Sheriff & Scouts team up
SLC Sheriff & Dr. Singh get 772 bus
A4
Cascading Vets
New Vets club in SLW
A24 High Tea and Diamonds B1 Terry Rieger melds two passions
ST. LUCIE WEST • TRADITION
YourVoiceWeekly.com VOL. 2/ISSUE 33
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
Treasure Coast property values are rising Patrick McCallister Staff writer
pmccallister@YourVoiceWeekly.com
TREASURE COAST — Ken Pruitt, St. Lucie County Property Appraiser, puts it simply. “The real estate market has definitely made a comeback on the Treasure Coast,” he said. This month the state’s property appraisers are getting reports ready for taxing bodies, such as school boards and county commissions. Pruitt and Laurel Kelly, Martin’s Property Appraiser, are both reporting better than 2 percent rises in their counties’ taxable values. St. Lucie’s
FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2014
First half home stretch
taxable property value increased 2.5 percent since last year. Martin was very close. “(Property values) are up by 2.4 percent from last year,” Kelly said. “This is the second year in the row that the county’s taxable value has increased.” In 2012, Kelly reported that Martin’s taxable value was about $16.9 billion. Last year she figured it at about $17.1 billion. A slight increase — about .88 percent — but an increase. “This is the first year we’ve seen an increase since 2007,” Kelly said in an interview last
See PROPERTY page A12
Preparation is key during Florida’s hurricane season Nicole Rodriguez Staff writer
nrodriguez@YourVoiceWeekly.com
TREASURE COAST — Although it’s been a decade since the Treasure Coast was battered by a major hurricane, experts caution residents to heed their advice to stock up and formulate a storm plan. “It only takes one storm,” Martin County Emergency manage-
ment director Debra McCaughey warns. In 2004, it was two. Hurricane Frances formed from a tropical depression in the deep tropical Atlantic on Aug. 25 about 1,400 miles east of the Lesser Antilles and reached hurricane strength on Aug. 26. Frances became a Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 28 while
See HURRICANE page A6
Mitch Kloorfain/chief photographer Brandon Nimmo, St. Lucie Mets outfielder, makes his way to third base for his fifth triple of the season during a game Monday, June 16 against the Charlotte Stone Crabs. The Mets are half a game out of first place behind Fort Meyers who they play a three game series against June 19-21 at home.
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