COULD WE BECOME
A
"COMMUNITY
BENEFIT DISTRICT"?
In our county, Special Community Benefit Districts (SCBDs)have been formed for various purposes
like maintenance of community property, improvements to community facilities, special police protection, and/or pest control.
Essentially, property owners are taxing themselves to fund these benefits.
Once the community association decides to become a Benefit District, they must prepare a petition,
circulate and validate it. Then, the County Council can adopt the petition as legislation to signed by the County Executive.
The petition itself must identify the properties to be included in the district and set forth the
intended uses of the tax to be levied. This Benefit District tax can be based on one of three methods: set
payment for each tax account, set payment for each lot owned, or payment based on taxable property assessment. The petition
must be signed by every owner of every property listed.
WHAT CONSTITUTES A DECISION TO BECOME AN SCBD?
A majority of owners of the properties to be included must vote for becoming an SCBD. County
law specifies the following criteria: a married couple who both own the property have one vote & must both sign the
petition, two partners who both own the property have one vote & must both sign the petition, a trustee or company (legal
entity) has one vote & a legal representative must sign, and multiple owners of a property have one vote & a
legal representative must sign.
The signatures on the collected petitions will be validated by the Special Taxing District Coordinator
and request that legislation be passed to create the SCBD. Before that happens, the plan to create this new Benefit
District must be advertised for a month in a local newspaper and a public hearing must be held by the County Council to hear
pros and cons. If the Council then votes to approve it, the legislation is then passed by the Council and duly signed
by the County Executive. It becomes law 45 days after signing.
The responsible association must prepare a detailed budget (including an adminstrative fee of 5%
of the revenues not to exceed $2000) each year for the following year, submitted to property owners before Dec. 31, then submitted
to the Office of the Budget before Jan. 31. The tax rate will be determined and enacted in May.
Disbursements of funds are made to the association treasurer typically in November. For SCBDs
with expenditures of less than $50,000, an annual financial report is required and a full audit is due every 4 years.
WHY WOULD WE ELECT TO FORM A SPECIAL COMMUNITY
BENEFIT DISTRICT??
Current members of the board of the Sunset Beach Community Association are very much concerned
that there is so little support for us and so very few property owners willing to serve as officers that we are in danger
of failing to maintain our common properties. We believe that others, and we ourselves, would be more willing to participate
in official responsibilities if we had some faith in Sunset Beach residents' commitment to paying the mere $25 per household
we ask in dues. If we had 100% dues paid, we could count on close to $10,000 plus what we raise from slip and ramp key
fees. Then, it would not be so difficult to keep grounds tended, equipment in repair, bookkeeping accurate, and beach
facilities managed because we could pay someone to do whatever we ourselves did not have the time or expertise to do.
But because there is so little support, these tasks fall on the shoulders of very few who find
them a great demand on their time. Many who have done a great deal for quite a few years are ready to hand over the
tasks to someone new, but no one comes forward. And so few even pay dues.
A guaranteed fund of money could change all that.
