RESOLUTION NO.________________
A
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF NORTH LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA,
RELATING TO THE PROVISION OF FIRE RESCUE SERVICES, FACILITIES AND PROGRAMS IN
THE CITY OF NORTH LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA; ESTABLISHING THE ESTIMATED RATE FOR FIRE
RESCUE ASSESSMENTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 2009; DIRECTING THE
PREPARATION OF AN ASSESSMENT ROLL; AUTHORIZING A PUBLIC HEARING AND DIRECTING
THE PROVISION OF NOTICE THEREOF; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, in 1996, the City of North
Lauderdale began levying and collecting a non-ad valorem special assessment to
fund its integrated fire rescue services, determining that the City’s fire
rescue services provided a special benefit to the real property specially
assessed for the services; and,
WHEREAS, shortly after the City levied
the fire rescue special assessment in 1996, several commercial property owners
filed litigation against the City challenging the special assessment, in SMM
Properties, Inc. v. City of North Lauderdale, Circuit Court Case No.
96-11378 (07); and,
WHEREAS, on May 1, 1997, the Florida
Supreme Court rendered its decision in Lake County v. Water Oak Management
Corporation, 695 So2d. 667 (Fla.
1997), wherein the Court found that a special assessment for fire protection
services, which included medical assistance to individuals, was valid; and,
WHEREAS, on June 20, 1997, Broward
County Circuit Court Judge John Luzzo entered partial summary judgment in favor
of the City in SMM Properties, finding that the City’s fire rescue
services could be funded by the special assessment in that these services
provided a special benefit to real property; and,
WHEREAS, on September 11, 1998, Judge
Luzzo entered final judgment in favor of the City in SMM Properties, reiterating
that the City’s fire rescue services provided the required special benefit to
assessed real property, and also finding that the City’s special assessment was
fairly apportioned. The plaintiffs filed
an appeal with the Fourth District Court of Appeal; and,
WHEREAS, on March 17, 1999, the Fourth
District Court of Appeal issued its opinion in City of Pembroke Pines v.
McConaghey, 728 So.2d. 347 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999), wherein the
court found that the City of Pembroke Pines’ integrated fire rescue services
provided the requisite special benefit to real property so that such could be
funded through a special assessment, and the Florida Supreme Court denied
review of this decision; and,
WHEREAS, the City operates an
integrated fire rescue service, in which the firefighters are cross-trained as
emergency medical technicians and/or paramedics, and the equipment and
facilities are used to provide both fire and rescue services, including fire
suppression, fire inspections, fire prevention, education and public relations,
advanced and basic life support services, consistent to the services funded by
the special assessments in Lake County and Pembroke Pines; and,
WHEREAS, in reliance of consistent
judicial decisions since 1996 and previous Florida Supreme Court decisions
supporting special assessments for fire rescue services, and Florida Statutes
authorizing such assessments, the City has, since 1996, levied and collected a
non-ad valorem special assessment to fund its fire rescue services; and,
WHEREAS, on June 14, 2000, the Fourth
District Court of Appeal rendered its en banc decision in SMM
Properties, Inc. v. City of North Lauderdale, 760 So.2d 998, in which the
appellate court found that the City improperly included emergency medical
services within the services funded by the City’s special assessment, and
receded from its earlier March 17, 1999 decision in City of Pembroke
Pines, but also found that the City’s apportionment methodology for its
fire rescue services was reasonable, and not arbitrary; and,
WHEREAS, on August 22, 2002, the
Florida Supreme Court approved of the decision by the Fourth District Court of
Appeal; and,
WHEREAS, since the rendition of the SMM
Properties decision by the Fourth District Court of Appeal in 2000, the
City retained the services of Government
Services Group (GSG) to review the provision of fire and EMS within the City
and to provide an assessment methodology and allocation that meets the
requirements of the decision in SMM Properties, specifically using the same
methodology but excluding EMS, and City
staff has carefully and fully reviewed the City’s fire rescue budget, the
delivery of fire rescue services, and the fire rescue incidents, in order to
conform the City’s fire rescue special assessment to the parameters of the SMM
Properties decision; and,
WHEREAS, GSG provided the City with an Assessment Methodology and
Allocation Study, attached to Resolution 2000-7-4053, to support the City’s
special assessment for Fire Services; and,
WHEREAS, in 2007, the City retained the
services of GSG to complete a comprehensive review of the City’s Assessment
Methodology for Fire Rescue Special Assessment, and GSG prepared an
Assessment Program Memorandum, dated June 2007, which reviewed and updated the
assessment rates for the City’s Fire Services Special Assessment;
WHEREAS, the City Commission determines
that it is fair and equitable to levy and collect a non-ad valorem special
assessment to fund the Fire Services provided within the City which is
consistent with the decision in SMM Properties and pursuant to the 2007
GSG Memorandum.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE
IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF NORTH
LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA:
SECTION
1. RECITALS.
The
legislative findings set forth in the foregoing “WHEREAS” clauses are hereby
ratified and confirmed as being true and correct, and are hereby incorporated
herein and made a part hereof.
