Pin Point Lola - October

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Budget Board Reccomendations

The Fort Lauderdale Budget Advisory Board passed their recommendations last week for cutting the city budget.  Since our commissioners have decided the best route is to declare us overtaxed and to tap the rainy day fund, I thought it would be interesting to review what the non-partisan advisory board had to say on the matter.

Unsurprisingly, one of their recommendations was to make modest cuts in city salaries -- reflecting what is going on in private businesses across south Florida.  The advisory board agreed in principle that the rainy day fun should be tapped just this once, but warned the city that it needed to seriously reform its delinquent fiscal ways. Here's a brief overview of their findings:

For the 2009-2010 budget:

• use 10MM from the rainy day fund on a one time only basis
• do NOT tap the fund in the future
• city needs to make better plans to cut the budget for this year
• That 10mm needs to be paid back with reductions during this budget year

For future budgets:

• Eliminate salary and wage increases, potentially reducing them
• City should sell off surplus property
• The city should pursue intergovernmental relationships to reduce costs for overlapping services (ostensibly this means coordinating better with Broward)
• Adopt zero-based budgeting
• Reform the runaway pension costs
• Study the efficiency of manager/employee relationships to see if there can't be some reductions in the total number of managers

The official recommendation motions are attached.

Attachment: babrecommendations.doc

Federal infusion of cash pays for dozen new Lauderdale officers

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/08/federal_infusion_of_cash_pays.html
This is good news on the crime front; looks like Fort Lauderdale will be able to put 12 seasoned professionals back on active duty. The July part 1 crime statistics for Fort Lauderdale were released today as well. Many neighborhoods across the city have actually seen their crime rates drop from 2002 and even 2008 levels. We are still on pace to double the crime rate from its low in 2002, so this announcment could not have come at a better time.

Tax notices in the mail: how did you make out?

How do you taxes compare to last year?

Up more than 25%

 

 1

Up, but less than 25%

 

 0

More or less the same

 

 0

Down, but less than 25%

 

 3

Down more than 25%

 

 0

With over half of the 750,000  notices already in the mail, many of you have already received your estimated tax bill for 2008.  Lori Parrish's office is once again erroneously feeling the heat from any tax payers.  It's gotten go bad that her office put a huge, ugly warning at the top of the bcpa's home page:

UPSET ABOUT YOUR PROPOSED PROPERTY TAXES?? IF YOU ARE UPSET ABOUT THE PROPOSED TAX RATES AND FEE INCREASES... PROPERTY APPRAISER LORI PARRISH DOES NOT SET ANY OF YOUR TAX RATES OR FEES. If you are upset about the tax rates or any new fees or fee increases, our office cannot help you because we don't set those rates. You’ll need to contact your City Commission and other taxing boards listed on your TRIM Notice. IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THE MARKET VALUE... Please contact us, as our office sets the market values displayed on the TRIM Notices. Under Florida law, the market value on your TRIM Notice must reflect the approximate market value as of January 1, 2009 -- based upon market sales which occurred in 2008. Any drop in value after January 1, 2009, will be reflected on next year's assessment as all properties are assessed in arrears under the law. Also, ALL Florida properties are reassessed EVERY year regardless of whether there was a change in ownership. If you wish to appeal you value, be sure to file a timely petition with the Value Adjustment Board (VAB) by the September 18 filing deadline. But, before you file a VAB petition, we invite you to please speak with one of our appraisers directly to discuss your concerns: RESIDENTIAL VALUES - 954.357.6831 CONDO VALUES - 954.357.6832 COMMERCIAL VALUES - 954.357.6835 IF YOU ARE MISSING AN EXEMPTION... Our office is responsible for determining eligibility for property tax exemptions. If you believe you are missing homestead, portability or other tax-saving exemptions for which you are entitled, please contact us immediately by the September 18 late filing deadline. Call our Customer Service Division at 954.357.6830.

Blink?  Its gotten that bad??

There seems to be a lot of anger out there over the increases and we certainly can sympathize with that.  As Lori correctly points out, please take up your complaints with the taxing authorities.  Please read your TRIM notice carefully (http://www.bcpa.net/trim.asp)  to see who is and who isn't raising rates.

