Palm Beach Gardens annexation: Property owners fear higher taxes; city says most would pay less

PALM BEACH GARDENS — The city is going ahead with its proposed annexation of five different areas in the March election despite one last outcry from residents living in the plan’s largest zone, who begged the city not to proceed during the council meeting on Thursday, Dec. 6.

The residents said they object to having an extra layer of government if Palm Beach Gardens were to annex their properties and cited concerns about what they would pay in taxes for municipal services.

Some of their comments were at odds with projections listed on the city’s website and with information available from the Palm Beach County Property Tax Collector's Office. That information reported:

• Owners of homes valued at $411,250 — of which more than 70% of homes in the annexation areas are valued below — would end up with little difference in their tax bills.

• Those with homes valued at $250,000 would save $274.95 in taxes a year.

• Those with homes valued at $600,000 would pay $324.22 more in taxes, according to the city’s estimates.

Council members voted unanimously to give final approval to the ballot questions after more than 30 people at the meeting asked them not to proceed. If the five questions pass, each with 50% of the vote plus one from the residents of the area, 1,316 acres of land would be added into the city’s boundaries.

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Strongest opponents of Palm Beach Gardens annexation live in one zone

Almost all of the people who spoke during public comment were from Area 1 of the annexation plan, the largest of the five areas.

Set between Alternate A1A, the Intracoastal Waterway, PGA Boulevard and Donald Ross Road, the area includes the communities of Hidden Key, Cabana Colony, Crystal Point, Frenchmen’s Landing and Captain’s Key. Extending more than 2 miles at its widest points, it covers 1,244 acres, 3,607 homes and 7,760 people.

The Village of North Palm Beach is competing with Palm Beach Gardens to annex four areas that include a total of 182 homes, and landowners there will cast ballots for each municipality in March. The Town of Juno Beach has moved forward with a voluntary annexation of the Captain’s Key neighborhood — also in the city’s annexation plan — during their meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 13.

“I was shocked when I found out about this,” said Mary D’Angelo, a resident of Hidden Key, a community of 70 homes off Jack Nicklaus Drive just east of U.S. 1, at the Dec. 6 meeting. “It feels like an arranged marriage with no first date.”

Bob Minkewicz, another Area 1 resident who lives in the Kathy Lane neighborhood east of Ellison Wilson Road, polled the audience that packed City Hall that night, asking who supported the annexation. Not one hand was raised.

Some residents in the proposed annexation zones have started a donation-funded political committee called “Coalition Against Annexation” in late November, according to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections.

The county firefighter’s union, Local 2928 of the International Association of Firefighters, publicly supports the group, according to Jeffrey Newsome, the union’s president. None of the Palm Beach Gardens firefighters are members of this union group, according to a spokesperson for the city.

The union also is leading opposition to Jupiter's decision to create its own fire department and has taken that town to court in hopes of placing the issue before voters in March.

Its members said they organized anti-annexation rallies at Juno Park on Saturday, Dec. 2, and outside of City Hall on Thursday, Dec. 6, where around 20 people stood with signs that yielded honking from some cars that passed by.

They plan to contact the residents in the annexation areas at the start of the new year and ask them to vote “no” on the ballot item, said Charlie Hollings, vice president of the homeowners’ association for Pleasant Ridge, a U.S. 1 neighborhood that would prefer to be annexed by Juno Beach.

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Palm Beach Gardens officials: It's your choice whether to annex

Annexing entire neighborhoods can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to a local government’s tax base, and property values are soaring in northern Palm Beach County, as they are across the region.The city stands to reap $2.1 million in property taxes in the upcoming fiscal year if it were to annex just Area 1 alone, according to a presentation by Martin Fitts, city planning manager, on Wednesday, Dec. 6.

Palm Beach Gardens officials, however, stressed to those in attendance Dec. 6 that they did not propose annexation purely for the tax revenue. The city already is operating with a budget of $178 million this fiscal year.

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Before voting to move the annexation plan along on Dec. 6, council member Carl Woods said he respected the passion from everyone who spoke during the public comment segment of the meeting.

“This isn’t us against you,” Woods said. “If you don’t like this, don’t vote for it.”“It doesn’t come down to money. Do you think Palm Beach Gardens needs the extra $2 million? The vote probably won’t come in, but we don’t want our city to be a checkerboard.”

The council members said that although they want the annexation, the choice is up to the residents when they vote in March.

“Obviously a lot of you don’t want the annexation,” council member Bert Premuroso said. “I get it, but we are trying to offer you additional services.”

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How property taxes would change if Palm Beach Gardens annexes a home

The city’s first push toward the sprawling annexation plan was in September, when council members announced they would seek to annex five areas now totaling 1,316 acres and 8,352 residents.Officials said it was part of a larger strategy identified by the council to round out the city’s boundaries, provide area residents with more representation and have greater control over development and redevelopment in those areas.

Many continue to question how their tax bills would be impacted if their neighborhood is annexed.

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If a homeowner’s property is added to the city, they would still have to pay the county's millage rate in addition to all other millage rates currently listed on their tax bill. However, there are other changes that would offset that increase:

• The $3.45 municipal service taxing unit (MSTU) mileage rate for fire-rescue services would no longer be listed on their bill, according to a city spokesperson. While they would lose this charge, the city’s $5.17 millage rate would be added to their tax bill.

• The city doesn’t tax utilities, unlike the county, which charges a 10% utility tax on electricity and gas bills.

• The city’s telecommunications tax is lower than the county’s, and the city pays a portion of every resident’s solid waste bill. Palm Beach Gardens officials estimate that a single-family home with curbside pickup would save about 60% on trash and recycling.

• Those annexed into the city would have access to community policing with three-to-five-minute response times and to Palm Beach Gardens Fire Rescue services. There also would be street and canal maintenance, sports recreation programs and storm response plans.

“This is not a hostile thing. It’s an invitation to come into the family. If you don’t want to come into the family, then don’t vote for it,” Woods said during a council meeting on Thursday, Nov. 2.

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Palm Beach Gardens to meet with residents, try to answer questions

The city is increasing its efforts to meet with residents in the wake of increasing skepticism over the annexation.

Officials started out by meeting with the residents of Cabana Colony on Thursday, Oct. 12, at a church near their neighborhood along Alternate A1A. They then had two separate meetings at the Moose Lodge on RCA Boulevard, one with Monet Gardens on Wednesday, Nov. 15, and another with Monet Heights and Monet Acres on Wednesday, Nov. 29.

The city had only one open-house style information session, at City Hall on Thursday, Oct. 26. Some attendees said they left with worse feelings about annexation than before that night.

They said they felt the meeting was disorganized and that they weren’t able to ask questions over the noise in the crowded room where the meeting was held.

The city plans to have another information session at city hall on at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

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Fears of tax increases most common reason people fight annexation

Florida International University professor Dario Moreno has taught political science for more than 35 years and worked directly with local governments on annexation issues in Miami-Dade County for eight years.

The main reason that people oppose annexation is over a fear of property tax increase, according to Moreno, who says the tax rate in unincorporated areas is usually lower than in municipalities.

However, the increase in property taxes is not usually substantial, or more than $500 a year, Moreno said.

Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Higher taxes fuel Palm Beach Gardens residents' annexation fears