Mayor Christine Hunschofsky
From Mayor Christine Hunschofsky:
As of Sunday morning, Broward County is now under a tropical storm watch as the cone of concern has shifted south slightly. We continue to monitor and prepare as Hurricane Dorian progresses and ask all residents to do the same.
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at5+shtml/115245.shtml?cone#contents
Every homeowner should have received their TRIM (Truth in Millage) notice which comes from the Broward County Property Appraiser. This notice can also be found online at www.bcpa.net. The TRIM notice details home market value and assessed value in addition to exemptions. It also shows the various taxing authorities (Broward County, Broward County Public Schools, South Florida Water Management District, North Broward Hospital District, Children’s Services Council, City of Parkland, etc) that make up your entire tax bill, what their current millage (property tax) rate is and what their highest proposed millage rate may be. Additionally, you will find all the times, dates and locations of all the public budget hearings for every taxing authority. PLEASE take a close look at your TRIM notice this year so that you know how much each taxing authority is proposing to tax you and where you can go to give your input on their budgets.
Assessments are also listed on your TRIM notice separate from the property taxes. These include the Waste Management assessment services, which is a direct pass-through amount from Waste Management for solid waste and recycling services, and the Parkland fire services fee. Additionally, some residents will have various water control assessments from North Springs Improvement District, Parkland Water Control or Pinetree Water Control depending where the home is located in the city.
September is a very important month because it is the month that the cities and other taxing authorities approve their FY2020 budgets. After months of strategic planning that included commission workshops, resident surveys, and focus groups, the City Commission gave staff direction regarding priorities for the 2019/20 fiscal year and beyond. Based on these priorities, staff presented the commission with a proposed 2019/20 budget, which kept the millage rate and fire assessment fee the same as last year. You can see the City of Parkland proposed budget online now on the city website at cityofparkland.org/budget. Please take the time to review the proposed budget and give us your feedback in the online comments section. Our budget hearings are scheduled for September 12 at 7 pm and September 25 at 6 pm at Parkland City Hall. We look forward to hearing from you.
As we head into the fall, we have so many wonderful events going on in Parkland such as the Back to School Splash Bash on September 14. The best way to keep up to date on all events in our city is to visit our calendar on the city website, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/copfl or on Twitter at @CityParklandFL, subscribe to our e-blast “Parkland on Tap” at cityofparkland.org/notifyme and download the MyParkland app. As always, I love hearing from our residents, so please reach out to me at chunschofsky@cityofparkland.org.
