Thursday, June 18, 2009

And the libraries?


Sarasota County tax rate to increase


SARASOTA COUNTY - For the first time in a decade the county will increase its property tax rate, although most homeowners will pay just a couple of dollars more next year. ...

On Wednesday, county commissioners approved a 0.3 percent increase in the county's tax rate -- the first rate increase since 1999 -- which will mean $2.27 more in property taxes for a full-time resident owning a home with a taxable value of $150,000. ...

One of the few new programs funded in the budget would be as much as $50,000 to begin studying and eradicating invasive reptiles. Iguanas, monitor lizards and Burmese pythons have been reported in increasing numbers in the county and without measures to capture and kill the reptiles those fledgling populations are projected to explode.

Besides sagging tax collections, part of that drop comes from large investment losses the county had last year from holdings in bankrupt securities giant Lehman Bros.

No word in the story about the cuts being considered for the libraries...

2 comments:

CAROLANN said...

I have a problem with our officials "gambling" with tax payer $. Stan Zimmermans article reports a letter sent to Geithner requesting the TARP bailout urges him (Geithner) to put taxpayers' interests ahead of those investors. I would make the same request of our commissioners.

Tom Matrullo said...

Thanks for your comment - please see info about upcoming public meetings about budget issues:

http://sarasotacommunityconversations.blogspot.com/2009/06/q-is-now-posted.html