Sales tax on the agenda
For you today, county commissioners take up pocketbook issues — your pocketbook; FAU comes clean; what the public defender told voters; and welcome, major-leaguers.
💵 County today: Big money in play
An extension of the 1-cent sales tax to pay to move Tri-Rail to the coast is one of several big-dollar discussions on the agenda today for the Palm Beach County Commission.
Commissioners will meet with the League of Cities at 2 pm to discuss asking voters to extend a countywide sales tax hike that raises $400 million a year. It would allow the county to continue to collect an extra penny on every $1 spent on taxable sales in the county.
The Palm Beach County School District already has decided to ask voters in November to add an extra half-cent to the sales tax strictly for schools, enough to raise $200 million a year.
Schools Superintendent Mike Burke said in a Feb. 21 letter to County Administrator Verdenia Baker that time had run out on options to work together on a single tax hike.
“While you have recently expressed interest in partnering with the League of Cities and School District … the county has not shared any details including a proposed spending plan, the number of years needed for the tax, any anticipated level of support or what resources would be utilized to educate voters,” Burke wrote.
A little background: An existing penny sales tax approved by voters in 2016 is expected to expire at the end of 2025 having brought in $2.7 billion over 10 years. Half the money went to schools, the other half to the county and cities to finance a spate of new government buildings as well as road, bridge and park improvements.
What’s next? State law allows the county to add a penny to the sales tax for up to 30 years to pay for bus or train systems or roads. The sales tax boost has been mentioned in the past as a way to pay for moving Tri-Rail to the Florida East Coast Railway tracks that run through coastal downtowns.
That would put Tri-Rail on the same tracks as Brightline.
↔️ Stay downtown or go?
At a 9:30 am workshop, county commissioners will consider moving the Governmental Center out of downtown West Palm Beach.
It would cost $160 million to renovate and expand the 40-year-old 12-story building to have 340,000 square feet of office space, a staff report says.
It would cost $261 million to build a new 340,000-square-foot building, not counting land costs, if the commission wishes to pursue Commissioner Mack Bernard’s suggestion of moving county headquarters to the Westgate community west of Interstate 95 and north of the airport.
Next on the morning’s agenda: Whether to continue to move forward with a $48 million renovation of the Animal Care & Control facilities at 7100 Belvedere Road.
To go: The morning workshop is in the commission’s sixth floor chambers and the meeting with the League of Cities is in the 12th floor conference room, both at the Governmental Center, 301 N. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach. Watch on Channel 20 or on the county’s YouTube channel.
🦉 FAU responds
It took five months but Florida Atlantic University has fulfilled a public records request Stet News submitted on Sept. 22 about the dysfunctional $35 million science building that closed for four months on the Jupiter campus.
Why it’s important: FAU runs on money from state taxpayers. State laws require its records to be open to taxpayers so residents know how the government is spending their money.
What we learned:
No people or rats died at the Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute before it closed on July 29 because of air-pressurization problems but 17 rats died after they were moved to the Boca Raton campus. The closure forced the relocation of 75 workers and 3,325 animals.
FAU had no idea the building was in danger until the weekend it shut down. In response to a question, FAU wrote: “The team was unaware of the problem until the problem occurred at which time immediate action was taken.”
The university put eight companies to work at righting the problem, including architects Song & Associates, builder DPR Construction and air-conditioning contractor Tropic Mechanical.
FAU paid Song $39,595 for its work. Documents provided by FAU do not spell out what work Song did but indicate Song made its proposal on May 23, before the building shut down.
Additionally, FAU paid $19,700 to Song and two subcontractors, SGM Engineering and Jezerinac Group. The extra work paid to add doors by a freight elevator to create an airlock and to make changes to an office suite.
FAU paid Affiliated Engineers of Tampa $122,175 to conduct a “peer review” analysis of the building’s design and systems.
FAU had appeared to be open to answering questions in early September, after Stet News and the University Press revealed that air-pressurization issues that could lead to entrapment forced the building to close just six months after it opened.
While a spokesman promised answers were nearly complete to a series of questions posed on Aug. 31, the cooperation ceased on Sept. 22.
