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Delray Beach commissioners set 2012 budget

By Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH — Delray’s new budget for the upcoming fiscal year is a done deal. Sort of.

Delray Beach city commissioners on Tuesday approved a $93.03 million budget for the year that begins Oct. 1, plus a property tax rate of $7.19 per $1,000 of assessed value to fund it. The tax rate is the same as this year.

The budget is about $1.6 million less than the current budget and about $9 million less than Delray’s 2007 budget.

But to balance the budget, commissioners still have to implement a fire service fee that City Manager David Harden said would raise about $3.2 million.  Both Boca Raton and Boynton Beach have fire service fees, and Delray has flirted with following suit the last few years.

Commissioners will begin to debate a fire service fee structure at its October workshop meeting.

In other budget-related matters:

— Commissioners approved a property tax rate of  $1 per $1,000 of assessed value to fund the Downtown Development Authority. The tax rate only affects properties within DDA district.

— Hiked rental rates for boat space at the municipal marina by $2 per foot to $18 per month. The marina currently is at full capacity; the city cut rates from $21 per foot per month several years ago at a time when there were vacancies.

— Passed first reading of an ordinance hiking garbage collection rates by 7.7 percent for residential customers, reflecting increases in the consumer price index and fuel costs. Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the ordinance during their Oct. 4 meeting.

— Passed first reading of an ordinance hiking parking fees east of the Intracoastal Waterway by a quarter to $1.50 an hour and increasing the cost of an annual beach parking pass by $10 to $90. The ordinance also would create a senior beach parking permit at an annual cost of $95. The senior permit would be valid for the meters adjacent to the beach along A1A. The increase in fees is expected to raise $190,000.

Commission Tom Carney voted against the ordinance, arguing that hiking fees along East Atlantic Avenue was unfair to businesses in that part of the city.