BCC Briefs

At the April 15, 2008 Board of County Commissioners meeting, the board took the following action:

Water Utilities – adopted a 15 percent water restriction surcharge, effective May 1, 2008 through April 30, 2009. The surcharge applies to potable water base facility fees, potable water commodity fees, wastewater base facility fees and wastewater commodity fees. It is needed to recover approximately $12 million in lost revenue due to restrictions imposed by the South Florida Water Management District. Royal Palm Beach customers, who are on a fixed contract, are exempt from the surcharge.

Impact Fees – denied establishment of a new solid waste impact fee; postponed to April 2009 a proposed 9.3 percent increase in impact fees for fire-rescue, law enforcement (non-residential land uses), libraries, parks and public buildings; authorized a decrease in impact fees for law enforcement (residential land uses); authorized creation of a public buildings impact fee credit when civic lands are donated without specific, identified uses.

Engineering – approved establishment of a traffic performance review fee. Project applicants will be charged 80 cents per net daily trip ($150 minimum fee) for processing the review of a traffic impact study and 40 cents per net daily trip ($75 minimum fee) for processing the review of a land use traffic study; also approved an MSTU for paving and drainage improvements to Dillman Road and approved a contract in the amount of $506,624 with Almazan Brothers Construction.

Airports – approved a land swap and master plan amendments to allow for construction of a fourth concourse at Palm Beach International Airport. Concourse D, which will likely not be needed for five to 10 years, will be located to the east of the main terminal on property currently used for employee parking and the park-and-ride service.

Purchasing – adopted an ordinance amending the current purchasing code with revisions necessary to further facilitate and enhance efficiency in the procurement process; directed staff to re-examine the current vendor bid process to ensure more competitive pricing on certain items.

Biofuel – directed staff to proceed with amending the ULDC to allow for construction of a vegetative waste processing plant on land owned by Florida Crystals near Lake Okeechobee. The processed material will be used in the production of cellulosic-ethanol.

Sheriff – authorized the Sheriff’s Office to offer proficiency tests to retired law enforcement officers who wish to carry firearms at all times and across state lines. Applicants will be charged approximately $150 to cover the cost of a background check, ammunition and range time.