SECTION 2. AUTHORITY.
This
Resolution is adopted pursuant to the provisions of Ordinance No. 96-6-901, as
amended by Ordinance 97-7-933 (collectively, the “Ordinance”), sections 166.021
and 166.041, Florida Statutes, and other applicable provisions of law.
SECTION 3. PURPOSE AND DEFINITIONS.
This
Resolution constitutes the Preliminary Rate Resolution as defined in the Ordinance,
which initiates the annual process for updating the Assessment Roll and directs
the imposition of fire rescue assessments for the fiscal year beginning October
1, 2009.
SECTION
4. DEFINITIONS All capitalized
words and terms not otherwise defined herein shall have the meanings set forth
in the Ordinance. Unless the context
indicates otherwise, words imparting the singular number, include the plural
number, and vice versa. As used in this
Resolution, the following terms shall have the following meanings, unless the
context hereof otherwise requires:
“Building
Area” means the
adjusted area of a Building expressed in square feet and reflected on the Tax
Roll or, in the event such information is not reflected or determined not to be
accurately reflected on the Tax Roll, the area determined by the City.
“Code
Descriptions”
mean the code descriptions listed in the Fixed Property Use Codes.
Commercial
Property”
means those Tax Parcels with a Code Description designated as “Commercial” in
the Fixed Property Use Codes.
“Cost
Apportionment”
means the apportionment of the Fire Rescue Assessed Cost among all Property Use
Categories according to the Demand Percentages established pursuant to the
apportionment methodology described in Section 8 of this Preliminary Assessment
Resolution.
Demand
Percentage”
means the percentage of demand for Fire Rescue services, facilities, or
programs attributable to each Property Use Category determined by analyzing the
historical demand for fire rescue services as reflected in Incident Reports in
the State Database, and as described in Section 6 of this Preliminary
Assessment Resolution.
“DOR
Code”
means a property use code established in Rule 12D-8.008, Florida Administrative
Code, assigned by the Property Appraiser to Tax Parcels within the City.
“Dwelling
Unit” means (1) a
Building, or a portion thereof, available to be used for residential purposes,
consisting of one or more rooms arranged, designed, used, or intended to be
used as living quarters for one family only, or (2) the use of land in which
lots or spaces are offered for rent or lease for the placement of mobile homes,
travel trailers, or the like for residential purposes.
“Estimated
Fire Rescue Assessment Rate Schedule”
means that rate schedule attached hereto as Appendix “B” and hereby
incorporated herein by reference, specifying the Fire Rescue Assessed Costs
determined in Section 9 of this Preliminary Assessment Resolution and the
estimated Fire Rescue Assessments established in Section 9 of this Preliminary
Assessment Resolution.
"FFIRS"
means the Florida Fire Incident Reporting System.
“Fixed
Property Use Codes”
means the property use codes used by FFIRS, and which correlate with the
property use codes used by the Broward County Property Appraisers Office, as
specified in Appendix “A” attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference.
“Improvement
Codes” means the
building use codes assigned by the Property Appraiser to Tax Parcels within the
City, which correlate to the Fixed Property Use Codes as specified in Appendix
“A”, attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference.
“Incident
Report” means an
individual report filed with the Florida State Fire Marshal under FFIRS.
“Industrial/Warehouse
Property”
means those Tax Parcels with a Code Description designated as "Industrial/Warehouse"
in the Fixed Property Use Codes.
“Institutional
Property”
means those Tax Parcels with a Code Description designated as “Institutional”
in the Fixed Property Use Codes.
“Mixed
Use Property”
means a Tax Parcel that contains Buildings whose use descriptions are capable
of assignment under a Code Description in the Fixed Property Use Codes in more
than one Property Use Category.
“Multi-Family
Residential Property”
means those Tax Parcels with a Code Description designated as “Multi-Family
Residential” in the Fixed Property Use Codes, and which require annual
recurring fire inspections.
