- May 7, 2024
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Updated July 20, to correct the percent increase in road rehabilitation budget.
The Ormond Beach City Commission reached a consensus at its July 13 workshop to keep the tax rate the same as it was last year — 4.0308 mills — contributing to an overall budget that would be 5.4% higher than it was last year. City Commissioner Dwight Selby was the only one who favored a lower tax rate; Commissioner Rob Littleton said he felt it was appropriate to collect more money this year, considering the high inflation rate in the economy.
In addition to the higher tax rate, which will result in a home worth $250,000 to pay an average of $23.18 more in taxes for the year, the water utility rates are also proposed to increase by $2.45 per month starting on Oct. 1, 2021, and by another $2.70 per month starting Sept. 30, 2022.
Ormond Beach’s utility rates are currently about $38 less per month than Daytona Beach’s rates and have not kept up with maintenance needs, according to Public Works Director Shawn Finley.
Property values in the city are up 5.53%, according to Finance Director Kelly McGuire.
The tentative budget of $101.7 million includes $15.9 million in capital projects, new vehicles and equipment. Most of the capital dollars “are funded from our dedicated capital funds, which allows us to pay as we go to repair, replace and innovate without borrowing money,” City Manager Joyce Shanahan reported.
The budget is designed to address three of the City Commission’s strategic goals:
First, public safety. If the budget is approved, a new Public Safety Fund will be created, funded by16 cents for every $1,000 of taxable property value. The fund would be used for equipment for the Ormond Beach Police Department and the Fire Department.
Second, transportation. The proposed budget contains $750,000 for road rehabilitation, up 50% from last year.
Third, water quality. The proposed budget contains $6,988,500, an increase of $2.91 million from fiscal year 2020-2021, for essential capital infrastructure repair and improvements.
There was some debate as to how to fund the water quality improvements. The increased utility rates will pay for some, but city staff proposed funding the rest with $4.9 million of federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Selby preferred using that “windfall” sum for projects that normally are too big to fit into the budget, such as converting Ormond Beach septic tanks to sewer, and increasing capacity for reuse water so that the city could discharge less wastewater into the Halifax River.
However, using the ARPA funds for new projects would necessitate raising water utility bills even more than the staff had recommended.
Commissioner Troy Kent didn't want to ask residents to pay more. "Keeping it the way it is helps them keep more jingle in their jeans," he said.
Instead, city staff will prepare plans for how to address those projects in future budgets. Littleton also indicated that he would like to have a workshop to discuss special projects.
City staff proposed spending $50,000 to design a dock that would provide an opportunity to create a water taxi to bring pedestrians back and forth across the Halifax River. City Commissioner Susan Persis said it could be “an interesting concept for Ormond Beach,” but other commissioners said a bus or other vehicle would be less risky and less expensive. Ormond MainStreet may be asked to further evaluate alternatives.
