IRB Taxpayers Get a Cut; New Flap Flares up in CityBy Leo Coughlin
INDIAN ROCKS BEACH - Taxpayers here will experience a reduction in what they pay in ad valorem taxes next year. Credit the City Commission, but only to the extent that the same millage as last year - 2 - was kept for fiscal year 2010. More likely credit the city manager, Chuck Coward, who did not even recommend going for the rolled back rate (2.3786), which would have kept taxpayers' outlay about the same. With $300,000 or so less money coming in because of an approximate 16 percent reduction in property values, there won't be any city raises but then again there won't be any jobs cut. An increase in some rates and financial fixing the mess left by the previous treasurer accounts for straightening out IRB's money situation. It looks as though the welcomed breathing period of peace and quiet that has been enjoyed since March may be over and that the city is heading back to the contentious days of the past several years. When Terry Hamilton-Wollin won re-election last March that derailed the crowd behind all the contention and shut them up for a while. But here it comes again, apparently. The latest flap centers around appointments to the Planning and Zoning Board. Gordon Obarski was appointed as an alternate to the board but he reportedly thinks he should have been appointed as a full member. The code says when possible an engineer, business person, an architect and real estate broker or sales person should be appointed to the board. Though it is never been court tested, this exclusionary policy (taken by resolution, not ordinance) is most likely unlawful. Obarski is in real estate and thus bases his claim on a full seat on the board. He has importuned the city manager, commission members and the P&Z Board itself on this question. The board paid scant attention to him and his argument. The board already has a real estate person on the board in Dianne Flagg. The commission has reappointed Jim Labadie and Rick Alvarez as regular members and T. Phil Guinand as an alternate to the Board of Adjustments and Appeals.
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