It took until Feb. 21 for the university to provide those answers.
Yes, but: The answers prompted a new request to see the Affiliated Engineers peer review report and to get details about Song’s May 23 proposal.
Stet will let you know if the university complies.
⚖️ Five things Carey Haughwout told the women voters
Public Defender Carey Haughwout is stepping down after 24 years. That makes her the county’s longest serving public defender.
She runs a 200-member staff charged with defending people whose life or liberty is in the balance over misdemeanor, felony or capital charges.
Haughwout has personally represented several defendants in Palm Beach County death penalty cases.
Former Literacy Coalition CEO Darlene Kostrub interviewed Haughwout this month at a free event west of Delray Beach presented by the League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County.
On why she spent time at the defense table: Because the public defender is an elected office, I was advised to stay out of the courtroom. But I am at heart a criminal defense attorney.
Does the legal system treat people as innocent until proven guilty? No. The bail system completely undermines the presumption of innocence. We keep people in jail when they are “innocent,” and they have to plead guilty to get out.
Those who spend pretrial in jail have worse outcomes. Today, most of those in custody are people of color.
Her position on the death penalty: Very opposed. We want to punish people for using forethought, planning and deliberation in killing. That’s what we do to people: use forethought, planning and deliberation before an execution.
Also: It is the essence of inequity in our society, she said.
What do you wish you had done? The saying, “Nobody dies wishing they had worked more,” I am not on that list.
I’m not up on technology and some of the things we need to embrace to be more effective. It used to be that the ability to connect with people (in a courtroom) was most important. Now it’s presentations and videos.
What she does instead of watching “Law and Order.” I follow the work of (social justice activists) Bryan Stevenson and Jeffrey Robinson.
What’s next: Chief Assistant Public Defender Dan Eisinger and criminal defense attorney Adam Frankel are candidates in the Nov. 5 election to succeed Haughwout. She has endorsed Eisinger.
🍅 The juice
🚂 Next stop, Stuart for Brightline, Channel 5 reports. (WPTV)
👩🏽⚖️ Annexation lawsuit: We told you last week that Palm Beach Gardens had opposed efforts to speed up a lawsuit filed by four Hidden Key residents to block the city’s March 19 annexation election. Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Cymonie Rowe agreed with the city on Feb. 20, blocking the motion. At the court’s normal pace, the suit is unlikely to be heard before the election. (OnGardens.org)
⛳️ Almost one year after The Park golf course opened in West Palm Beach, a look at its greens fees. (InsideGolf)
The Cognizant Classic starts Thursday in Palm Beach Gardens. Here’s a preview. (InsideGolf)
📬 The Palm Beach County tax collector's new north county service center is open in Palm Beach Gardens. (The Palm Beach Post and, for a little history, OnGardens.org)
⚾️ 561 insider: Play ball! in the Palm Beaches
This springlike weather makes us think of baseball, and Palm Beach County is teeming with opportunities to take in a game.
Consider: Four major league teams are competing here all month, as are several college teams.
Yes, but: The major-leaguers will be gone before we know it. The last home games are March 24.
The St. Louis Cardinals and the Miami Marlins played their first spring training game of 2024 on Saturday at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter.
The 27-year-old stadium is due for a $100-million-plus renovation after spring training.
The Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros met later that day at Cacti Park of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach.
On the field, Umpire Jen Powell became the first woman to call a spring training game since 2007.
Of note: On opening day at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, there were scores of empty seats. (Opportunity!)
Single-game tickets start at $20 for lawn access at the West Palm Beach park and $24 for a bleacher seat in Jupiter.
Wait, there’s more: Florida Atlantic University’s men’s baseball and women’s softball teams are on the diamond in Boca Raton.
The Palm Beach Atlantic University’s men’s baseball team and women’s softball team are playing at Rinker Athletic Complex in West Palm Beach.
Read more: The Palm Beach Post traces the complicated past of Travis Scott, owner of the Cacti hard seltzer brand, who inked the deal with the Astros and Nationals to name the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. Read it here ($$$).
🍓 It’s National Strawberry Day, and the peak of Florida’s strawberry season is now through March.
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