Between a proposed millage rate increase, bumps to the road and drainage, solid waste and fire fee districts, as well as an increase in his property value, Greg Culy said that he’s facing as much as an 18 percent increase in his property tax bill.
Commissioners, on the first of three days of budget workshops, were sympathetic but, as Mayor Chris Hanks noted, some of the increases Culy and other homeowners would see are a result of city commissioners keeping tax rates and fee increases artificially low.
The perfect illustration of that dilemma was outlined by North Port Fire Rescue Chief Scott Titus and consultant Erick van Malssen of Stantec, who explained that decisions by previous boards to throttle back the potential increase in the fire fee, including a 5.37 percent reduction in the 2016-17 fiscal year, resulted in the need to increase the fee by 9 percent in each of the next four years, to make sure the department has enough money to provide existing level of service by 2023.