To help you out we're republishing some information here about the millage trends, orginally collected by Fort Lauderdale's OMB.  We'll update the thread with more information soon ...

Property Tax Millage*

All Overlapping Governments

Fort Lauderdale				Broward County							Special Districts**
					Broward	S. Florida		Fla. Inland		Downtown Dev. Auth.		N. Broward			Sunrise
Tax		Debt	Total	Broward	County	Water Mgt.	Children's	Navigation	Total		Debt	Hospital	Hillsboro		Key
Roll Operating		Service	City	County	Schools	District	Services	District	Citywide	Operating	Service	District		Inlet	Neigh. Dist.
1995	5.3907	0.5162	5.9069	8.1165	10.0366	0.6470	-	0.0400	24.7470	0.6464	1.3823	2.4327		0.1142	1.0000
1996	5.2570	0.4803	5.7373	7.7524	9.9420	0.6720	-	0.0380	24.1417	0.6345	1.3668	2.4200		0.1112	1.0000
1997	5.0633	0.7576	5.8209	7.8380	9.9745	0.6970	-	0.0500	24.3804	0.8007	0.9878	2.4087		0.1071	1.0000
1998	5.0062	0.6671	5.6733	7.5710	9.7256	0.6970	-	0.0470	23.7139	0.8007	0.9878	2.5000		0.1071	1.0000
1999	4.9574	0.6090	5.5664	7.5710	9.1283	0.6970	-	0.0440	23.0067	0.7438	0.9878	2.4895		0.0955	1.5000
2000	5.0415	0.5249	5.5664	7.5250	8.9553	0.6970	-	0.0410	22.7847	0.7072	0.9878	2.4803		0.1036	1.0000
2001	4.8762	0.4968	5.3730	7.4005	8.7541	0.6970	0.3055	0.0385	22.5686	0.6444	0.6000	2.4803		0.0951	1.5000
2002	4.8472	0.4213	5.2685	7.3650	8.8825	0.6970	0.3316	0.0385	22.5831	0.6444	0.6000	2.4803		0.1170	1.5000
2003	4.8288	0.3682	5.1970	7.1880	8.1240	0.6970	0.3920	0.0385	21.6365	0.6279	0.6000	2.5000		0.2490	0.7500
2004	5.4066	0.3632	5.7698	7.0230	8.2695	0.6970	0.4231	0.0385	22.2209	0.6279	0.6000	2.4803		0.1845	1.0000
2005	5.0924	0.3389	5.4313	6.2942	7.8410	0.6970	0.4231	0.0385	20.7251	0.6750	0.4200	2.1746		0.1845	1.0000
2006	4.8066	0.2760	5.0826	6.0661	7.8687	0.6970	0.4073	0.0385	20.1602	0.6150	0.4900	1.8317		0.1170	1.5000
2007	4.1193	0.1289	4.2482	5.2868	7.6484	0.6240	0.3572	0.0345	18.1991	0.4933	0.4800	1.6255		0.0860	1.0000
2008	4.1193	0.1302	4.2495	4.8889	7.4170	0.6240	0.3754	0.0345	17.5893	0.4802	0.4289	1.7059		0.0860	1.0000

Neighbors Twitter, blog to keep criminals at bay

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32372082/ns/technology_and_science-security/
Interesting trend and techniques used in neighborhoods where a police presence is hampered by budget cutbacks.

Broward County Tapping Stimulus Funds for Courthouse

I heard a news story on wlrn this morning discussing the county's proposed plans to fund a *loan* for for repairing the courthouse using federal stimulus money.  You can read more about it here:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/1168809.html

I still don't understand why the Broward commissioners are trying to get funding for this project.  The voters spoke loud and clear when they voted down the 500MM plus project in 2006.  The county commissioners are meeting today and this proposal gets top billing on the agenda. I look forward to hearing from Ken Keechl on the details.  Perhaps a visit to the courthouse and a tour are in order ...

August September 2009 Newsletter

Printers format.  Click link below to download.