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I attended the informational meeting of the “We are Perdido”
effort the other night at Liberty Church in District 1. I thought the event went well, the speakers
did a good job, and the venue was comfortable.
The audio-visual system was very good.
A large crowd was on hand as well, to get the information.
Full Disclosure: I am
agnostic on this effort at incorporation; I am neutral. This is a decision (whether to incorporate
Perdido) of the citizens and residents and business owners of that study area
and their decision only. This
is exactly what I told Channel 3 when they interviewed me on this very
topic, and it is also what I told InWeekly reporter Tommy St. Meyer when he also
recently interviewed me on this topic. Yes, it is in my district---but whether
the effort to incorporate is successful or not—that won’t change. It will still be a part of the county and in
District 1.
But I am going to study and examine every aspect of this
initiative to learn all that I can about it so that I can speak to constituents
with a more informed opinion when I am asked about this effort. (I am already getting questions about this incorporation)
So, I came to the meeting. I stayed for about 1 ½ hours and listened to
the presentation. I was particularly impressed
with Lynn Tipton, the guest speaker from the Florida League of Cities. She brought a power point presentation with
lots of useful data to relay to the assembled crowed of about 250 or so.
At the end of the presentation, a brief question and answer
session was held.
So, the next day I reached out to Ms. Tipton and had the opportunity
to speak with her Wednesday evening about some additional questions I had.
I asked about additional revenue sources the new city, if
incorporated, would be able to raise.
According to her, the city can receive a share county’s
Local Option gas taxes if they take over the county’s roads within the city’s
footprint. At the meeting, one of the
organizers stated in answer to a question about Perdido Key Drive that they
would not be seeking to take over the roads and the responsibility for the
maintenance and repair of the road. So,
this seems to foreclose Perdido’s ability to tap into those funds. Tipton did mention that it is not uncommon
for some cities in Florida to have county roads within their municipalities.
Other takeaways included the following:
--Parks, Boat Launches, and public beach accesses within
this Perdido footprint would remain a part of the county—unless the new city
negotiated to take them over and purchase them.
--Potential 10 Mill levy—while completely lawful to do for
the new city (Pensacola levies over 4 mills on top of the county’s assessment)--
if the elected councilmen/women of Perdido voted to do this---as a practical
matter according to Tipton this is highly unlikely as no Florida municipality
has levied this high a number on the citizens served because there is an
unacknowledged “cap” where if a certain percentage is levied all the
councilpersons get voted out. People
don’t like ad valorem tax rate increases.
--How Much will 1 Mill equate to when applied to We Are Perdido’s
self-identified taxable value of
$3.5 Billion? It appears, stripping out
the school board tax and only applying the county’s, the Sheriff’s, and the
library districts combined rate of 7.6605 mills---that each “Mill” of value
will be approximately $3.5 Million. (Or an easier calculation to make to
determine the value of just one mill is to take the total taxable value and
either divide by 1000 or multiply by .001.
1 mill = $3.5 Million)
--How would the new city tap into the county’s ½ cent sales tax and 8th cent gas tax revenues? The new city would have to qualify to tap into these funds through the Department of Revenue by raising an amount of revenue the equivalent of at least levying 3 Mills to the taxable value of the property within its footprint. Meaning in order for the fledgling city to tap into the ½ cent DOR revenue and 8th cent in gas tax---important revenue sources to the city because these revenue sources are bondable---the new city would need to show DOR new revenue generation of $10.5 Million (3 Mill equivalent) via ad
