CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA

MEMORANDUM

DATE:                       July 20, 2007

TO:                           D. Mike Good, City Manager

FROM:                     Patricia Ladolcetta, Director of Finance

SUBJECT:               Consideration of Setting a Tentative Millage Rate and Fire Assessment Rate for Fiscal Year 2007-08 and Authorizing the City Manager to Sign the Certificate of Taxable Value and Advise Appropriate Agencies of the Tentative Millage and Fire Assessment Rates

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BACKGROUND

The TRIM Bill legislation requires municipalities to submit the Certification of Taxable Value (Form DR-420) to the County Appraiser by August 4, 2007.  Cities are required to certify, in this form, the rolled-back millage rate, current year proposed millage rate, and the date, time and location of the first public hearing.  

DISCUSSION

House Bill 1B, signed into law on June 21, 2007 requires cities to reduce the amount of roll-back rate by a graduated scale of percentages which are based upon the Compound Annual Growth Rate in Per Capita Taxes levied between 2001 and 2006. According to the numbers provided by the Department of Revenue the City of Hallandale Beach is required to levy a maximum millage rate of 91% of the roll-back rate or, in other words, roll-back less 9%.

The Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office has submitted their July 1^st 2007 Certified Taxable Value. The rolled-back millage will be 5.5479, when extended upon the current year's adjusted taxable value of $3,674,973,770 [Gross taxable value ($4,846,649,780) minus new taxable value ($239,261,289) minus CRA dedicated increment value ($932,414,721)]. The City’s gross taxable value had an increase of $661,203,641 (or 15.8%) from $4,185,446,139 in 2006, to $4,846,649,780 in 2007.

The millage rate staff proposes to provide to the County is 5.0486, which is 9% below the rolled-back rate of 5.5479. 

In addition to the millage rate, the City must also advise the Broward County Property Appraiser the date and time of the public hearing and the total amount to be collected from the Fire Assessment.  The costs of Fire protection services for the City continues to rise as the City’s revenue streams from other sources continues to decline. For this reason the City Manager is recommending to increase the Fire Assessment rate from $70 per year to $115 per year ($45 increase, or 64%) for residential classification. All other classifications will increase proportionally. At $115 the City’s rate would still be among the lowest in Broward County. At this rate, for Fiscal Year 2007-08, the gross assessment of $4,324,000 will net receipts of approximately $4,107,800 or $1,607,800 above the current year amount of $2,500,000.

Staff proposes to conduct the Fire Assessment hearing at 5:05 p.m. on September 12, 2007 in accordance with State Statute.

The date of the first public hearing by law has to be set between September 3 and September 18.  Furthermore, it cannot conflict with either the County or the School Board's hearings.  The County has set its first public hearing for September 11, and it’s second for September 25.  The School Board has scheduled their hearing for September 6.  Please also note the City's public hearing must be held after 5:00 p.m.

The second public hearing to adopt the final millage rate must be held two to five days after advertising the hearing and no later than October 1.  In addition, the advertisement must be within fifteen days from the first public hearing date.

RECOMMENDATION

The City Commission:

1.  Authorize the City Manager to sign and advise the appropriate agencies of the City Commission approved proposed millage rate of 5.0486, the total Fire Assessment to be collected as described on page one of this report and the date, time and location for the public hearings; and,

2.   Authorize the First Public Hearing on Wednesday, September 12, 2007, at 5:05 P.M. for the Fire Assessment Hearing, the City Millage/Budget Hearing for 5:10 P.M., the Golden Isles Safe Neighborhood District Hearing at 5:15 p.m. and the Three Islands Safe Neighborhood District Hearing at 5:20 p.m.; and,

3.  Authorize the Second City Millage/Budget Public Hearing on Wednesday, September 26, 2007, at 5:05 p.m. followed by the Golden Isles Safe Neighborhood District Hearing at 5:10 p.m., followed by the Three Islands Safe Neighborhood District Hearing at 5:15 p.m.

Prepared By:

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Robert Fraidenburg, Assistant Director/Budget Manager

Reviewed:

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D. Mike Good, City Manager                                  Date

____ Approved   ____ Denied    ____ Hold for Discussion

Comments: ___________________________________________________

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