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💰 Tax decision day

🌡️As we power into summer's hottest months, we offer up your new tax bill, the anti-woke warrior who would be FAU president, an explainer on Mayor Keith James' law license and good news about us.

Carolyn DiPaolo

Joel Engelhardt

, and

Pat Beall

Jul 11, 2023

Today’s newsletter is a 5-minute read.

↕️ County taxes: How much you’ll pay

Palm Beach County’s Riverbend Park. (Photo: Bill DiPaolo/Stet)

County commissioners meet today to set next year’s property tax rate.

Why it matters: Palm Beach County’s budget is fueled in large part by taxes on 650,000 properties.

The operating budget calls for spending $2.1 billion, of which $1.3 billion would come from property taxes.
It pays for services including public safety, transportation, economic development and parks.

Flashback: Last year, commissioners sliced the tax rate by 1 percent — from $4.78 per $1,000 of taxable value to $4.71.

The intrigue: With construction and rising prices driving property values up nearly 14 percent, county leaders can pull in 13 percent more money by keeping the tax rate the same as last year.

The county could raise the same amount as last year if it changed the tax rate from $4.71 to $4.21. This is the rollback rate.

County Administrator Verdenia Baker, center. (Palm Beach County Commission June budget workshop)

Driving the news: In a workshop last month, County Administrator Verdenia Baker made the case to renew the current tax rate.

Because of a state tax cap, the value of the majority of homes can rise no more than 3%. The owner of a home with the county median assessed value of $188,000 before a $50,000 homestead exemption would pay county property taxes of $677, up from $625 this year.

Yes, but: Taxes for homes not under the Save Our Homes cap and businesses can increase as much as 10 percent a year.

Taxpayers get:

6% pay increases for county employees.
23 new hires.
$53.5 million increase in the sheriff’s budget.

Commissioner Maria Marino has challenged the staff to trim the tax rate to $4.50.

That would be a $21.50 savings from the current rate for every $100,000 in taxable value.
Lowering the rate to $4.55 would reduce the operating budget by $45 million.

Of note: The county tax is one part of the property tax homeowners pay. Schools and city taxes are two other major components of your tax bill.

What’s next: Today’s meeting starts at 9:30 am. Watch it here.

📈 Rising tide of property values

Joel notes that seven cities in Palm Beach County are valued at more than $10 billion in Property Appraiser Dorothy Jacks’ July 1 assessment roll.

They are: Boca Raton, $34.7 billion; Palm Beach, $29 billion; West Palm Beach, $21.1 billion; Palm Beach Gardens, $17.9 billion; Delray Beach, $16.3 billion; Jupiter, $15.8 billion; and Wellington, $11.5 billion.

Boynton Beach is next. It just topped $9 billion.

Those eight cities account for three-fourths of the total property value ($155 billion out of $201 billion) of all 39 municipalities in Palm Beach County combined.

The Palm Beach County School District, which has fewer exemptions — thus more value — than other countywide taxing bodies, has grown its tax base by more than 50 percent since 2020. That’s a whopping $111 billion added, bringing it to $332 billion.

Last but not least: A shout out to our two smallest cities, Glen Ridge and Cloud Lake. The tiny enclaves near Palm Beach International Airport may not have 400 residents combined, but their values have gone up more than 60 percent since 2020, the most of any cities except Westlake, which is going up crazy high percentages because it's basically still under construction.

💍 Why the arranged woke-warrior wedding of FAU and Randy Fine raised hackles

Randy Fine tried to legislate New College out of existence. His 2020 bill to force its absorption by a larger state university failed.

When Brevard state Rep. Randy Fine revealed this year Gov. Ron DeSantis asked him to take the presidency of Florida Atlantic University, critics pounced.

The Harvard grad has no experience running a university. And the self-described anti-woke warrior’s hard-right stances seemed a bad fit for FAU, which has the most diverse student body of any state university in Florida.

Fine was not among finalists announced last week.

But within days, the largely governor-appointed Florida Board of Governors stopped the search in its tracks, citing gender questions posed to candidates.

Some saw it as a means to give Fine another shot, or political payback for not selecting him.

“FAU is being targeted for purely political reasons,” tweeted state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando.

Why the controversy? Fine’s lightning rod status partly stems from headline-grabbing policies on education (he tried to eliminate New College) and LGBTQ issues (he stated “erasing” drag performers could be acceptable to protect children).

But he is also under fire for exacting political revenge with state money.

After a spat with the Brevard Zoo, Fine successfully lobbied Gov. Ron DeSantis to veto $2 million in state funding.

In April, the Florida Commission on Ethics found probable cause to believe Fine threatened to cut state funding for the city of Melbourne and the Special Olympics.

A political critic had been invited to a Melbourne police fundraiser and Fine was not.

That was enough to put state funding for a city project and Special Olympics, the charity benefiting from the fundraiser, “on the veto list,” Fine reportedly said.

Later invited, Fine responded he “would not go “to jack s— where that whore (the critic) is at.”

Fine also bragged about ensuring the Brevard Zoo lost money when it considered not renting space to political candidates of any party.

The discussion followed a Fine campaign event at the zoo that triggered protests.

Fine labeled the zoo “woke” and said he successfully lobbied DeSantis to zero out $2 million in funding.

“Go woke, go broke,” he tweeted.

No ethics complaint was filed in the zoo case.

As for Fine’s Ethics Commission case, the next step would be for a state advocate to take depositions and pursue a hearing before an administrative law judge. Fine has the option of settling.

FAU has suspended the university’s presidential search until further notice.

West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James gives an interview on June 22. (Photo: Joel Engelhardt/Stet)

Fact check on West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James’ law license: No, the Florida Bar didn’t revoke it. He willingly deactivated it.

In 2019. Four months after taking office, James put his law license on inactive status.

“Under the city charter, I can’t have any other source of income,” James said. “I didn’t want to open myself up to criticism that you’re still practicing law.”

Plus, he doesn’t have to maintain continuing education requirements. He can take extra classes if he ever wants to activate his law license again.

That may happen, the Harvard Law-trained mayor said. He is term-limited in 2027.

“I can always reactivate it if and when I decide to practice law again,” he said.

Also, James had every right to testify in an October 2022 deposition in the Sunset Lounge lawsuit that “I'm a member of the Bar.” That’s allowed, said Jennifer Krell Davis, spokesperson for the Bar, which regulates lawyers.

Those who are inactive pay $175 annually in dues instead of $265.

In 2015, of the Bar’s 101,279 members, 11,275 were inactive, according to agency records.

James still has a Florida Ethics Commission case open against him, as Stet has reported this month. Stet’s coverage resumes Thursday. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

🥦 The juice

Fresh-squeezed news from all over

Night scene of palm trees and water with rising moon. — (State Archives of Florida/Theodore Strawn)

🛳️ West Palm Beach rejects the bid challenge by the company that lost a chance to build a new marina on the downtown waterfront. The city says Safe Harbor missed the seven-day deadline to file. (WPBF)

🏡 The Lord’s Place expects to help about 3,000 people this year in Palm Beach County, up from 1,700 last year. (WLRN)

🚜 The Hangar, a 12-acre luxury storage unit facility for items from cars to wine collections is under construction on Congress Avenue near PBIA. Unlike most storage spaces, you can’t lease space here. You must buy it with prices starting at $600,000. (Sun-Sentinel $)

🦁 561 insider: Something to roar about

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