“Non-Residential
Property”
means, collectively, Commercial Property, Industrial/Warehouse Property, and
Institutional Property.
“Parcel
Apportionment”
means the further apportionment of the Fire Rescue Assessed Cost allocated to
each Property Use Category by the Cost Apportionment among the Tax Parcels
under the methodology established in Section 8 of this Preliminary Assessment
Resolution.
“Property
Use Categories”
means, collectively, Residential Property and all categories of Non-Residential
Property.
“Residential
Property”
means those Tax Parcels with a condominium use under the DOR Codes together
with those Tax Parcels with a Code Description designated as “Residential” in
the Fixed Property Use Codes.
“Single-Family Residential Property”
means those Tax Parcels with a Code Description designated as “Single-Family Residential”
in the Fixed Property Use Codes, and which do not require annual recurring fire
inspections.
“State Database”
means the incident data specific to the City derived from the FFIRS Incident
Reports maintained by the Florida State Fire Marshal.
“Tax Parcel”
means a parcel of property located within the City to which the Property
Appraiser has assigned a distinct ad valorem property tax identification
number.
SECTION 5. PROVISION
AND FUNDING OF FIRE RESCUE SERVICES.
5.1 Upon the imposition of fire rescue
assessments for fire rescue services, facilities, or programs against assessed
property located within the City, the City shall provide fire rescue services
to such assessed property. A portion of
the cost to provide such fire rescue services, facilities, or programs shall be
funded from proceeds of the fire rescue assessments. The remaining cost required to provide fire
rescue services, facilities, and programs shall be funded by available City
revenues other than fire rescue assessment proceeds. No costs for emergency medical services (EMS) shall be funded by the special assessment.
5.2 It is hereby ascertained, determined, and
declared that each parcel of Assessed Property located within the City will be
benefited by the City’s provision of fire rescue services, facilities, and
programs in an amount not less than the fire rescue assessment imposed against
such parcel, computed in the manner set forth in this Preliminary Rate
Resolution.
SECTION
6. IMPOSITION AND COMPUTATION OF FIRE RESCUE ASSESSMENTS. Fire
rescue assessments shall be imposed against all tax parcels within the property
use categories. All EMS costs have been
removed from the fire rescue assessed costs, and all EMS
calls have been removed from the historical call data used to allocate those
costs among real property within the City.
The fire rescue assessments shall be computed in the manner described
herein.
SECTION
7. LEGISLATIVE DETERMINATIONS OF SPECIAL BENEFIT AND FAIR APPORTIONMENT. The City Commission reconfirms the legislative findings in
the Ordinance, and adopts the following legislative findings relating to the
fire rescue special assessment:
AUTHORITY
7.1 Pursuant to Article VIII, Section 2(b) of
the Florida Constitution, and Sections 166.021 and 166.041, Florida Statutes,
the City Commission has all powers of local self-government to perform
municipal functions and render municipal services except when prohibited by law
and such power may be exercised by the enactment of City ordinances or
resolutions.
7.2 The City Commission may exercise any
governmental, corporate, or proprietary power for a municipal purpose except
when expressly prohibited by law, and the City Commission may legislate on any
subject matter on which the Florida Legislature may act, except those subjects
described in (a), (b), (c), and (d) of Section 166.021(3), Florida
Statutes. The subject matter of paragraphs
(a), (b), (c), and (d) of Section 166.021(3), Florida Statutes, are not
relevant to the imposition of assessments related to fire services, facilities
or programs.
SPECIAL BENEFIT
7.3 The special benefits provided to affected
lands as a result of a fire rescue assessment include by way of example and not
limitation, the availability and use of fire services by the owners and
occupants of the property, protection of public safety, stable, or decreasing
insurance costs, a potential increase in value to property, and better service
to landowners and tenants.
7.4 Fire rescue services possess a logical
relationship to the use and enjoyment of improved property by:
7.4.1 protecting the value of the improvements and
structures by providing available fire control services;
7.4.2 protecting the life and safety of intended
occupants in the use and enjoyment of improvements and structures within
improved parcels;
7.4.3 lowering the cost of fire insurance by the
presence of a professional and comprehensive fire control program within the
City; and
7.4.4 containing the spread of fire incidents
occurring on vacant property, that have the potential to spread and endanger
the structures and occupants of improved property.
IMPOSITION AND COLLECTION
7.5 The annual fire rescue assessments to be
imposed pursuant to this Resolution shall constitute non-ad valorem assessments
within the meaning and intent of the Uniform Assessment Collection Act
(“Uniform Method”).
