REDINGTON SHORES – The reserve funds will be tapped and the millage increased to make up an anticipated $170,000 drop in Redington Shore’s tax revenues for the coming year.
The two-step approach was outlined by Mayor Bert Adams and agreed to by the Board of Commissioners at the June 24 budget workshop.
Adams and the town finance committee decided to raise the ad valorem tax rate from 1.80 to 2.0, trimming back an earlier proposal of an increase to 2.13. Instead, the town will spend down some of the more than $3 million held in reserve funds.
The proposed millage rate increase will cost taxpayers about $20 per $100,000 in taxable value on their home, Commissioner Lee Holmes estimated in a calculation done following the meeting. The rate hike is expected to generate about $100,000 in additional revenue for the town.
The money taken from the town reserves, about $50,000, will come out of interest earned on the $3 million account, and will not affect the principal, Adams said.
“We are keeping the reserves where they should be for a town this size,” he stressed.
Even with these actions, spending cuts will be needed to balance the budget.
The commissioners were unanimous in their support for the budget moves.
Commissioner Casey Wojcik commended Adams for “moderating” the budget’s impact on taxpayers by partially making up the shortfall with reserve funds.
The millage rate increase is “very small, not a big chunk of money for taxpayers,” Commissioner Lee Holmes said.
Vice Mayor John Branch said imposing even a small tax increase was not an easy decision, but “we’re hurting, folks, so we have to do something.”
The budget will be further refined when final numbers for the fiscal year come in from the tax appraiser on July 1, Adams said.
Town employees’ workload to grow
While the budgetary crisis lasts, town workers will be taking on more duties currently being handled by outside vendors, Adams said.
“Anything we can possibly do will be done in-house,” he said. “We are not going to contract anything out.”
Public Works Commissioner Tom Kapper said there were a number of projects the public works people could do in place of outside contractors.
“We are going to keep them busy,” he pledged.
County seeks bigger share of parking revenue
County Park is maintained by county employees, so county officials have been seeking to change the current 60/40 split of parking meter revenues favoring the town to a 55/45 divide where the county takes the larger chunk.
Adams said he proposed a compromise solution where the town would take over all maintenance duties except restrooms and split the meter revenue 50/50.
The county has tentatively accepted the deal, Adams indicated, but has not signed off on it. Only one of two parking meter stations at the park is currently working, he said. When the town buys a replacement for the non-operative station, all meter revenue will go to the town until the new one is paid for.
Cuts due in boulevard beautification funds
Money available for Gulf Boulevard beautification keeps dwindling, Adams told the commission.
The county’s beautification account is due to take a $9 million hit, going from $35 million to $26 million, he said.
As the funds are divided according to communities’ frontage on Gulf Boulevard, Redington Shores’ share would drop to $1.2 million.
The beautification money comes from Penny for Pinellas funds, which are financed to a large extent by tourist spending, Adams indicated, so beach projects should be respected.
Adams praised County Commissioner Neil Brickfield for “defending the beaches’ share of Penny for Pinellas money.”
