Maitland signals tax, sign code changes

A sign of the times, the Maitland City Council made updates on Monday to two fundamentals of the city that had previously been unchanged for years: the city’s millage rate and its sign code.

The Council unanimously voted to solidify Maitland’s first official property tax increase since 2007, raising the millage rate nearly 10 percent to 4.15 mills – up from 3.88 mills where it’d stagnated for seven years. Assistant City Manager Sharon Anselmo said that with that increase, residents owning homes valued at $350,000 with a $50,000 homestead exemption can expect to pay an estimated $81 in property taxes during the upcoming tax year.

“I think it’s best for the city that we do a little more than just get by,” Councilwoman Bev Reponen said, defending her vote to raise taxes.

Meanwhile, the Winter Park City Commission voted Monday to hold their millage rate at 4.09 mills, the same rate since 2009.

For the first time in decades, the Maitland City Council also voted Monday to adopt a revised sign code to replace the old code, which had been in place since the 1970s. Community Development Director Dick Wells said the new unanimously adopted code brings Maitland’s antiquated code up to modern times. Already erected signs are grandfathered in, Wells said, but starting now residents, businesses, real estate agencies and politicians all need to make note of changes to the size and quantity they’re allowed to display within the city limits.

Real estate agencies are limited in the new code to display only one sign advertising an available property on the lot it which it’s located. And those hosting events in Maitland are also only permitted one temporary sign advertising an event on property of the venue in which it’s held.

Billboards are outlawed as they have been for decades, and portable and human-powered signs – including sign wavers on street corners – are added to the prohibited list.

According to the new sign code, political signs are now limited to one per candidate or cause per land parcel on each public street abutting the property, meaning corner lots can place one sign per cause on each side of their lot. And at polling places, where previously candidates could display up to 10 signs on the grounds, each is now limited to only one sign per place.

“It should clean things up a lot,” Wells said.