Boca Raton Approves City Budget

By Kathryn Wohlpart

The Boca Raton City Councilors will be working with close to a $569 million reserve for the 2014-2015 fiscal year budget. City Councilors met on Sept. 18 to finalize the budget that took effect Oct. 1.

The tax rate was set at $3.71 per $1000 of assessed property value, with a 5-0 vote. According to the proposed budget, this means “[a] home with a taxable value of $300,000 in the City of Boca Raton will pay $1,113.78 in ad valorem taxes.” The tax rate has gone down a third of one percent since last year.

“Obviously, if your assessed value went up, you might possibly pay more,” said City Manager Leif Ahnell, “but we look at it as a city as a whole and this is the effect of the overall city in terms of that.”

In addition to the proposed budget, the commission voted on amendments put forth by the council to provide additional funds for various projects.

Mayor Susan Haynie requested a portion of the budget be made available for the Boca Raton libraries. The Spanish River and Downtown libraries have been operating on alternating weeknights due to funding cuts.

The motion to amend the budget to include $125,000 to restore the previous operating hours of the libraries was sent to vote and was approved 5-0.

The Wildflower Property, located on Palmetto Park Road and NE 5th St, will be evaluated to determine the best course of action to correct the capacity issues at the intersection. The council unanimously voted on a $50,000 budget to complete a study on the “compromised intersection.”

Florida Atlantic University’s Research Park was awarded $50,000 from the city to go towards the Technology Incubator. The Research Park asked the county, the federal government, and the Research Park’s board to match the grant to form a partnership in the growth of the Research Park.

“[The Research Park’s Technology Business Incubator] has played a very supportive role in terms of economic development and getting businesses started and facilitating a lot of programs that help them as start-up businesses.” said Deputy Mayor Constance J. Scott, “And then as they grow they leave the Research Park and they become full-fledged businesses in our community.”

The Festival of the Arts was also provided funds to help improve and secure the talent that will be performing for this year’s festival. Councilors called the Festival an investment that they received a good return on and passed the motion to provide an additional $50,000.

During a public comments section, David Johnson called for the council to start moving on surveying and altering the plans for the Hillsboro Park. “There is broad support for the park from communities surrounding the park and from other areas of the city,” said Johnson. Johnson asked for money to be put into the creation of the park because the people of Boca Raton have been waiting 26 years for the park.

The council discussed the park’s plans and voted unanimously to provide $50,000 to start the construction and planning of the Hillsboro Park. The area was said to have changed drastically since the last plans for the park were drawn nine years ago.

The budget was approved unanimously with all of the council proposed amendments.