FULL STORY: City Commission approves 5.3% millage increase

The Sarasota City Commission approved a $174 million budget on second reading and public hearing at its Monday, Sept. 19, regular meeting. The move raises the city’s property taxes for the first time since 1997.

The 3-2 approval vote raises the millage rate 5.3% to cover an approximately $800,000 funding shortfall.
More than half of the $842,617 will go toward operating the Lido Pool and newly opened Robert L. Taylor Community Complex.

Mayor Suzanne Atwell and Commissioners Paul Caragiulo and Willie Shaw approved the millage rate and budget staff proposed.

Vice Mayor Terry Turner and Commissioner Shannon Snyder voted against the budget as proposed.

“It’s not fair to our citizens to allow the millage rate to rise when we move to protect the government’s revenue and not the revenue of our citizens,” said Turner during the first reading of the budget Sept. 6. Turner warned that the millage rate needs to fall in tandem with declining assessed property values.
The millage rate will rise from 2.7771 mills to 2.9249 mills when the 2012 fiscal year budget begins Oct. 1.
One mill equals $1 in property tax for every $1,000 of assessed value.

The average homestead property owner in the city will see an additional $26 on his tax bill, if the taxable value remained constant.

The millage rate increase will require the city to use $1,155,909 in reserves to balance an overall 2012 budget that increased $11 million from the current fiscal year budget.

City staff’s previous suggestion was to keep the millage rate at 2.7771 mills and take $2 million out of reserves to cover a budget shortfall that was $6 million when the budget was first presented in June.
The higher millage rate, according to Finance Director Chris Lyons, will increase property taxes for any property owner whose assessed home value has increased or stayed the same from the previous year.

Lyons noted that the city has reduced taxes for its citizens by 40.84% over the last five years.

Atwell and Caragiulo voiced their support for the staff recommendations and believe plans are in place to curtail large employee pension and employee costs going forward.

The city and its police department are in the midst of heated contract discussions that include the city holding steady on its stance to get rid of existing pension plans for officers.

That issue and other employee issues were explained during Lyons’ budget presentation Tuesday.

Lyons noted that the city’s employee pension contributions rose $2.2 million and health-care costs rose more than $1 million.

“Employee costs are out of control, but the reform is in place to curtail them,” Caragiulo said during the first reading of the budget. “We are on track to make some pretty significant changes, and I am comfortable with this proposal as it is.”