Pompano Beach weighs property tax rate hike

Pompano Beach’s budget hearing will be Tuesday, after it was postponed last week because of Hurricane Irma.

The city plans to introduce a tax rate that is an increase of 3.2 percent more than the current year’s rate. It will raise about $6.7 million, or 11.2 percent more in taxes than the city collected last year.

The proposed tax rate is about $5.49 for every $1,000 of taxable value, an increase from last year.

For the owner of a $150,000 house that’s a primary residence and protected by state homestead laws, the value would increase 2.1 percent, and $50,000 would be exempt from taxation.

The increase would be about $33 and the bill about $566.

Mayor Lamar Fisher called it necessary, as the cost of doing business has increased.

“You have increased pension costs, you have salary increases and you have insurance costs, which is a major part of it,” Fisher said.

The city’s fire fee is proposed to rise $29 to $163 per residence.

For commercial properties, city administrators are proposing a 4 cent per square foot increase, to make the fire fee 23 cents per square foot for commercial properties.

For industrial warehouses, the fire fee is proposed to rise 2 cents for every square foot to make it 12 cents per square foot.

For institutional properties, it’ll be a rise of 5 cents per square feet to 28 cents per square foot.

It will be the first increase in the fire fee since 2013, according to Commissioner Michael Sobel, who represents the city’s beachside district.

A final hearing on budget will be Sept. 25. the

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