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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes_Special Meeting_07/31/1990 VILLAGE OF TEQUESTA Post Office Box 3273 • 357 Tequesta Drive Tequesta, Florida 33469-0273 • (407) 575-6200 FAX: (407) 575-6203 V I L L A G E O F T E Q U E S T A S P E C I A L V I L L A G E C O U N C I L M E E T I N G M I N U T E S J U L Y 3 1, 1 9 9 0 I. The Tequesta Village Council held a special meeting at the Village Hall, 357 Tequesta Drive, Tequesta, Florida, on Tuesday, July 31, 1990. The meeting was called to order at 5:30 P.M. by Mayor Joseph N. Capretta. A roll call was taken by the Recording Secretary, Fran Bitters. Councilmembers present were: Mayor Joseph N. Capretta and Vice-Mayor Mackail. Councilmembers William E. Burckart and Earl Collings were on vacation. Councilmember Edward Howell was on vacation. Because there were only two Councilmembers in attendance, there was no quorum. Village Officials present were: Thomas G. Bradford, Village Manager, Wendy Harrison, . Assistant to the Village Manager, Bill C. Kascavelis, Finance Director and Department Heads. II. DISCUSSION OF REVISIONS TO THE PROPOSED TENTATIVE MILEAGE RATE (5.7500). Village Manager Bradford reviewed the reason for calling this meeting, which was the Solid Waste Authority's apparent desire to delay the garbage fee, which has to do with the proposed assessment on each property owner's tax bill that was proposed to take place for the first time this year. If the Solid Waste Authority changes its mind on its previous decision to do this, they will effect the Budgets of the 37 cities in Palm Beach County. Some cities have it in their millage rate; others merely have to change their revenue numbers, etc., within their Budget, but not necessarily change their millage rate. At the last Council meeting, the tentative millage rate was set pursuant to the Budget review that was held. Mr. Bradford presented some overhead projections demonstrating the impact on the Village if the Solid Waste Authority changes their plans on the assessment. special village Council Meeting Minutes July 31, 1990 Page 2 ----------------------- o The first overhead showed the Solid Waste Service Cost Data relative to the present fiscal year. The Village Budgeted amount is $439,000 and anticipate spending $431,610 for garbage service which includes the cost of Nichols Sanitation and the cost that Nichols pays at the dump to the Solid Waste Authority for the tonnage that they put at the dump. There is no cost included in this figure relative to recycling for single family homes, because the Village negotiated for free recycling service for the first year from Nichols Sanitation. However, the Village has to begin paying for recycling next year. The cost of collection currently for a single family home is $8.19/month, and the tipping fee is $8.56/month, for a total garbage bill of $16.75/month. Condominiums or multi-family units pay $6.96/month, and their tipping fee is $7.28/month, costing them a total of $14.25/month. There are 1,432 single family units in Tequesta, and 963 . condominium units, with an annual projected cost of $441,660, based on this latest house count. If you extrapolate $441.660, based on the $289,808,192 taxable value in the Village, it shows that in the current millage rate of 6.1828, 1.5234 of the tax bill goes strictly for garbage service. o The next overhead showed the proposed Budget presented at the Council Workshop, which did not include tipping fees (tipping fees are the revenue of the Solid Waste Authority). It was proposed, starting October 1, to bill each individual house directly on their water bill for the cost of garbage service. Starting on October 1, that cost would jump 5% from Nichols Sanitation to $8.60/month for single family homes, $7.31/month for condos for collection only. The annual refuse service cost to the Village would be $232,260. It would also be necessary to begin, for single family homes, recycling costs at $1.84/month times 1432 single family homes, equalling $31,620, a total solid waste cost of $237,500. If the Village were to put that in the tax rate, which was not proposed, the tax rate for that cost next year would have been .7101 mills for that service. It was proposed to be placed on the water bills because commercial properties in the Village of Tequesta, under the current . system, are paying for garbage twice (in their tax rate, which was shown earlier, and by the Village's Franchise Special Village Council Meeting Minutes July 31, 1990 Page 3 ----------------------- Agreement that commercial properties have to pay Nichols directly, based upon the size of the dumpster they have and the number of times it is picked up for that service). It is therefore inequitable to commercial property owners in Tequesta to have to pay for this service twice. Because of the assessment from the Solid Waste Authority being