St. Pete Beach tax rate goes up, but will it be felt?

ST. PETE BEACH — With barely a peep of protest from residents, the City Commission gave its final approval to a slightly higher tax rate and a sharply reduced budget Monday.

However, property taxes will actually drop for most residents, because of a 7 percent decline in property values.

The new 2.4834 operating millage rate is a 0.107-mill increase over the previous tax rate of 2.3764 mills, but well below the rollback rate of 2.614 mills. The rollback rate is what is required to generate the same level of revenue from year to year.

The tax levy for debt service was increased from 0.0661 to 0.0754 mills.

The net result is that the city will receive $385,000 less in property taxes to operate the city in the coming fiscal year. Conversely, property owners' city tax bills will be that much lower.

There were few residents in the audience when the commission approved the millage rate and budget.

One resident, Deborah Schechner, called for the commission to admit they were raising taxes.

"You people up there do not live in the real world. I think you should not raise taxes. You can make all the faces you want up there — it is an increase in taxes," she said.

Only Commissioner Christopher Leonard opposed the new property tax rate.

"Right now we need to be in a survival mode and give relief to our residents. I do not support a millage increase as it is proposed," he said. He also voted against the budget.

Before approving the millage and budget, the commission debated increasing the tax rate even more to provide additional money for legal fees.

This past year, the city's legal bill far exceeded the originally budgeted amount and is continuing to rise.

Commissioner Jim Parent suggested the city should add another $50,000 to the $250,000 set aside for legal bills next year.

After considerable debate, the commission opted not to change that amount, putting its hopes on a mediation scheduled next month between the city, Save Our Little Village, Dr. Bill Pyle and Bruce Kadura, the parties to a series of lawsuits surrounding controversial changes to the city's comprehensive plan and land development regulations.

"I am optimistic; I think mediation is going to work," said Mayor Mike Finnerty.

The city's total $20.8 million budget was balanced with sharp personnel cuts, a salary freeze and some service reductions.

Nine positions were eliminated: three firefighters; the deputy fire chief position, which will be eliminated when the fire chief retires; two police officers; a recreation employee; a library assistant; and a building department employee. The firefighter positions might be reinstated if the county restores EMS funding.

Three unions representing the firefighters, police officers and general employees all agreed to new three-year contracts that forgo raises for 2009-2010. With minor differences between contracts, the employees will receive 2 percent cost-of-living increases in 2011 and 2012, and up to a 2 percent merit raise in 2012.

In addition, the union contracts cut back on overtime and capped accrued vacation time to four weeks.

City services were hit, as well. The city also cut library hours and closed the building permit counter at 2 p.m. each day.

City Manager Mike Bonfield said he would have liked to have put more money into general maintenance and repairs, and into increasing the city's reserves, but the money was not available.

Capital spending will be largely restricted to making debt payments on the community center and City Hall, upgrading the police radio system, designing improvements to Blind Pass Road where it intersects Gulf Boulevard, installing trees on Corey Avenue, testing and designing improvements to the sewer system, and routine repairs to streets, sidewalks, and seawalls.

The commission came under considerable fire for its decision to spend $875,000 to buy property next to Egan Park. The commission is hoping to win one or more state or federal grants to offset that cost.

The city might face even more cuts next year amid predictions by the county property appraiser that with continuing foreclosures, property values will decline another 10 percent or more.

"We have squeezed the budget pretty dry, for sure," Bonfield said Tuesday. "If we do any more personnel cuts, we will start to get into more drastic service reductions. We can't trim much more."