Proposed highest tax rate on Longboat unchanged from last year

Town commissioners on Monday approved Town Manager Dave Bullock’s recommended maximum property-tax rate, leaving the figure unchanged from last year. The actual rate can be reset lower in the final budget, but state regulations prohibit exceeding the approved rate.

Town officials say that since 2016, property values increased 3.67% in the Sarasota County portion of the Key, and 8.93% in the Manatee County portion, making for a combined increase of 5.17%. The operating tax rate, which applies to the entire island, was set at 2.1144 per $1,000 of taxable property value.

Additionally, tax rates were set to cover beach renourishment and debt service. In June 2016, the town borrowed $10.7 million to fund beach nourishment projects, which began that year. The debt requires annual payments of $2.8 million, requiring the commission to set beach bond millages for the town’s two beach erosion control special districts:

• District A consists of all residential properties west of Gulf of Mexico Drive and all commercial properties on the island. The district will see a beach bond rate of 0.7272 per $1,000 of taxable property value.
• The beach bond rate for District B, which consists of all other Key properties, will be 0.1818 per $1,000 taxable property value.

The town also makes a $285,000  annual debt payment until 2019, which accounts for an additional tax of 0.0514 per $1,000 taxable property value in both districts.

When all of these factors are included, the total millage rate for fiscal year 2018 for District A will be 2.8930. For District B, the total millage rate will be 2.3476.

For a home with an assessed value of $500,000, that amounts to a $230 decrease in District A and a $70 decrease in District B.

The 2018 fiscal year budget will be subject to first reading and public hearing at the Sept. 11 Town Commission meeting.

In other business Monday, the Town Commission approved a revised contract for Town Attorney Maggie Mooney-Portale.

Her contract with Longboat Key began in July 2013 and expires in June 2019. The contract specifies that certain general counsel services fall under a monthly retainer of $20,312.50. Most other services are billed at $235 an hour.

Mooney-Portale asked commissioners in June to eliminate the retainer fee in favor of an hourly rate of $235 for all services. Town Manager Dave Bullock said the change would account for an increase of nearly $76,000. In 2016, the town paid her $243,750.

Among Mooney-Portale’s reasons for the raise:

• David Persson of her firm, town attorney for 23 years, was paid $235 per hour in 2012.
• Issues unforeseen in 2013, when her contract began, drove up retainer hours. These issues include the town’s underground utilities project and code enforcement matters, as well as referendum requirements and the town’s divide between two counties.

The contract amendment is effective Oct. 1.