The St. Pete Beach City Commission will decide tonight, July 10th, whether or not to raise tax rates for St. Pete Beach residents, according to an article for Tampabay.com.
St. Pete Beach is currently facing a budget deficit of a million dollars. The tax hike would help to relive that in the next year.
Currently, residents are faced with 2.8569 mills for taxes ($285.69 per $100,000 in taxable assessed property values after all exemptions). The proposed plan from city finance director Elaine Edmunds would increase that number to 3.3484 mills.
If the commission approves this option, residents would pay around $50 more for every $100,000 worth of taxable property.
Utilizing this option, the city would be able to build savings, operate the St. Pete Beach Police, and have around $800,000 for city operations.
If the city decides against a tax increase, the million dollar deficity will have to be made up out of the $3.4 million in savings or by decreasing spending or cutting staff.
What do you think the city should do? Let us know in the comments!
