Maitland City Council proposes tax increase

The Maitland City Council is proposing to increase the city’s property tax rate for the first time since 2007.

The rate has sat at 3.88 mils, equal to $3.88 per $1,000 of property value. The proposed rate is 3.93 mils, equal to $3.93 per $1,000 of property value.

That caused quite a stir Monday night as Council members debated the pros and cons of raising the rate in the still-struggling economy.

“I don’t want this increase… but I also think that there’s a point where you can just chisel things too much, and I think we might be there,” Councilwoman Bev Reponen said, considering the cuts the city is proposing to make to meet next year’s budget.

Management Services Director Sharon Anselmo said that if kept at the current 3.88 rate, the city would lose $200,000 in tax dollars in 2013 due in part to reductions in property values.

To make up for that loss, in its current 2013 drafted budget using the 3.88 rate, the city has proposed eliminating federal and state lobbyist positions, for $60,200 and $50,000 respectively; a grant writer position for $16,000; and two Movies in the Park events for $4,000, among other cuts.

Raising the millage rate, Mayor Howard Schieferdecker said, could help ease the cuts the city needs to make, while also helping it offer services valued by citizens that they might not otherwise afford, even if that means paying a little more upfront.

“The residents have had a 25 percent reduction in their (ad valorem) taxes the last three years (due to declining property values)… some time or other we’re going to have to stop going down,” he said. And by the Council’s 3-2 vote, that time could be now.

The Council has until Sept. 24 to alter the millage rate, but a public notice will be mailed to property owners with the proposed rate next week by the Orange County Property Appraiser’s office. Anselmo advised that after that point, it’s significantly easier to lower the rate than to raise it in terms of costs of public notification from the city. Public input on the issue will be taken at the Sept. 10 Council meeting.

Councilwoman Linda Frosch and Councilman Phil Bonus staunchly opposed the increase, stating that in this economy, that it is the last thing Maitland homeowners need to deal with, which left them as the two dissenting votes favoring keeping the rate at 3.88.

“This year again is just one of those years again where I cannot in my own conscious think about raising taxes,” Bonus said. “That’s just insane in my view.”

“It’s raising taxes during one of the hardest times for our citizens,” Frosch added, saying she would stick to her campaign promise of never raising city taxes.

And while Schieferdecker pressed that he was not in favor of raising taxes either, that the millage rate is not a tax, as it doesn’t effect all residents equally and is individually dependent on homeowners’ property values. Bonus and residents were quick to disagree.

Resident John Peele brought his cell phone with him to the podium, reading definitions from Answers.com as to how a millage rate is defined as a “tax rate applied to property.” Saying that now is not the time to raise those taxes.

“I don’t care what you say, that’s a tax increase,” Bonus said. “And that’s a tax increase when your income is down, home values have decreased and that turnaround isn’t in people’s minds anymore.”

The original proposed increase was set at 3.98, but following Councilman Ivan Valdes’ suggestion, was lowered to 3.93 to meet in the middle to make up some money but not be as drastic of an increase.

“I’m OK with raising taxes if we need to fix things, but I feel we have a lot of fixes to do before we ask [citizens] to dig into their wallets,” Valdes said.