Page 8 - Abacoa Community News - November '22

Page 8, Abacoa
Northern Notes

Easements And Rights-Of- allows anyone to travel through the subject property to
A right-of-way is a broader type of easement that
Way On Your Property reach another destination. Like other easements, a right-
of-way agreement gives the recipient no ownership over
By Katie Roundtree, your property. However, a right-of-way does not give
Director of Finance and the holder access to another person’s property for “use”
Administration, Northern of the property. A right-of-way only allows a person to
Palm Beach County pass over another person’s property. Rights-of-way are
Improvement District for travel purposes across the land, such as a driveway
If you own property in or a walkway. They do not allow you to use the land for
Florida, you may encounter any other reasons.
the terms easement and Once an easement is created, the easement owner has
right-of-way. Both of the right and the duty to maintain it for its purpose unless
them affect how you can otherwise agreed between the easement owner and the
use your property and the owner of the underlying property. The easement owner can
rights to your property. make repairs and improvements to the easement, provided
They are used frequently in areas where Northern Palm that those repairs or modifications do not interfere with
Beach County Improvement District has maintenance being arrested for trespassing. An example is a drainage the use and enjoyment of the easement by the owner of
responsibilities. They are essential to allow the district easement located between two homes. Within one or both the property through which the easement exists.
to access areas where it may not have ownership rights parcels is a designated area where the easement holder Please be mindful of easements on your property and
near our facilities or waterways. may travel to access something on the other side. Another keep those areas clear of personal property. Access to the
An easement is a legal agreement that allows another example is flowage easement which allows water from district’s facilities is critical, especially during storm events.
party to use the subject property for a specific purpose. one location to travel through a water body owned by Suppose district staff or contractors cannot get to an
They do not give the user ownership over the property; someone else to another. area needing maintenance. In that case, there could be
they enable the user to use the subject property without Some common easements in our area are drainage, future unintended consequences.
water management, utility and landscape buffers. Each NPDES tip: Dirt, oil, and debris that collect in parking
of these allows the holder to access the property for the lots and paved areas can be washed into the storm sewer
Town Of Jupiter News from page 7 purpose stated. They could be a means to access a pipe, system and eventually enter local waterbodies. Sweep up
a water body, an electrical connection, or landscaping litter and debris from sidewalks, driveways and parking
to invest these funds to create future affordable housing around a facility. lots, especially around storm drains.
opportunities in Jupiter.
Since the Town is nearing buildout of its vacant
residential properties, future opportunities to create
affordable housing units within Jupiter will be
increasingly more challenging.
Governmental Fiscal Accountability
The Town was fortunate to have its overall real
estate tax base increase by 13.1 percent, mostly
attributable to property resales that occurred last year.
Property resale events resulted in very significant
increases in the taxable property valuations for those
properties.
There are 16,243 residential units that have an
annual 3 percent “Save Our Homes” taxable property
valuation increases on CAP. Accordingly, I advocated
for an offsetting 3 percent reduction in the Town’s tax
rate. Every residential and commercial property owner
in the Town would have benefitted by that.
During the Sept. 22 final public hearing on the
Fiscal Year 2023 budget, I identified revenue streams
that were underestimated in the budget plan and
proposed eliminating a vacant town staff position to
enable the Town’s ad valorem rate to be reduced.
Ultimately, the Town Council voted four to one to
maintain a flat ad valorem tax rate that achieved a 13.1
percent increase in total ad valorem tax revenues.
The Town should have lowered its ad valorem
tax rate, to do its part to limit governmental cost
increase burdens to its residents and local businesses,
particularly at this time with such unprecedented
financially challenging conditions. I am not alone in
my public service approach, as more local governments
in Palm Beach County opted to lower their ad valorem
tax rates this year, than I recall ever happening before.
H

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