Ormond Beach won’t raise taxes next year

Ormond Beach residents won't be seeing a taxing increase next budget year because the city has decided to spend less money due to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus.

The Ormond Beach City Commission at its meeting last week unanimously proposed a tax rate of $3.9068 per $1,000 taxable dollars, a 4.4% decrease from last year’s rate of $4.087 per $1,000 taxable dollars. The new rate matches the rolled back rate, which is calculated factoring in new construction and annexation.

Commissioners could still decide to lower the proposed rate, but their action last week now prohibits them from increasing it.

In the midst of financial hardship and the coronavirus pandemic, Deputy Mayor Troy Kent said he was proud to be a part of a commission that helps saves its residents money.

“I am so proud of this commission. We are fiscally responsible, and we are very careful with the tax payers’ dollars, every single day,” Kent said. “We are going to be able to give our taxpayers some relief this year.”

Commissioner Dwight Selby said Ormond Beach has the lowest utility cost in Volusia County, and is hopeful that this will help to ease the financial burden many are experiencing during the pandemic.

“Hopefully we can weather this storm not just well, but exceedingly well,” he said.

During the meeting, commissioners also approved a resolution for a master parks list, two new fire trucks and an agreement with Holly Hill to transfer reclaimed water between the two cities when necessary.

“It’s a great relationship with our sister city,” Kent said. “They had reclaimed water that was going into the Halifax River, and that won’t be happening in the near future.”

Notably missing from Tuesday’s meeting was talk of Plantation Oaks: a future subdivision that was recently annexed into Ormond Beach for the sake of utilities. There’s been a large amount of controversy surrounding it, mostly because of its connection to the Loop, an area that draws joggers, bicyclists, motorcyclists and sightseers with its beautiful scenery and wildlife.

Many residents are worried that the Loop will be destroyed because of the development that will occur for the subdivision. However, the project has been in the works for 18 years, and the site is already in the works.

Because of the amount of attention the item received at a planning board meeting in June, the city commission decided to take it off the agenda. Last week’s commission meeting was virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic, and commissioners said they wanted to give the public full access to public comment on the subject.

Ormond Beach Public Information Officer Jenn Elston said she wasn’t sure when or how far in the future the meeting on Plantation Oaks would be, but that she plans on alerting the public no less than 10 days in advance. The meeting space, Elston said, will also have to accommodate a large group of people while maintaining social distancing guidelines.

“Our staff is looking into locations right now for some options, so as soon as we know where that’s going to be we’ll work on advertising that to everyone,” Elston said Friday. “We just want to give everyone an opportunity to speak up and have a safe space to do so, and that requires social distancing.”