Broward Schools & Property Tax Edition: Capitol to Courthouse Headliners

Click on a headline to read the complete story:

 

Gov. Crist will order strict measures to combat Florida’s air pollution

Against the backdrop of Florida’s first summit on global warming, Gov. Charlie Crist this week will unleash an aggressive campaign to cut air pollution by joining California and 11 other states in adopting the nation’s toughest auto emission standards.

 

Tax rule: Heads, we win; tails, you lose

Just want to make sure I grasp this.  When your home’s market value goes up, the government raises its taxable value, too.

 

Crist touts children’s cabinet law

WILTON MANORS – Gov. Charlie Crist visited a South Florida center that works with abused and neglected children Wednesday to promote a new law that created the Children and Youth Cabinet.

 

New law makes 2008 school board raises automatic

School board members around Florida will return to getting automatic raises for 2008 under a state formula based on county population.

 

Harrell: Tax reforms will help businesses make more money

STUART — Tax reforms approved by the Legislature this past session will help Florida businesses turn a better profit, but they’re only a start, lawmakers told the Martin/Stuart Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. 

 

School Board denies bonus to Crew

The Miami-Dade School Board gave Superintendent Rudy Crew his worst performance review in three years Wednesday, deadlocking on two different bonus options and leaving the schools chief with no extra money.

 

Taxing times

Assume nothing in the battles to come

Sportswriters try not to be “homers,” the derisive term for scribes of a bygone era who considered it part of their jobs to root for the home team.

 

Appraiser paid half declared value in taxes

A Times analysis shows Pinellas appraiser would have paid $4,900 more since 1994.

Four times since 1994, Pinellas County Property Appraiser Jim Smith claimed his vacant land was worth more than twice the amount his office assigned the lot for tax purposes.

 

Residents speak out about cuts in funding

More than a dozen people spoke out against the city’s proposed budget cuts during a public hearing Wednesday. In emotionally charged testimony, most of them urged commissioners to retain the Tallahassee Police Department’s four-person victim-advocate program.

 

Plantation vows not to raise fees as budget decreases

PLANTATION Capital projects may be reined in and public pool hours decreased as city officials seek ways to meet state-mandated budget cuts.

 

Palm Beach outlines $4 million in savings

PALM BEACH — The town council will cut back on beach projects, reduce fire-rescue overtime, increase parking fees and fines, charge more for false alarms and dip into reserves to slice $4 million from 2007-08 spending to meet property tax revenue reductions required by the legislature.

 

County officials to raid reserves

WEST PALM BEACH — So much for saying no.  Going against the recommendations of their top administrator, Palm Beach County commissioners on Wednesday gave themselves, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and 57 cultural organizations exactly what they wanted: money.

 

Dade mayor’s budget plan lays off hundreds

Hundreds of Miami-Dade County employees would be laid off and hundreds more vacant positions eliminated under a cost-cutting budget that Mayor Carlos Alvarez will announce today.

 

NSU makes $70 million bet on Davie biotech lab

South Florida’s growing biotech industry has reached Nova Southeastern University, which announced Wednesday it will construct a $70 million building dedicated to research in the field.

 

School board rejects call to ban books on gays, atheism

The Palm Beach County School Board refused to pull 80 books referencing homosexuality, atheism and abortion from the library shelves of two high schools.

 

Court rules schools’ closure was improper

An appeals court has overturned the Palm Beach County School Board’s closure of two charter schools whose administrators were accused of using taxpayer money to buy Miami Dolphins season tickets and lease a BMW.