7.6 The fire rescue assessment imposed
pursuant to this Resolution is imposed by the City Commission, not the Broward
County Board of County
Commissioners, Property
Appraiser or Tax Collector. Any activity
of the Property Appraiser or Tax Collector under the provisions of this
Resolution shall be construed as ministerial.
APPORTIONMENT
7.7 It is fair and reasonable to use the
Fixed Property Use Codes and DOR Codes for the Cost Apportionment and the
Parcel Apportionment because: (1) the Tax Roll database employing the use of
such property use codes is the most comprehensive, accurate, and reliable
information readily available to determine the property use and Building Area
for improved property within the City, and (2) the Tax Roll database within
such property use codes is maintained by the Property Appraiser and is thus
consistent with parcel designations on the Tax Roll which compatibility permits
the development of an Assessment Roll in conformity with the requirements of
the Uniform Method.
7.8 Apportioning fire rescue assessed costs
among classifications of improved property based upon historical demand for
fire rescue services is fair and reasonable and proportional to the special
benefit received.
7.9 The
Incident Reports are the most reliable data available to determine the
potential demand for fire services from property use and to determine the
benefit to property use resulting from the availability of fire rescue services
to protect and serve Buildings located within Assessed Property and their
intended occupants. There exists
sufficient Incident Reports documenting the historical demand for fire services
from Assessed Property Use Category by an examination of such Incident Reports
which is consistent with the experience of the City. Therefore, the use of Demand Percentages
determined by an examination of Incident Reports is a fair and reasonable
method to apportion the fire services assessed costs among the property use
categories.
7.10 The historical demand for fire rescue
service availability for multi-family and single family residential property is
substantially similar and any difference in the percentage of documented fire
rescue calls to such specific property uses was statistically insignificant.
7.11 The level
of services required to meet the anticipated demand for fire rescue services
and the corresponding annual budget required to fund fire services provided to
incidents at non-specific property uses would be required notwithstanding the
occurrence of any incidents from non-specific property uses. Therefore, the calls to non-specific property
uses are omitted from the cost apportionment exercise and not re-allocated.
7.12
The City annually
provides inspections of all improved property other than single family Dwelling
Units. Adding the City’s annual fire
inspection program costs to the fire services assessment determined for all
Residential Property (other than single family Dwelling Units) and
Non-Residential Property is fair and reasonable and proportional to the special
benefit received by such property as a result of such inspections.
RESIDENTIAL
PARCEL APPORTIONMENT
7.13 The size or the value of the residential
property does not determine the scope of the required fire rescue
response. The potential demand for fire
rescue services is driven by the existence of a Dwelling Unit and the
anticipated average occupant population.
7.14 Apportioning the fire rescue assessed costs
for fire services attributable to Residential Property on a per Dwelling Unit
basis is required to avoid cost inefficiency and unnecessary administration and
is a fair and reasonable method of Parcel Apportionment based upon historical
call data.
NON-RESIDENTIAL
PARCEL APPORTIONMENT
7.15 The risk of loss and the demand for fire
service availability is substantially related to Buildings size. Because the value and anticipated occupancy
of non-residential Buildings is substantially related to Building size, it is
fair, reasonable and equitable to allocate the assessment burden on improved
property containing such Buildings based upon the size of the Building.
7.16 The separation of improved Non-Residential
Property into Building Area classification ranges is fair and reasonable for
the purposes of the Parcel Apportionment because: (1) the absence of a need for precise square
footage data within the ad valorem tax records maintained by the Property
Appraiser undermines the use of the actual Building Area within each improved
parcel as a basis for Parcel Apportionment; (2) the administrative expense and
complexity created by an on-site inspection to determine the actual Building
Area within each improved parcel assessed is impractical; (3) the demand for
fire rescue service availability is not precisely determined or measured by the
actual Building Area within benefited parcels; and, (4) the classification of
parcels within Building Area classification ranges is a fair and reasonable
method to classify benefited parcels and to apportion costs among benefited
parcels that create similar demand for the availability of fire rescue
services.
7.17 The allocation of the assessment burden to improved
Non-Residential Property by building size is fair and reasonable for the
purposes of Parcel Apportionment because it is a fair and reasonable method of
classifying benefited parcels and will apportion costs among benefited parcels
that create similar demand for the availability of fire rescue services.
7.18 The demand for the availability of fire
rescue services may diminish at the outer limit of structure size because a
fire occurring at a structure greater than a certain size is not capable of being
suppressed under expected conditions.
