9/4/2021 Beach Funding - Action Needed

As advised in the update last week, there had been no progress on sourcing the “local share” of the Federal Beach Project other than from the local SHI property owners.  Since last week, a meeting was held with Howard Tipton, SLC County Administrator, to review and reinforce the perspective of the SHI owners and discuss alternatives.  Significant points included:

• Funding approach to the “local share” is unprecedented.  There is no other Beach project on the Treasure Coast (including Martin, St Lucie, and Indian River counties) that the local share is not funded from county wide sources, and not solely from the beachfront property owners.
• All beaches are public and should be funded by all county taxpayers.
• The proposed 2022 SLC tax millage rate for the Beach project (on the Property Tax TRIM notice - “SHI Erosion District”) is over 3 times (3.4x) the amount assessed last year.
• Since the “local share” has already been forwarded to the Corps and there are no further funding requirements from the County for the initial start.  The additional funds assessed to us by the county are in a sense “front end loading” for contingencies and future unknowns.
• We are simply requesting that the proposed SLC tax millage rate used this year be retained into next year, thus giving us a chance to negotiate a much fairer funding method for the coming years.

 
No later than September 8th, all impacted Associations and beachfront owners are encouraged to forward a letter to Howard Tipton and the SLC Commissioners expressing concern and objection to the current funding proposal.  The attached document Click Here  may be used as an example for your letter (please ensure to include all the cc’s).  It is critical to provide these letters prior to the Public Budget Hearing on September 9th (initial & tentative hearing).  The final Budget Hearing is September 23rd.   Also, during this time, PC Board representatives will be meeting with Commissioners to discuss this critical issue.

Have a safe and healthy Labor Day Weekend.
 
Presidents Council Board of Directors