Lake Helen says ‘no’ to property-tax loophole

BEACON PHOTO/JEN HORTON
You have the option — Second from left, City Administrator Don Findell tells commissioners they have the option to raise millage, on the spot, from 5.218 to 5.318 due to a 1.89 percent revenue shortfall. Listening, from left, are Wendie Levings, who filled in for City Clerk Nancy Wilson, Commissioner Vernon Burton, Mayor Joan Duffy, Vice Mayor Buddy Snowden, Commissioner Cameron Lane and City Attorney Lonnie Groot.

By Jen Horton
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Oct 5, 2009 - 8:41:07am

The numbers from the Volusia County Property Appraiser were delivered to Lake Helen Sept. 30, the day before City Commission met. And they weren’t too great.

City Administrator Don Findell said the appraised value of Lake Helen properties was down 1.89 percent, or more than $1 million. This will create a budget shortfall for the city of about $10,000.

State law, he said, would have allowed the commission to raise the approved millage rate on the spot, from 5.218 to 5.318, to make up lost money. But a motion to increase the millage to 5.318 was unanimously denied. Commissioner Ann Robbins was not in attendance.

Commissioner Vernon Burton had previously said at Lake Helen budget meetings that setting the millage at 5.218, or $5.218 per $1,000 of taxable property value, meant the city could not go up, but it could go down.

“What was said about setting the millage rate was true — to a point,” Findell explained.

Because the property values dipped in from July to September, the state would allow the town the opportunity to recover lost money.

Vice Mayor Buddy Snowden said there was a comfort level at the set rate.

He said he was “guardedly optimistic” that with community support, the $10,000 would not be as devastating as it could be. “I would be inclined to stay where we are,” Snowden said.

Commissioner Cameron Lane agreed. “I also agree that we can absorb that $10,000, and it would be politically unpopular, and rightfully so, to raise that.”

— jen@beacononlinenews.com

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