Published by former Mayor George Gardner October 15 2014
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Incumbent Boles distorts
opponent's forum comment
I am appalled that the political process in our town has deteriorated into this type of campaign.
Resident Pat Reilly
Incumbent Mayor Joe Boles, in an apparent move to panic nonprofit organizations in St. Augustine, has sent a Dear Friends in the Non-Profit community letter to nonprofits accusing mayoral opponent Nancy Shaver of a "plan to increase revenue to the City by levying a 'fee' in lieu of taxes on the non-profits in the City."
He cites her answer to a question in a July 15 forum at Galimore Center about Flagler College's "building density and removal of property from the tax rolls," to which she responded, "In many cities where you have a footprint like that, what is done is that the university will do payment in lieu of taxes."
"As we all know," writes Boles, "she can't just impose a 'fee' on one non-profit without applying it to all churches, schools, the Homeless Coalition, the Boys and Girls Club, the Lighthouse, COA, the Welfare Federation, St. Francis House, and the list goes on."
Resident Pat Reilly fired back at Boles, "I expect a lot of things in political campaigns, but the use of this type of tactic of misleading those who have enough to worry about in their roles as leaders in the not for profit arena is just not right.
"Why in the world would the Mayor want to cause these folks any stress or concern over something that is not even a valid issue for them? He certainly should know what voluntary payments 'in lieu of taxes' are. And he certainly knows that the statement referred only to Flagler College because of their large footprint.
"Shame on you Mayor Boles, for using your position to write such a misleading letter addressed to all of the nonprofits in the City. And shame on you for distressing them in this fashion," Reilly wrote.Transcript from Neighborhood
Council political forum July 15
Question #3
Flagler College is having an impact on the entire city through increased enrollment and building density and removal of property from the tax rolls. How do you intend to balance this expansion in the interest of tax paying residents?
Nancy Shaver
Flagler College, and all the non-profits we have in our city, take up about 40% of our real estate. What that means is that 40% is not taxable.
We all love being in a college town. It's a good thing. It's a wonderful thing. The reality is that Flagler has 113 million dollars worth of property and it pays $170,000 in assessment fees and the two policemen that Joe referred to.
In many cities where you have a footprint like that, what is done is that a university will do payment in lieu of taxes. If Flagler were to do something like that, typically, it's about 50%. Right now if they were to pay taxes it's about a million dollars would be what they would pay to the City of St. Augustine.
They're paying $170,000 so clearly there's an opportunity to enter into the right kind of dialogue with Flagler that respects who they are and who we are, but we've just heard, a lot to pay for in terms of infrastructure that hasn't been touched in about a quarter of a century and we need to think about many ways in which we can get revenue and Flagler is a citizen too. Flagler is part of our community and paying their fair share is extremely important.
In terms of expansion they own 41 properties of which I think 7 or 8 are actually commercial at this point, in other words, they're paying full taxes.
That potentially allows for an expansion of the three things they want to do: parking garage, dormitories, science building. Those all require PUD's and I think we need to think very carefully about what makes sense for our city and what makes sense for Flagler and what makes sense for us as residents.
(View the video)
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