Short on substance
City Center developer falls short
4
Grades are in
SLW /Traditon schools fare well
8
9
Fountain on the mend Tradition fountain to re-open
ST. LUCIE WEST • TRADITION
YourVoiceWeekly.com VOL. 2/ISSUE 39
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
Council: Tentative tax rate shouldn’t create panic
FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 2014
Girl Scout volunteers
Brandon Zeris Staff writer
bzeris@YourVoiceWeekly.com
PORT ST. LUCIE — City council is doing a balancing act. They want to approve reasonable budget that doesn’t cut programs or jobs, but the city doesn’t bring in enough money to do that. To make up the difference, the council decided last Friday at their annual retreat to set a tentative property tax rate increase of about 49 percent. Last year’s rate charged property owners about $5.62 per every $1,000 in value. The new rate would be about $8.37 for every $1,000. Council members repeatedly stressed that the rate is not final, however. The approval allows council to set the maximum rate at .83702 during the final budget meeting Sept. 22, but they could also approve a lower rate. “I will not be supporting that rate at the end,” Mayor JoAnn Faiella said. “I don’t want any panic attacks out there.” If the proposed rate is approved in September, it
See TAXES page 31
Mitch Kloorfain/chief photographer Kayla O’Brien, 11 and Bella Miggiani, 10 earn volunteer time packing several of the 2,500 school backpacks for United Way of St. Lucie County to be distributed to students in need at the beginning of the 2014-15 semester. Kayla and Bella each attend one of the Renaissance Charter Schools of St. Lucie West and Tradition.
State sues Digital Domain for fraud Brandon Zeris Staff writer
bzeris@YourVoiceWeekly.com
TRADITION — In what reads more like a movie script than an actual lawsuit, Gov. Rick Scott’s administration is suing Digital Domain to get back the $20 million it gave the company, alleging that the it acquired the money fraudulently. The introduction doesn’t have a normal lawsuit’s tone.
“The script had the makings of a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster: greed, corruption, special effects and a star-struck audience willing to suspend belief. In the real world, there was no Hollywood happy ending. The hero did not save the day. The villain was not defeated. Instead, the story ended with Florida taxpayers being cheated out of over $80 million dollars,” the suit, filed by the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity, says. A March 2013 inspector general
report stated there was nothing illegal about the report but noted it wasn’t held to the same standards as other proposals. Former Governor Crist said he felt confident that Digital Domain would hold true to its promises and fulfill its financial obligations, but Dale Brill, the governor’s economic development chief, said he did not agree with the funding because Digital Domain appeared to be too risky of a company to give that much money to.
The money was approved after Digital Domain was able to use other avenues to get the money approved. The standards were changed in ’09, making it possible for Digital Domain to circumvent the normal process. Port St. Lucie Councilwoman Michelle Berger said the governor’s office contacted city officials last month to see if they wanted in on the lawsuit, but Berger said the city declined.
See FRAUD page 9
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID FORT PIERCE, FL PERMIT NO. 248
Local Postal Customer
12569
ECRWSS
See
uS on page
5