THE HAMMOCK
Observer YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
SUNBROS CAFE 2 SEPTEMBER 2021
VOLUME 6, NO. 2
County approves slight tax rate decrease But lower rate will still increase amount collected.
Clean up crew
JONATHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
Palm Coast hosts 14th-annual Intracoastal Waterway Cleanup.
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Malia Raymond
Photo by Brian McMillan
We’re halfway there
Local Postal Customer
PRESORTED STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID DAYTONA BCH FL PERMIT #447
With Flagler County realizing a 9% increase in property values, county commissioners on Sept. 8 voted unanimously to lower the tax rate slightly in the coming year. Because of the higher property values, the lowered rate will still bring the county government $5.9 million more tax revenue in the coming year than the county received in the current year, amounting to a tax increase. The county’s current property tax rate is $8.5847 mills per $1,000 of taxable value, or 8.5847 mills, including 0.33 mills for debt service millage. Commissioners voted to reduce the milage to $8.4847 per $1,000 of taxable value, or 8.4847 mills. For a $200,000 house with $150,000 in taxable value, the difference between the two rates amounts to $15: A homeowner with such a house would pay $1,287.71 if the rate stayed at 8.5847 mills, and will pay $1,272.71 at the 8.4847 mill rate. The rollback rate — the rate that would bring the county the same dollar amount in tax revenue as it received in the current year, and therefore would not constitute a tax increase — would have been an operating millage of 7.8475 mills. For the $200,000 house with $150,000 in taxable value, the rollback would have meant a tax bill of $1,177.13. The county’s tentative budget for the coming year is $221,094,445, a total of $1,229,376 over the current year’s $219,865,069 budget. The county’s final public hearing on the millage rate and budget will be at 5:01 p.m. Monday, Sept. 20.
Carla Cline delivers 450 gift cards to Advent-Health workers, nearly halfway to the goal of 1,000. Photo by Brian McMillan
Carla Cline, the owner of Flagler Surf Art and Stuff and the website www. flaglersurf.com, said she has since heard of other people taking up the same idea for health care workers in Orlando, Brandon and Palatka.
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Shifting affordable housing advocacy JIM SAUNDERS NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
Realtors are halting an effort to pass a constitutional amendment to ensure funding for affordable housing, saying they will work with legislative leaders to create a program to help people such as nurses, police officers and firefighters buy homes. SEE AFFORDABLE PAGE 5