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City Commission Votes on Preliminary 2022-2023 Budget and Downtown Properties Sale
- Jeff Barnes
- July 29, 2022
- 8:00 am
Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2022-2023
Andrew Thompson, Director of Financial Services for the City of Oakland Park, gave a detailed presentation to the Commission on the Proposed FY 2022-2023 City Budget at the July 20th, 2022 City Commission Meeting.
The City Budget, including the Millage Rate, is presented to the Commission for their consideration and vote in three separate Commission meetings. The first is the “Preliminary Budget”, followed at the next meeting by the “Tentative Budget”, followed at the next meeting by the “Final Budget”.
As presented at the July 20th meeting, the Proposed City Budget for FY 2022-2023 is $138,170,382, an 8% increase over last year.
Millage Rates
Thompson outlined the recommended Preliminary Milage Rates and Assessment Rates. The Proposed Millage Rate for FY 2022-2023 is 5.8550, a decrease from the current 5.8890.
This will be the eighth reduction of the Millage Rate in ten years. City real estate taxes that homeowners actually pay is the Millage Rate x Assessed Value of the Property. The Assessed Value of the Property is determined by the Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office.
General Obligation Bonds
Oakland Park voters approved $40 million in Obligation Bonds in 2018 to rebuild the City’s aging Fire Rescue and community facilities. The G.O. bond debt service to be paid next fiscal year is approximately $3.0 million, which will require a debt service millage rate of 0.4628 mills for the 2020 Series and a debt service millage rate of 0.2344 mills for the 2022 Series. The combined debt service rate is 0.6972 for both rates combined.
In summary:
- Operating Millage Rate: 5.8550 mills;
- Series 2020 G.O. Bond Debt Service Millage: 0.4628 mills;
- Series 2022 G.O. Bond Debt Service Millage: 0.2344 mills.
Assessments
Fire Assessment
The Proposed Rates for FY 2023 remain unchanged from FY 2022. The residential rate remains at $251 per residence.
Solid Waste Fund
The Proposed Residential Special Assessment Rate for Solid Waste is $280.50, an increase of $25.50 or 10%. The current rate of $255.00 has been in place since FY 2013. The county wide average is $344.00.
Stormwater Fund
The Proposed Stormwater Fund Assessment rate is $114.00 per equivalent residential unit (ERU), an increase from the current $84.00. This is the first increase since 2016 and the second since 2008.
Water & Sewer Fund
A new Wastewater Agreement has been approved with Fort Lauderdale. The rates will be determined during the summer of 2022.
TRIM Notice Update
TRIM notices will be sent out on August 12th.
Public Hearings
Public hearings for the FY23 budget are scheduled to take place Wednesday, Sept. 7, and Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 6:30 p.m. A hearing for the fire, stormwater, and residential solid waste assessments will take place on Monday, Sept. 12 at 6 p.m.
The Commission voted 5-0 to approve all preliminary budgetary items.
Andrew Thompson’s entire presentation is available on the city’s website.
Downtown Properties Sale
The Commission also heard, on first reading, the proposed purchase and sale agreement for the Downtown City Properties.
The sales price for the City owned Downtown Properties, located between NE 36th Street and NE 38th Street, on, and east of, NE 12th Avenue, is $11,206,580. The purchaser of the property is Kaufman Lynn Falcone Group. They have created a new entity for this project called Horizon of Oakland Park LLC. Closing on the property would be approximately 2 months after City Hall moves into its new space in the SKY Building.
The Commission voted 5-0 to approve the purchase and sale agreement on first reading.
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About the Author
Jeff Barnes
Jeff Barnes has lived in Oakland Park since 2001. Originally from Denver Colorado, Jeff moved here for the sunshine and he never looked back. He is a past board member of The Corals Of Oakland Park Neighborhood Association where he served as Vice President 2017-2020 and President from 2020 to 2021.
Jeff has lived on both the West and East sides of Oakland Park and is very well versed in Oakland Park history. A very active citizen, you will often see him at all the local Oakland Park events and meetings.
Jeff has worked in the Commercial Real Estate Management field for 20 years in downtown Fort Lauderdale. His hobbies include, classic movies, travel, writing and pretty much anything outdoors, weather permitting.
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