Agenda 10/19/2004 W
Board of County Commissioners
Legislative Workshop
Tuesday, Oct. 19,2004
1 :00 PM - 4:00 PM
Collier County Government
3301 E. Tamiami Trail
Naples, FL 34112
Third floor of the Administration Building
Discussion Regarding Possible 2005 Legislative Initiatives:
Partial Year Assessments
Gas Tax Indexing
Real Estate Transfer Tax
Tax Collection for School District
Public Records Exemptions
Removal of Plantation Island from the Big Cypress Basin Area of
Critical State Concern
Emergency Preparedness for Assisted Living Facilities
Community Shelters at Manufactured Home Communities
Delay between Petition Requests for Referendum Vote
Discussion of Additional Initiatives
Input/Comment from Local Legislators
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PARTIAL YEAR ASSESSMENTS
Currently real estate property in Collier County is assessed annually on January
1 st. This means that if you purchase your property after January 1 sl and make
improvements during that following year those improvements are not recognized
by the property appraiser until the following January. Appraising property as an
addition or home is completed and the resident begins using services would be a
much more effective way of generating the revenues necessary to pay for the
services provided.
Revenues generated from a partial year assessment plan if implemented are
estimated to be between 2 and 3 million dollars.
INDEXING OF THE LOCAL OPTION GAS TAX
The state, over 10 years ago, authorized that the state motor fuel tax be annually
indexed to the Consumer Price Index to allow the purchasing power of the tax to
be maintained as costs increased over time. However, they did not provide for
the same indexing of the Local Option Gas Taxes imposed by the Counties. As
such, the buying power of the Local tax has decreased as costs have increased
while the effective yield for the 6.9 cents of state motor fuel tax has increased to
approx. 9.6 cents to keep up with increased costs to build and maintain roads.
The proposed legislation will provide the counties the same indexing as the state
already has.
If approved the revenue gain associated with this bill is estimated to be approx.
$300,000 per year.
REAL ESTATE TRANSFER TAX
With Collier County charging the highest impact fees in the state, there has been
recent support for the implementation of a real estate transfer tax as a way to
decrease impact fees. While impact fees provide a funding source for growth-
necessitated capital improvements, they do not account for new residents of new
commercial interests that take over existing structures.
At the present time this revenue source is not authorized by the State of Florida,
however, Miami-Dade County is currently authorized to levy a discretionary
surtax on deeds and other instruments relating to real property (doc stamps) at
the rate of 45 cents per $100 of value. Miami-Dade is the only county currently
authorized to levy this surtax.
In 2002 the value of the property sold in Collier County was over 6.3 billion
dollars. At.45 cents per $100 of value per transaction, a surtax on doc stamps
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like that levied in Miami-Dade County would have generated over $28 million
dollars.
TAX COLLECTION FOR THE SCHOOL DISTRICT
Currently as per F.S. 192.09(1 )(a) Commissions of property appraisers and tax
collectors - .. . "All municipal and school district taxes shall be considered as
taxes levied by the county for the purposes of this computation"
F .S. 192.091 (2) .. ."For the purposes of this subsection, the commissions on the
amount of taxes collected from the nonvoted school millage, and on the amount
of additional taxes that would be collected for school districts if the exemptions
applicable to homestead property for school district taxation were the same as
exemptions applicable for all other ad valorem taxation, shall be paid by the
board of county commissioners."
Currently the Collier County Bard of County Commissioners funds the collection
of school taxes for the school board as per F.S. 192.091. According to
information provided by the Office of Management and Budget the estimated
FY04 transfer to the Property Appraiser and Tax Collector's office for collection of
these taxes was close to 9 million dollars.
PUBLIC RECORD EXEMPTIONS
Changes are needed to modify the state's public records statutes allowing for an
exemption to the release of personal contact information provided by private
citizens to local or state government agencies for the purpose of receiving
services related to emergency services and homeland security.
