'We like no tax hike'
Low tax rate, high quality of life pleasing SIB residents
By Bari Auerbach

During a budget workshop held at City Hall on August 10, Sunny Isles Beach City Manager Christopher Russo announced the tax rate for the 2004-05 fiscal year will stay one of the lowest in Miami-Dade County - $3.35 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

While Russo said the Sunny Isles Beach tax rate will remain "in the lowest 25 or 30 percentile of [Miami-Dade County]" - the city is still at the height of growth and development evidenced by an impressive rise in property values.

Last year, the average assessed value of Sunny Isles Beach property was $174,213 - and this year, it rose by about 18 percent to $205,916. Due to increased property values, homeowners will ultimately wind up paying slightly more in property taxes to the city - but the dividends will be a plethora of expanded services and the continuation of sweeping capital improvement/beautification projects.

'Extraordinary Growth'
Russo said the city's tax base now exceeds $3.2 billion - up from about $2.5 billion in 2003. "This is the biggest [approximately 27%] increase in any single year that the city has had representing over $2.2 million of increased revenue," Russo said. "The [city's] revenue from property tax is estimated to go from a little over $8 million to [over $10.3 million]."

Subsequently, Mayor Norman Edelcup asked, "Did the County give you any breakdown as to how much [of assessed values represent] new construction versus existing [properties]? Some of this is 'extraordinary growth' and some of it is the annual increase in valuation.It would be interesting to have those numbers."

"I'm sure we can get [that information] from the County," Russo responded, emphasizing, "[The city has experienced] incredible growth.Just to explain a little further.what happens is there's almost a year lag from the time a new development [receives a Certificate of Occupancy] and becomes operational - to the time it is actually reflected through the appraiser's records into our budget. So [the $3.2 billion] reflects assessments made; construction completed; and property appraised as of December 31, 2003.that will come into effect for us starting October 1, 2004 into '05. So there is almost a year lag and that's the process - but there is certainly still tremendous growth.

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