West Palm Beach city leaders are poised to approve a spending plan for the new budget year that raises property taxes by 5% to cover growing public safety costs and rising employee salaries.
The city’s proposed budget, which is slated for final approval by commissioners on Wednesday, Sept. 23, lowers the city’s tax rate slightly but collects an extra $12 million in property taxes as values rise and new construction widens the city’s tax base.
The city’s general budget is projected to grow 7% to $303 million. Officials say much of the new revenue is needed to cover pay raises for employees and higher overtime costs, as well as increases in the costs of materials and services.
The tax collections would have grown even more but city commissioners
intervened this summer and insisted that city administrators lower the tax rate slightly, saving taxpayers about $1 million.
When Mayor Keith James refused to work with them to cut spending, commissioners responded by targeting his office. The mayor’s office’s budget is now being slashed by about $500,000, mostly by eliminating two positions.
The increase in tax collections underscores the city’s brisk financial growth. Over the past five years, the amount of property taxes the city collects has grown 69% as property values and new construction exploded.
But though the city’s tax coffers are growing fast, city officials say public safety expenses are growing faster.
The police department’s overall budget is rising 8% to $111 million, while West Palm Beach Fire-Rescue’s budget is rising 11% to $70 million, according to a budget presentation by Bridget Souffrant, the city’s chief financial officer.
A big driver of those higher costs is rising salaries. Police officers and firefighters received 8% pay raises this year, in addition to salary boosts for their years of experience, Souffrant said.
Employees in most other city departments received 5% raises.
Overtime costs for the city’s first responders also rose, with police overtime rising by $2 million and fire-rescue overtime increasing by $1 million.
The city’s main property tax rate next year will be $8.08 per $1,000 of taxable property value, a rate reduction of $0.05.
It’s the third time in the last five years that the city has lowered the tax rate. Even so, property owners on average will pay 5% more this year. Because of new construction, tax collections will actually increase by 8%, to $162 million.
The city’s fire fee is expected to bring in $8.7 million next year, a $700,000 increase from the current year.
The fee did not rise but city commissioners decided to remove a fee reduction for non-profit organizations, resulting in more collections.
The city’s overall budget, including spending by its Community Redevelopment Agency and public utility, is growing this year to $1.2 billion.
Andrew Marra is a reporter at The Palm Beach Post. Reach him at amarra@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Palm Beach property taxes are rising as public safety costs grow