Additionally, the fire flow capacity anticipated at the fire scene under
the level of service provided by the assessable costs limits the benefit
provided to a structure beyond a certain size.
Therefore, it is reasonable to place a cap on the square footage of
benefited buildings within the non-residential property use categories.
7.19 Institutional Property whose use is exempt
from ad valorem taxation under Florida law provide facilities and uses to the
ownership, occupants, membership as well as public in general that otherwise
might be required to be provided by the City and such use thereof serve a
legitimate public purpose and provide a public benefit. Therefore, it is fair and reasonable not to
impose fire rescue assessments upon such parcels of Institutional Property
whose use is exempt from ad valorem taxation under Florida law.
VACANT PROPERTY
7.20 Because of the urbanized character of the
City, the suppression of fire on agricultural and vacant property, including
acreage, primarily benefits improved property by the containment of the spread
of fire rather than the preservation of the value of the vacant property. Therefore, it is fair and reasonable to not assess
vacant property for fire services.
SECTION 8. COST APPORTIONMENT AND PARCEL
APPORTION-MENT METHODOLOGIES.
8.1 Cost Apportionment:
8.1.1. To correlate the Property Use Categories with
the State Data Base, the Code Descriptions within the Fixed Property Use Codes
similar to Code Descriptions within the Improvement Codes that were used to
determine the Property Use Categories were identified using the information in
Appendix “A.” Such correlation in Code Descriptions by Property Use category
between the Fixed Property Use Codes and the Improvement Codes is necessary to
allocate the historical demand for fire rescue services as reflected by the
Incident Reports for Tax Parcels on the Tax Roll within the Property Use
Categories.
8.1.2 Historical demand for fire rescue services, excluding EMS calls, is identified by property use category through
incident reports maintained by the City’s Fire Department.
8.1.3 A demand percentage is determined for each
property use category by calculating the percentage that incident reports
allocated to each property use category bear to the total number of incident
reports documented for all property use categories within the sampling period.
8.1.4 Assessable property use categories are:
residential, commercial, industrial/warehouse, and institutional.
8.1.5 The demand percentage for each property use
category is applied to the fire rescue assessed costs and the resulting product
is the cost allocation of that portion of the fire rescue assessed costs
allocated to each individual property use category.
8.1.6 Calls to non-specific property uses are
omitted from the cost apportionment and not re-allocated consistent with the
findings in section 7.11 above.
8.2 Parcel Apportionment Methodology
8.2.1 Apportionment among Tax Parcels of that
portion of the fire rescue services Assessed Costs apportioned to each Property
Use Category, under the Cost Apportionment, shall be consistent with the
following Parcel Apportionment methodology:
8.2.1.1 The fire rescue services assessment
for each Tax Parcel of residential property shall be computed by dividing the
allocated assessed costs by the total number of dwelling units shown on the tax
roll within the City, and then multiplying such quotient by the number of
dwelling units located on such tax parcel.
8.2.1.2 That portion of the fire rescue
assessed costs related to the City’s fire inspection program were additionally
allocated to Residential Property, except single family Dwelling Units, by
dividing the portion of such costs by the number of Dwelling Units that require
such fire inspections. That portion of
the fire rescue assessed costs relating to the recurring fire inspection
program allocated to Non-Residential Property was further allocated to each
non-residential parcel based upon the demand percentages developed by the fire
rescue methodology.
8.2.1.3 The
fire rescue services assessment for each tax parcel of improved non-residential
property shall be computed by dividing the allocated assessed costs per
category by the total square footage shown on the tax roll within the City for
each category and multiplying such quotient by the total square feet of such
tax parcel.
8.2.1.4 Vacant
Lots are not assessed pursuant to the findings set forth in paragraph 7.20
above.
SECTION 9. DETERMINATION OF FIRE RESCUE
ASSESSED COSTS; ESTABLISHMENT OF ANNUAL FIRE RESCUE ASSESSMENT RATES.
9.1 The fire rescue assessed costs to be
assessed and apportioned among benefited parcels pursuant to the Cost
Apportionment and the Parcel Apportionment for the Fiscal Year commencing
October 1, 2009, is the amount determined in the Estimated Fire Rescue
Assessment Rate Schedule, attached hereto as Appendix “B.” The approval of the Estimated Fire Rescue
Assessment Rate Schedule by the adoption of this Preliminary Rate Resolution
determines the amount of the fire rescue assessed costs. The remainder of such fiscal year budget for
fire rescue services, facilities, and programs, as well as all EMS costs, shall be funded from available City revenue
other than fire rescue assessment proceeds.