In the event of a terrorist attack and during disaster scenarios (both man-made
and natural), the ability of Government to notify citizens who are customers of
government services (water, sewer, and electric utilities; special emergency
services, etc.) of imminent dangers is paramount to the effectiveness of public
safety endeavors. In order to establish this capability, government must solicit
and maintain personal contact information - telephone numbers (home, work,
mobile) and email addresses. Undercurrent legislation, this information is public
and subject to release without the permission of the customer. Many citizens are
reluctant to provide such information without a reasonable assurance of
confidentiality. Commercial utilities, which are not subject to Florida's
Government in the Sunshine laws, solicit this information with assurance to their
customers that they can choose to keep this information private.
On a lesser but important note certain County Departments (Animal Control for
example) maintain databases of information to meet State Statute or local
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ordinance requirements such as pet licenses. These databases are subject to
public scrutiny and have been used to solicit pet owners for various services.
The ability for businesses to gain access to these databases for these purposes
is detrimental to licensing programs.
Legislation is needed to allow Government services providers the ability to offer a
level of confidentiality equal to that of a comparable commercial service.
REMOVAL OF PLANTATION ISLAND FROM THE BIG CYPRESS BASIN
AREA OF CRITICAL STATE CONCERN
On July 27, 2004 the Board of County Commissioners voted to ask legislature to
have Plantation Island removed from the Big Cypress Area of Critical State
Concern (ACSC). This option will require the State to take legislative action in
order to modify the boundaries of the Big Cypress ACSC. The County would
then amend its GMP and LDC to reflect this action by the state. In implementing
this action, staff recommends that the County adopt certain restrictions that
would allow for least amount of building on the existing lots on order to minimize
the impacts to mangrove and other marine habitat but still allow some utilization
of the lots.
In 1973 the Area of Critical State Concern (ACSC) program was instituted. The
program is regulated by section 380.05, Florida Statutes. Subsequently, the Big
Cypress Area of Critical State concern was established, also by Statute (Section
380.055, Florida Statutes). The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) is the
agency charged with the oversight for this program. As such, the agency
promulgated rules regulating the Big Cypress ACSC. See rules 28-25 Florida
Administration Code. Pursuant to Sections 380.055(5) and (6), Florida Statutes
these regulations are required to be included in the County's comprehensive plan
and implementing land development regulations. This was accomplished
sometime in the early 1980s and was carried forward in the existing Growth
Management Plan (Ordinance #89-05, as amended) and the Land Development
Code (Ordinance #91-102, as amended).
The DCA regulations and the LDC, among other things, prohibit the alteration or
destruction of mangroves and limit the amount of clearing that can be done on
any given lot or parcel of land within the Big Cypress ACSC. Additionally, the
regulations, specifically Rule 28-25.011, allows the operation of local government
variances in the ACSC provided that there is no minimum adverse impact on the
area's water storage capacity, surface water and estuarine fisheries. Such a
variance provision would have to be included in the Growth Management Plan
and land development regulations.
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HARDENING OF ASSISTED LIVING FACILITIES
Nursing Homes, Rest Homes, Congregate Care facilities and Assisted Living
facilities should be required to have reliable back-up power to include a standby
generator and the ability to quickly connect a back-up generator to their facilities.
These facilities should be able to demonstrate to the local emergency
management office basic emergency lighting, communications, alarm systems,
convenience power and the ability to provide a location within the facility to
provide approximately 40 square feet per occupant of air conditioned space.
Facilities out of the storm surge zone should be able to operate on back-up
power for a minimum of 96 hours. The State shall allow county emergency
management organizations to collect a fee for plan review and annual site
inspection to verify the preparedness and reliability efforts these facilities.
COMMUNITY SHELTERS AT MANUFACTURED HOME COMMUNITIES
Mobile home parks and manufactured home communities should be required to
build and maintain a community shelter area capable of housing the community's
residents in an emergency. The shelter should be equipped with backup power
and minimal supplies as determined by local emergency management office
requirements.
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