Broward to keep budget steady

Extra cash targets housing, addiction

Broward County plans to spend more to promote the construction of affordable housing, to expand addiction recovery services and to fight the spread of Zika without raising the county’s tax rate.

Because of rising property values, leaving the tax rate the same this year will still mean higher county taxes for property owners — about $85 million more.

County Administrator Bertha Henry’s recommended budget released Friday actually includes a belt-tightening program for the county, which expects state voters to approve a referendum next year giving a bigger tax break to homeowners.

If successful, that referendum would pull about $32 million in taxes out of the county’s revenue streamin two years. So, rather than spend all of the proposed budget increase this year, the county plans to put $11 million in reserves. Next year it would do a $22 million reserve and then be better prepared for 2019.

The county’s proposed tax rate is $5.67 for every $1,000 of taxable value. Only one commissioner, Chip LaMarca, pushed for the county to lower that rate during budget meetings in June.

A typical homesteaded

property valued at $200,000 last year would see a $1,158 tax bill for county services this year, an increase of $24. A typical non-homesteaded residential property valued at $200,000 last year would see an average tax bill of $1,221 this year, an increase of $87.

The county taxes are about 23 percent of a homeowner’s overall tax bill, which also includes assessments from cities, the school district and other governmental entities. The tax figures will be included in preliminary tax bills mailed to property owners in August.

The county’s overall proposed budget is $4.83 billion, which covers the port, airport, enterprise funds, constitutional officers and the county commission’s $1.26 billion operating budget. The proposed property taxes total $1 billion.

The budget takes $15 million reserved for economic development and sets it aside for programs that encourage private developers to provide affordable housing in future projects. The county anticipates spending $5 million from the reserve in each of the next three years.

The budget also includes $3 million more to handle the opening of the new Broward Addiction Recovery Center, with its additional detox beds, and $1.5 million for additional mosquito control staffing and chemicals to fight the Zika virus.

Henry’s proposal has a 4.9 percent increase for the budgets of the county’s constitutional officers: the sheriff, supervisor of elections and property appraiser. Those figures will be further negotiated by commissioners when they return from their summer break in August.

Sheriff Scott Israel requested a 7.7 percent increase, for an $888.1 million budget, and that didn’t include a final cost for security at the new courthouse.

Property Appraiser Marty Kiar has scaled back his budget after initially proposing a 52 percent increase.

Kiar has shaved almost $10 million off his original budget proposal, bringing it to $21.9 million, or a 5.9 percent jump. That’s still $1 million more than commissioners would like. While Kiar’s budget is paid with county property taxes, commissioners don’t have control over it. Instead, it goes to the state Department of Revenue for approval.

Kiar didn’t bother showing up for the commission’s workshop on his budget in June and he didn’t make matters better when he apologized aweek later but still didn’t offer any budget concessions.

He has now removed an $8.5 million computer appraisal system from his budget. He still plans to buy a new system, but will work with the county over how it can be budgeted over multiple years. Kiar had also planned to add 16 new employees to the 211 now on his staff. He now says he will hire only 12 additional workers and will delay those hirings for three months to produce more budget savings.

County commissioners have scheduled a 10 a.m. budget workshop Aug. 29. Public hearings on the budget will be at 5 p.m. Sept. 14 and 26 at the county governmental center in Fort Lauderdale.