billed directly to the property owner, the cost to the resident will have dropped from $16.75 to $8.60, so it would have been more palatable to put that on the water bill. o Next overhead: If the Solid Waste Authority backs out of the program for assessments, Nichols would do exactly as they are doing this year for the Village. The tipping fees at the dump are presently $46.50, and would be radically increased to $85/ton. Tequesta generates 2.21 tons/year of garbage per household. The total cost of $16.75 currently will jump next year to $24.25 per house per month. Nichols is only going up 5% - the rest is the Solid Waste Authority. With a growth factor of 25 single family homes, and a cost factor of $662,163, shows an increase of $220,503 (49.9%) over last year. The millage rate for that service, if placed in the taxes, would jump to 1.97 mills for that service, versus the current 1.5234. o Next overhead demonstrated what the typical water bill would look like when billed for the garbage service. If the Solid Waste Authority continues to go forward with their assessment program, this would be the case: Base Rate $8.30 15,000 Gal. Water 15.75 Tax 1.92 TOTAL WATER $25.97 Garbage Refuse Service 8.60 Recycling Service 1.84 $36.41 If the Village bills for the total cost of garbage service based upon the Solid Waste Authority failing to implement the assessment program for one more year, the typical bill for a Tequesta resident would be $52.06 per . month. The garbage refuse cost billed to the Village, which would be passed on to the resident, would bring the bill to $52.06. • Special Village Council Meeting Minutes July 31, 1990 Page 4 ----------------------- o Next overhead showed where the Village is today: The millage rate for FY91 is proposed at 5.75 mills, which is a reduction from the current 6.1828. This millage does not include the Solid Waste charges for collection services. If Council is so inclined to add in the total cost of Solid Waste collection services by virtue of the Solid Waste Authority failing to do the assessment program, the 1.9798 millage would be added on, meaning that Tequesta's revised millage rate would be 7.7 mills, which is extremely high. o Last overhead showed a typical tax impact if everything was put into the tax bill, and paid the 7.7 mills: the annual cost on the water bill would be $291.00, a loss on Federal tax of $81.48. Village Manager Bradford stated that if the logic originally proposed relative to billing for garbage is the same today as it was yesterday, (i.e., inequitable . to commercial users), it would be even more logical to continue to bill it in the water bill, even if the Solid Waste Authority changes its mind. It is obvious that the commercial property owner would have to pay almost 2 mills in taxes for something they do not receive. He recommended that the Village keep the proposal to bill for garbage as decided previously, and keep the millage rate at 5.75 mills. If the Solid Waste Authority decides to flip-flop, the Village would not have to touch the millage rate; just increase the amount to be billed to the homeowner for the service. Or, the millage rate could be increased, but in order to do this, the Village would have to, by law, (if the millage rate is not set prior to August 6) send a first class letter to every taxpayer in the Village explaining why the millage rate was increased over 5.75. If Council was inclined to put it all in the taxes, after the tentative rate has been set, the letter could be sent (at a cost of $1,600) and explain to the public that the reason the millage rate went up was that the Solid Waste Authority changed the whole program originally in effect for two years. C: Special Village Council Meeting Minutes July 31, 1990 Page 5 ----------------------- Mr. Bradford explained there are other options: 1) The Village could bill just for Nichols on the water bill, and Solid Waste charge in the tax rate, but that tax rate would be less than 7.7 rate previously talked about. 2) Another option, preferable from an administration perspective, is that Florida law allows for a special dependent taxing district to implement Non Ad Valorem special assessments for all properties, and it would be 100 on the tax bill, but not in the Tequesta millage rate, which would avoid the need for putting it on the water bill. Mayor Capretta favored a middle-of-the-road approach which would be to put the handling cost (Nichols) on the water bill, if the Solid Waste Authority flip-flops, and the tipping costs in the millage rate. Mr. Bradford stated he too favors this approach. Vice Mayor Mackail concurred, preferring to up the millage to 7.02 now, avoiding a letter to all properties later. • III. ADJOURNMENT. The meeting was adjourned at 6:05 P.M. Respectfully submitted, ~j~ ~>~~o Fran Bitters Recording Secretary Bill C. Ka avelis Finance Director/Village Clerk DATE APPROVED: ~~~u~ a 3 . ~ P ~' ~