Great resolve versus great results
Highland Beach voters nix projects Hollywood tax rate to go up as city borrows $165 million
Highland Beach residents will need to figure out how to control flooding and protect the town from severe weather after the stinging defeat of a storm protection plan at the polls last week, Mayor Rhoda Zelniker said.
She said the town’s problems remain: State Road A1A still floods, its bike lanes don’t meet minimum standards and utility lines could get knocked down in the next hurricane.
“It’s a big mistake not to address these things,” she said.
Residents who opposed the projects questioned why the town should pay, since the state controls A1A, the town’s main thoroughfare that floods in severe weather. And they said town commissioners would have had too much discretion in spending the proposed $45 million for upgrades.
“People were uncomfortable voting for that amount of money,” said Greg Babij, chairman of the town’s financial advisory board. He said they saw it as a “piggy bank” that could have proven a tempting pot of money for commissioners to spend irresponsibly.
Resident John Ross, a founder of the Committee to Save Highland Beach, which led the charge against the referendum, agreed.
“It became a $45 million boondoggle,” he said.
“People are upset the commission didn’t follow prudent public policy,” resident Rick Greenwald said. “A lot of us would like to see them go back to basic good governance instead of these silly audacious plans.”
Commissioners said they got the message from voters: More than 94 percent opposed each of three items that would have improved State Road A1A, upgraded drainage to reduce flooding problems and buried utility lines. The price tag could have totaled as much as $45 million.
Commissioner Peggy GossettSeidman said she will propose a citizens’ advisory committee to decide on next steps.
Gossett-Seidman said there are an abundance of retired doctors, engineers and attorneys who could offer their expertise on how to proceed with future improvements.
“The people of the town will get together and come up with a plan,” she said.
South Florida’s coastal cities have begun tackling the same issues. In Miami Beach, construction has already begun on elevated roads and pumps that help to dry streets after floods.
In Broward, beach dunes have been built and seawalls raised. Municipalities have invested in sensors, gates and pumps to push water out of neighborhoods.
Delray Beach commissioners were stunned recently to hear the price tag for raising roads and improving drainage and seawalls in 14 neighborhoods in their frequently flooding city: $378 million. DOT has promised to repair A1A by 2022, but not its flooding problems, Commissioner Barry Donaldson said.
A1A has become a water “retention basin,” Donaldson said.
“People have to acknowledge we have a problem,” he said.
HOLLYWOOD Hollywood’s tax rate already is one of the highest in Broward County — and it’s about to get even higher.
That’s because Hollywood voters approved a $165 million bond last week that will require $100 million in interest payments over 25 years.
The new bond will help pay for a new police headquarters, upgrades to city-owned parks and golf courses and neighborhood improvements that include building sea walls where none are now.
Hollywood is already paying off a $54 million, 30-year parks bond approved by voters in 2004.
The payments on the new $165 million bond may start as soon as November, when tax bills start to arrive. Hollywood’s new tax rate will increase from $770 to $834 per $100,000 of assessed property value, city spokeswoman Raelin Storey said.
For a home with a taxable value of $165,000, the bond debt will add $106 to the yearly property tax bill. And for a home assessed at $1.98 million, the debt will add $1,272 to the tax bill.
Retired pilot Doug Evans, who voted against the bond, said he and his wife are so mad they’re planning to move. He figures they’ll have to pay an extra $200 a year for 25 years.
“We’re just becoming frustrated — and we’re not the only ones,” he said. “If you look around, you’ll see a lot of homes up for sale. You’re driving people out of here. If I ran my household the way the city runs things, I wouldn’t have anything.”
But supporters of the bond say it will help make Hollywood better.
Building the new police station and other more complex projects could take anywhere from three to five years. But city parks should be getting new playground equipment within six months.
Buying the closed Sunset Golf Course — a proposal that persuaded nearby residents to lobby for the bond — is a top priority, Storey said. Hollywood officials expect to spend $12 million buying the land and transforming it into a nature preserve.
Longtime resident Kim Ottaviani says she was “gung-ho” about the bond and can’t wait to see improvements start to happen.
“I know people say the city mismanages the money,” she said. “That’s an old way of thinking. I have faith in the people in charge.”
Hollywood plans to set up a 15-member oversight board charged with making sure the money is not misdirected.
Resident Jack Izzo criticized Hollywood’s decision to hold a special election in March, when turnout tends to be lower.
Only 9 percent of Hollywood voters bothered to go to the polls on March 12 or vote by mail. Only 4.98 percent of the city’s 93,068 voters said yes to spending $78 million on a new police station and fire equipment. A slightly higher 5.45 percent said yes to spending $23 million on neighborhood improvements. And 5.13 percent said yes to spending $64 million on parks and golf course improvements.
Hollywood officials say they were worried voters might skip the bond questions if they were on the crowded ballot in November 2018.