9/8/1993 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

He agreed that we need a sewer system but wanted to let people keep using their own wells. Gerry Smith, 1321 White Heron Lane, moved to Vero Beach at the end of 1986. She sold her house up north for more than twice what she paid for a house on the beach here, but the taxes on this home were $400 more than on the house up north. She is concerned about the increased rates in city utilities. There are increased income taxes, increased property taxes, increased utility rates and people are experiencing less income from CDs, municipal bonds and even stock dividends, and a lot of people are out of work. Regardless of what you can or cannot afford, everybody has a breaking point. She reminded everyone that this country started over objection to just one tax, - and she speculated that our forefathers must be turning over in their graves at least twice a day. She could not understand how the Commissioners could raise taxes year after year when they have to pay them also, unless taxes do not apply to them. Chairman Bird assured her that the Commissioners are nct exempt from taxes. John Weir addressed the 5 percent average increase in assessments throughout the county. He asked who got the decrease that is offsetting it, and whether we separate agriculture and residential in the County's accounting. OMB Director Baird stated that the Property Appraiser supplies the overall aggregate numbers and then we apply our millage rate to those numbers. Details are available from the Property Appraiser. Chairman Bird explained that appraised property values increased an average of 4.12 percent throughout the county. He supposed that some properties received a higher increase, mainly in the higher -priced residential areas, and some of the rural and agricultural areas received a decrease, resulting in the average; however, the bottom line is that the overall tax roll increased. William Roolage, 11 Vista Gardens Trail, Unit 101, stated that he has attended Commission meetings since 1973 or 1974. In that time this county has progressed from wells and septic tanks to a community water and sewer system, which is costly but we need these improvements. He is bothered by the $26 million bond issue for the acquisition of environmentally sensitive lands, and he strongly objected to the procedure of using matching funds which could double that figure. He was concerned about things that drop through the cracks throughout the year. He pointed out that people are hurting from inflation, especially senior citizens. He realized that we must expend more funds because of population 15 SEP 8 1993 BOOK 90 P,1;E 483