9.2 The estimated fire rescue assessments
specified in the Estimated Fire Rescue Assessment Rate Schedule are hereby
established to fund the specified fire rescue assessed costs determined to be
assessed in the Fiscal Year commencing October 1, 2009.
9.3 The estimated fire rescue assessments
established in this Preliminary Rate Resolution shall be the estimated
assessment rates applied by the Assessment Coordinator in the preparation of
the updated Assessment Roll for the Fiscal Year commencing October 1, 2009 as
provided in Section 10 of this Preliminary Rate Resolution.
SECTION 10. ANNUAL ASSESSMENT ROLL.
10.1 The Assessment Coordinator is hereby
directed to prepare, or cause to be prepared, an updated Assessment Roll for
the Fiscal Year commencing October 1, 2009, in the manner provided in the
Ordinance. The updated Assessment Roll
shall include all Tax Parcels within the Property Use Categories. The Assessment Coordinator shall apportion
the estimated fire rescue assessed cost to be recovered through fire rescue
assessments in the manner set forth in this Preliminary Rate Resolution. A copy of this Preliminary Rate Resolution,
the Ordinance, and the updated Assessment Roll shall be maintained on file in
the office of the City Clerk and open to public inspection. The foregoing shall not be construed to
require that the updated Assessment Roll proposed for the Fiscal Year beginning
October 1, 2009 be in printed form if the amount of the fire rescue assessment
for each parcel of property can be determined by the use of a computer terminal
available to the public.
10.2 In determining the estimated fire rescue
assessment for any tax parcel, the updated Assessment Roll shall include,
pursuant to the Ordinance, an amount equivalent to any delinquent fire rescue
assessment imposed for a prior fiscal year, together with any costs, fees or
expenses attributable thereto.
10.3 It
is hereby ascertained, determined, and declared that the method of determining
the fire rescue assessments for fire rescue services as set forth in this
Preliminary Rate Resolution is a fair and reasonable method of apportioning the
fire rescue assessed cost among parcels of assessed property located within the
City, the methodology and apportionment assures that
no property is assessed an amount greater than the benefit which it receives
from Fire Rescue provided by the City, and the
methodology and apportionment are consistent with the decision of the
Fourth District Court of Appeal in SMM Properties.
SECTION 11. AUTHORIZATION OF PUBLIC
HEARING.
There is
hereby established a public hearing to be held at 5:30 p.m. on September 14,
2009, in City Commission Chambers of City Hall, 701 Southwest 71st Avenue,
North Lauderdale, Florida, at which time the City Commission will receive and
consider any comments on the fire rescue assessments from the public and
affected property owners and consider imposing fire rescue assessments for the
fiscal year beginning October 1, 2009 and collecting such assessments on the
same bill as ad valorem taxes.
SECTION 12. NOTICE BY
PUBLICATION.
The
Assessment Coordinator shall publish a notice of the public hearing authorized
by Section 11 of this Preliminary Rate Resolution in the manner and time
provided in the Ordinance. The notice
shall be published no later than August 24, 2009, in substantially the form
attached hereto as Appendix “D.”
SECTION 13. NOTICE BY MAIL.
The
Assessment Coordinator shall ensure that proper and timely notice is provided
to the Owners of Assessed Property though use of the TRIM notices forwarded by
the Property Appraiser’s Office to Property Owners within the City in a manner
consistent with the requirements of the Ordinance.
SECTION 14. APPLICATION OF ASSESSMENT
PROCEEDS.
Proceeds
derived by the City from the fire rescue assessments will be utilized for the
provision of fire rescue services, facilities, and programs, consistent with
this Resolution and the Fourth District Court of Appeal opinion in SMM
Properties. In the event there is any
fund balance remaining at the end of the Fiscal Year, such balance shall be
carried forward and used only to fund fire rescue services, facilities, and
programs.
SECTION 15. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This
Preliminary Rate Resolution shall take effect immediately upon its passage and
adoption.
PASSED, ADOPTED AND APPROVED THIS 9th
DAY OF JUNE, 2009.
_____________________________________
MAYOR
JACK BRADY
_____________________________________
VICE-MAYOR
JOHN R. CANGEMI
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
___________________________________
SAMUEL S. GOREN, CITY ATTORNEY
ATTEST:
______________________________________
PATRICIA VANCHERI, INTERIM CITY CLERK
