No one likes paying a tax on their property year after year. After all, you bought the property, you paid for it. You own it. But every year you still have to pay the government for the privilege?
In a 1.9 square mile barrier island city populated by 7500-10,000 residents, many if not most of us are property owners who paid less this CURRENT year 2024/25 for CITY property taxes than we did in the previous year. This was despite the fact that the Brevard County Tax Collector increased the COUNTY’S LEVEL of our property taxes, making it APPEAR that our property taxes increased or remained at the same level. THis budgeting go-around, Cape Canaveral’s mayor and some of our elected council members are determined to keep our city tax rate at last year’s low number as they prepare the budget for FY 2025/26.
Budget workshops are underway, with one held most recently on July 29th, as council members and city staffers examined the city’s coffers for an accounting of “money in” and “money out.”
Watching the process is a lesson in civics. An eye-opener to learn what the city “has to have” versus what it would like to have. There are a surprising number of decisions for a tiny but burgeoning municipality on the Space Coast that faces unique challenges and opportunities. A new air-conditioning system for City Hall? Storm drains, flooding, and how to handle the waste water emanating from 11 major hotels that have popped up like weeds during the past couple of years? And more. Much more. Each challenge deserving careful study, debate. Should Capital Improvement Projects be put on hold? Examining line item staff expenditures to see if they make sense? Or should they be reduced, and more done with less? What can be eliminated?
It’s an education to watch the process, as challenging as managing our own household expenses limited by income (or revenue stream), especially for property owners who are paying the freight.
If you’ve been unable to attend or watch the city’s livestream, the meeting is posted at YouTube.
Our input in this process is necessary and valuable. Speak up. Ask questions. Attend the next upcoming budget workshop. Cape Canaveral’s elected council will deliberate and decide on a final millage rate at the next budget workshop, set for Aug. 19th at City Hall. It’s open to the public. Those who attend or watch from home are guaranteed an education in lively line item budget juggling.
The last workshop rolled into a Special Council meeting during which Keith Touchberry, Cape Canaveral’s newly hired City Manager, was sworn in. He began his new job working with the Council and staff on Aug. 4.
Pictured: Councilors Kay Jackson, Don Willis, City Manager Keith Touchberry, Mayor Wes Morrison, Councilor Kim Davis.
Thanks for sharing this. I’m gonna watch. I lived in Cape Canaveral a couple of years when we first moved there and I loved it. It was much quieter then. It had a small beach town feel. Hate to see it get too crowded!
That small town beach feel is nearly gone. Sadly, for those of us who’ve lived here for many years, we’re watching it disappear in favor of “progress’” and a P&Z board with CarteBlanch authority to issue variances that defy our ordinances and approve the builds. Height restrictions of 45 feet have been exceeded, and that’s just one example of accommodations made for hundreds of rooms that are straining our municipal resources. It’s heartbreaking and infuriating to us long timers.