2000-01 year and a tax rate of $5.50 per $1,000 of taxable property value. After the annexation, Lealman's fire board reduced its budget to about $3.1-million. Under that plan, the proposed tax rate could remain at $5.50. The reduced budget was relayed to Dwaine Booth, the assistant director of Pinellas County EMS and Fire. But Booth's office never passed the information along to the county's Office of Management and Budget, which was still working with the $3.3-million figure. "They (Lealman) did their job," Lancaster said. "We didn't do ours." Budget Director Mark Woodard realized last week that the $5.50 tax rate would not provide $3.3-million for Lealman, so he asked the County Commission to raise the tax rate to $5.82 per $1,000 of taxable property value to cover the difference. Commissioners did so, although they were unhappy about having to raise the taxes. Ordinarily, public officials cannot increase property taxes after the tax rate has been adopted. But Florida statutes create an exception to the rule if final taxable property values change by more than 3 percent. In Lealman, those values shrunk by 5.8 percent after Seminole's annexation. When Booth learned of the commissioners' action, he told Woodard that Lealman had already decreased its fire budget accordingly and did not need a tax increase. That led to Tuesday night's unanimous vote to lower the tax to its original amount. "All those enthusiastic about it, say, "Aye,' " Commissioner Bob Stewart said. "All those opposed, leave the room."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times South Pinellas desks |
