Holmes Beach commissioners adopted the 2015-16 fiscal budget and millage rate Sept. 24 with a unanimous vote.
The city’s $11,392,875 spending plan and 2.25 millage rate were voted on with no public comment and little commission discussion.
“We’ve discussed it to death at this point,” Commissioner Jean Peelen said.
The budget is effective Oct. 1.
A point of contention between citizens and city leaders in previous weeks has been what taxpayers claim amounts to a 39.25 percent increase on their tax bill. The current rate of 1.75 mills is increasing to 2.25 mills while the rollback rate — the rate needed to produce the same revenue as the current budget is 1.6158.
The millage rate is $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value.
Mayor Bob Johnson and city treasurer Lori Hill presented commissioners with a comparison of the impact to taxpayers at 2.25 mills versus taking $200,000 from the city’s reserves and lowering the rate to 2.12 mills.
Spending $200,000 from reserves would only save homesteaded taxpayers about $32-$45 and $45-$55 on non-homesteaded properties, according to Hill.
Johnson said if the decision was made to lower the millage rate to 2.12, utilizing the city’s reserve fund, the difference would have to be made up in the form of a millage rate change for the 2016-17 fiscal year.
“This has to be fixed on a regular basis,” he said.
The city struggled to make up a deficit in revenue in the current budget, but there was little to no discussion on cutting back spending.
Chair Judy Titsworth said, “I’m relieved to see it’s not a huge, significant impact.”
Commissioners also voted to raise building department permit fees in an effort to assist the department in paying for its activities.
“We haven’t been covering building department costs through the fee schedule for some time,” Johnson said during the Sept. 22 commission meeting.
The new fee schedule for construction permits is based on the construction value of the project.
Titsworth said she’d like to see construction permit amounts based on square footage rather than relying on a contractor’s evaluation of construction costs.
Commissioner Marvin Grossman said he wants to review a selection of previously approved construction permits to determine the difference between the contractor’s evaluation and actual costs to see if it would make a significant financial impact on the city before pursuing changes to the permit fee structure.
A new addition to the building department fee structure is a citation fee for a stop work order.
The first red tag citation levies a fine against the builder of $500. Second and third issuances in a 12-month period come with fines of $1,000 and $2,000 respectively. Stop work order citations are not job-specific.
Peelen asked that a discussion of how many red stop work order tags the city hands out on average be placed on a future meeting agenda for discussion.
Other new building fees include a $75 re-inspection fee and a $100 certificate of occupancy charge.
Commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, at city hall, 5801 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach.