The WPTV Town Hall on Amendment 3 has led to some more questions about the referendum facing voters on raising the Homestead Exemption to lower property taxes and reduce revenue for cities and counties.
One question attendees posed was why are our property taxes increasing every year.
Palm Beach County Administrator Joe Abruzzo talked about it at the town hall, saying inflation is a big factor.
“This is a national problem not even a Florida problem, its not a Palm Beach County problem," Abruzzo said. "What it costs for traffic arms where our lights go: 700 thousand five years ago. Now, they’re at 1.5 million. The cost of labor, asphalt, concrete, the things we actually use in government is just skyrocketing, so we have to budget appropriately to be able to afford the things we need to buy,"
Another email asked why municipal workers get raises every three years.
"They’re not coming in and saying we want to take a pay cut," said West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James, talking about negotiating with police, fire and labor unions.
"Every three years we’re looking at increases, and we also want to pay our employees so they’re competitive with the market otherwise we lose them to the private sector and other cities and they’re living in a city where affordability is an issue," James said.
Another question asked about the impact on apartment living.
“Over 50% of the occupied housing units in West Palm Beach are renters," the mayor said.
"There is no dispute that the rents are going to increase, because those are not homesteaders and so the taxes will go up on those units and the landlords will pass those expenses on to the renters," he said.