All Blog Posts Tagged 'annexation' (15)

By Steve Plunkett



    Gulf Stream town leaders have abandoned hope of recovering any property taxes that residents of the annexed pocket are paying Palm Beach County for services they no longer receive.

    At the town’s urging, County Commissioner Steven Abrams met with the county administrator, budget director and fire chief to get back some of the roughly $240,000 that pocket property owners paid for fire protection in fiscal 2011.

    “Unfortunately, county…

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By Thomas R. Collins



Across the state and the country, cities are going to back to a principle that was taught in kindergarten: Sharing is good.

For everything from police officers to roadwork to water pipes, cities are teaming up with other governments to provide services to their residents.

The idea of cities sharing services isn’t new, but it’s happening more and more in this tight economic climate, with plummeting tax bases that have brought budgets to…

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By Steve Plunkett



    Gulf Stream town officials are taking off the gloves in their quest to recover some of the tax money property owners in the annexed pocket paid Palm Beach County for 2011.

    Mayor William Koch Jr. asked County Commissioner Steven Abrams in a Sept. 14 letter for more help getting $19,469 reimbursed by Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue for services from March 15, the date of the annexation, through Sept. 30. Koch wants $21,728 from the Sheriff’s Office for the… Continue

By Thomas R. Collins



Barrier island towns, each trudging through their individual budget nightmares, have been batting around ideas for saving money that involve more than the usual cutting of library hours or eliminating a job or two.

The towns have been discussing bolder measures that involve closer interaction with other towns: possibly sharing more services with each other or annexing neighboring areas.

The discussions raise the possibility of a more…

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By Steve Plunkett

   

    A Boynton Beach city commissioner’s saber-rattling over the March annexation caught town officials by surprise and caused weeks of uneasiness in Town Hall and the former county pocket.

    Boynton Beach Commis-sioner Steve Holzman started the dust-up June 7, saying a 2004 interlocal agreement between the municipalities should have blocked the annexation. Further, he said, if Boynton Beach had annexed the property instead of Gulf Stream, it would have taken… Continue

By Steve Plunkett



The transition of power over the county pocket was peaceful and without incident.

At 12:01 a.m. March 15 the unincorporated area just north of town, and its roughly 150 residents, became part of Gulf Stream.

Pocket residents left no doubt of their wish to be annexed by the town: All 71 voters cast ‘’yes’’ ballots.

“It’s a remarkable result, I will have to say,’’ said Bob Ganger, president of the Gulf Stream Civic Association, which mailed a fact-filled… Continue

Election Results:

(Annexation of unincorporated property contiguous to Town of Gulf Stream)

Yes: 301 votes, 91.77%

No: 27 votes, 8.23%

 

By Steve Plunkett

   

Gulf Stream Town Hall will host two polling precincts for the first time this month as voters decide whether Gulf Stream should annex the 16.6-acre county pocket just north of town.

Town voters are used to going to Town…

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By Steve Plunkett



More than one snafu marred the straw poll on Gulf Stream’s underground utility project and the proposed referendum on annexing the county pocket.

A couple dozen straw ballots, including the one to Gulf Stream Civic Association President Bob Ganger, were chewed up in the mailing process and delivered in shreds in a plastic bag.

Town police officers were pressed into service to deliver reprinted ballots.

And some part-time residents’ forwarding addresses had… Continue

By Steve Plunkett

   

Mail carriers here will be extra-busy this month delivering straw ballots on burying Gulf Stream’s power lines, first-class notices on possibly annexing part of the county pocket and fliers from the Civic Association on both issues.

The straw ballots are due back at Town Hall by 2 p.m.

Feb. 7. The annexation referendum will be March 8 if the proposal survives two public hearings.

Residents will have to decide the issues on their own.

“Keep in…

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By Steve Plunkett



Should Gulf Stream annex the portion of the county pocket just to its north?

Voters in both areas may be asked the question on March’s ballot. Town Manager William H. Thrasher was told to report back to the Town Commission in December on pluses and minuses of the proposal.

At stake are property taxes from $93 million in assessed value and official say-so over what developers can and cannot build in the pocket area between St. Andrews Club and Sea Road on both… Continue

By Antigone Barton

In the end, the plan to bring a taller building and more people to the oceanfront was a straightforward matter, according to the county officials who in July gave the go-ahead for a new condominium at the old Sea Horse Bath and Tennis club site.

The approval opens the way for a six-story, 34-unit complex. It will be bigger than neighbors wanted,…

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By Margie Plunkett

Residents of this usually quiet coastal area have lately raised an assertive voice on two separate issues, urging northern neighbor Gulf Stream to annex them and objecting to the latest development of the Sea Horse condominiums that includes a height much…

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By Thomas R. Collins

Since Boynton Beach brought up the idea of annexing pieces of unincorporated barrier island land, several residents have made it known that they’d prefer to be part

of Gulf Stream instead.

As a result, Gulf Stream…

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By Antigone Barton

“A stack of letters,” as Mayor William Koch put it — 17 then, with three more on the way —addressed to Town Hall in April may be the most correspondence in recent

times to demand Gulf Stream commissioners’ attention, and was all the more

unusual because not one of the letters came from a…

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By Thomas R. Collins

Just south of Briny Breezes, east of the St. Andrews golf course and north of Gulf Stream sit two rarities: pieces of barrier island land that are unincorporated,

belonging to no city.

And the residents have seemed to like it that way.…

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