Palm Beach County commissioners adopted a $7.8 billion following a public hearing last week, agreeing to cut the property tax rate and increase the Supervisor of Elections budget by nearly 50%.
Commissioners cut the tax rate 鈥� or reduced the 鈥渕illage鈥� 鈥� to $4.500 from last year鈥檚 rate of $4.715. The 4.6% decrease is the largest cut in nearly 15 years. And that means residents with homestead properties will see some savings after a decrease in their property taxes next year.
Soaring property values in the county, at from last year, had forced county commissioners to try to offset property tax increases. Primary homeowners will now pay $4.50 per $1,000 of their taxable property value.
The Save Our Homes amendment approved in 1992 by voters places a 3% cap on annual increases in taxable values of homesteaded property.
Residents who are not homesteaded will see their property taxes increase.
The county鈥檚 which includes a roughly $1 billion spending plan for county operations and services, also provides the Palm Beach County Sheriff鈥檚 Office with a $53 million increase, a 6% pay raise for county employees, and $26 million more for infrastructure projects.
The county's budget goes into effect Oct 1st.
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2024 Election Integrity
After loud, contentious scrutiny from critics, county commissioners approved the Supervisor of Election's $34 million budget for fiscal year 2024, allocating at least $10 million more for the county鈥檚 elections office.
Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link told SA国际传谋 the aim is to keep elections safe and secure year-round, particularly ahead of the 2024 presidential primaries and general election.
Link said the county may be vulnerable to interference, especially since former president and Republican presidential front-runner, Donald Trump, is a resident.
鈥淲e are investing in training. We鈥檙e investing in programs,鈥� Link said. 鈥淢ore software that will help to prevent any breach into our computer system.鈥�
During public comments, the funding request sparked intense pushback from some critics who say the increase was unnecessary.
Commissioner Mack Bernard, during , supported the increase, citing concerns there could be security issues if SOE鈥檚 request isn鈥檛 approved.
鈥淚f we don鈥檛 fund it, are we not providing the funding that is necessary for the elections that鈥檚 taking place in 2024,鈥� Bernard remarked, rhetorically.
County administrator Verdina Baker said because the SOE hasn't received grant funding, the office is relying on the ad valorem (county taxes). She would have had to 鈥渟pend those grant dollars first鈥� before requesting county funding.
Commissioner Maria Marino, during the second public hearing, cited an increase in IT and licensing fees, lack of state grant funding among several other reasons that explain the increase of SOE鈥檚 budget.
鈥淭here are a lot of unfunded mandates by the state that we now have to fund here at the local level,鈥� Marino said. 鈥淎nd I believe that if people are unhappy with the way this comes to us, they need to go to Tallahassee and lobby their legislators.鈥�
How SOE works
The county鈥檚 elections office processes local and state ballots, among other responsibilities, such as staffing poll workers, voter roll clean-up every odd year, and registering voters.
SOE relies on several security measures, including the Albert sensor, a cybersecurity device that alerts the county鈥檚 SOE to potential hacking attempts on its network. The sensor is operated by the Center for Internet Security (CIS), which works with the Department of Homeland Security.
There are 鈥減eople trying to get into the system everyday from places like China and Iran,鈥� Link told SA国际传谋. 鈥淢ore often foreign than domestic.鈥�
Link said new state mandates on voting increased the cost of operating voting precincts and locations. Previously, voters could submit mail-in ballots through unmanned drop boxes. Now, as required by a new state law, all county voting sites require direct supervision.
鈥淲e do have to have those attended at all times by our staff members,鈥� Link said. 鈥淪o the hours are a little more limited but we鈥檙e paying for two people to be at every secure ballot intake station.鈥�
Florida鈥檚 primaries are scheduled for March 19, 2024.
