MUNICIPAL
A mere eight years ago, dazzled with visions of
becoming a renowned center for biotechnology, the
economic future of Port St. Lucie was as bright as
the sun-splashed beach pictures tourists love to send
back home. Today, the city is working its way out of debts
from multi-million-dollar investments and looking toward a
brighter future.
A tax hike averted a $7.7 million deficit this year and continuing
deficits that would have drained the city’s reserves
dry in two years. Instead, money to pay down the debt will
be put aside while rising property values continue to add to
the city’s tax collections each year.
“Simply put, the $220 million investment (to bring in new
companies) the city made over the past 10-15 years in an
effort to change the economic landscape failed for the most
part, and has drawn us into a deficit spending cycle,” City
Manager Jeff Bremer told the City Council in June before its
annual summer budget workshop. “This deficit spending
must stop, and the recent Moody’s Investors report illustrates
that we must address the underlying cause of our deficits.
Without action during this fiscal year, we will exhaust our
entire fund balance in two years.”
TAXPAYER INPUT
On Sept. 28, the council halted the deficit spending, voting
4-1 — with Mayor Greg Oravec holding out for a lower
increase or no increase — to raise property taxes by $1 per
$1,000 in assessed property value. It did not make for a
happy audience at the two public hearings on the $552.3 million
Port St. Lucie Magazine 15
budget.
“This tax increase is ridiculous,” said resident Michael Harrison.
“Everybody needs to tighten their belts. This is not fair
to the taxpayer.” >> Past investiments have pulled the city into a deficit spending cycle.
The Tradition Center for Innovation was to be Port St. Lucie’s biotech and high tech corridor. It may still be, if Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies
can pull through this period of little grant funding for its research projects. Plenty of people have their fingers crossed that Torrey Pines, which has been a
huge contributor to the city’s efforts to move from manual skills to high tech skills, will make it.