Town of North Redington Beach

May 15, 2007

All Eyes On Tallahassee

North Redington Beach officials, like those at every local government in the state, are watching the State Capitol to see what kind of money they’ll have to work with in the years ahead. The state legislature will meet in special session from June 12 to June 22 to consider property tax reform. There are at least four different plans that have been forwarded since the topic was first addressed in the regular legislative session. Three were pending when the legislators ended their work, and there was little sign that a compromise was in the offing.

Since then, a fourth proposal has been forwarded, and it appears to be getting enough support to call it a consensus plan. But there are still public meetings being held on the subject, and even this new idea raises questions that have yet to be answered. Both the Governor and legislator leaders have pledged, however, that there will be cuts in property taxes by the time the special session ends.

Regardless of what plan is chosen, the prospect of cutbacks in local government revenue is very real. The only question is how much.

In North Redington Beach, the mayor and town commission are looking at preparing several budgets to reflect possible changes in revenue. There will be only about a month for official budgets to be prepared after the special session ends. Since the town already has one of the lowest tax rates in the state, there is hope that further cutbacks will be mild at best.

Code Update Continues

The town commission is continuing to review the municipal code to bring it up to date with current practices, and to eliminate contradictions.

For example, at its most recent meeting, the commission amended the ordinance that regulates hours of construction in the town. It was discovered that one section of the code had set 5 p.m. as the end time for construction activity while another set the time as 6 p.m. The commission agreed on 6 p.m.

There was also clarification of the ordinance that regulates construction of docks. The change makes it clear that a dock is an accessory use, but it also allows construction of a dock to begin when a permit is issued for construction of the house that is the principal structure. It also allows owners to begin using the dock as soon as construction begins on the house.

Because of a change in state law, the section of the code pertaining to occupational licenses is being changed so that the occupational license tax will now be known as a business tax. And the name “business tax receipt” will replace occupational license. Anyone doing business in town will still have to pay as before. If there are questions, contact the town clerk at 391-4848.

Comprehensive Plan

County planners are putting together amendments to the recently adopted comprehensive plan that will address several minor issues that came up during the town’s development of the state mandated Evaluation and Appraisal Report.

The amendments will probably come before the Planning and Zoning Board and then the Town Commission for public hearing and action sometime in June.

The amendments recognize actions that were taken in the year between adoption of the Plan and the EAR, and clarify policies that underscore the Plan vision to retain the current mix of uses and beach town ambiance of the community.