- December 4, 2025
Dear Editor:
While reading last week's Ormond Beach Observer, I saw the letter to the editor from Brian Hilgers expressing concern about approving a double digit increase in the property tax for Ormond Beach. I share that concern. Another tax increase? Not just an increase but a double digit increase of 15.8% over the property tax rollback rate last year, which also was a double digit increase of 12.8% over the rollback rate the year before, which was a 13.7% increase over the prior years rollback rate. The tax increase is in addition to likely increases to utility rates. I echo Brian Hilgers call for a thorough audit to justify a financial need before another double digit increase in property taxes.
I’m not one to voice concerns about government spending without also offering solutions. A recent example is the proposed cost of the broker fee for its employee benefits plan — $50,000 or $99,102. A solution could be to increase the pay to each employee at the cost of the employee benefits plan. This allows each employee to choose from a larger universe of benefits that an individual broker may be limited to. The cost savings come from the elimination of the broker fee — a win-win for employees and taxpayers. Another cost savings can potentially come from the city’s new Utility Payment Portal. The city can offer a utility statement credit for customers who switch from paper bills to paperless. This not only saves money on the cost of mailing out paper statements every month but also helps avoid negative environmental impact of thousands of envelopes and statements a month.
That was an idea I proposed while serving on the city’s Budget Advisory Board a few years ago. While on the Budget Advisory Board, I declined taxpayer funded meals offered prior to joint meetings with the City Commission. This may seem like a very small cost savings but I did it more for the fiscal responsibility, “‘need’ or ‘want’?” mindset I believed is paramount for someone in a fiscal fiduciary position. The cost of those meals for every participant in those meetings every year adds up over time to more than a rounding error in the budget.
Joe Hannoush
Ormond Beach
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