Boynton Beach officials will ask Palm Beach County to take over the city’s fire-rescue and water services for an upfront cost to county taxpayers that could exceed half a billion dollars.
City Manager Dan Dugger pitched the proposal to the City Commission on May 19, saying it would eventually lead to near-total elimination of city property taxes by 2030 if put in place this year.
A majority of the commission expressed support for Dugger’s proposal and directed him to discuss it with county officials.
The county’s interest in agreeing to the proposal was unclear. Attempts to reach County Administrator Joe Abruzzo, with whom Dugger said he has discussed the plan, were unsuccessful.
It would not be the first time Boynton Beach has discussed merging a department with a county agency.
The city considered blending its police department with the sheriff’s office in 2012 and 2022. It withdrew from the 2022 talks when the two sides could not resolve questions about covering the cost of pensions.
Boynton plan asks county to pay $585M to absorb two agencies
The plan comes more than a month after the County Commission blocked the city’s attempt to annex 15 homes off Federal Highway, a move that would have added to Boynton Beach’s tax base but that the homeowners opposed. At the time, Dugger called the rejection “a real spit in the face.”
Dugger has offered different takes on the state of the city’s budget. In February, he told City Commission members that Boynton Beach faced a $4.9 million shortfall, a situation that he said led him to eliminate the positions of several civil servants. This month, he said the city did not have a deficit.
Dugger’s plan has two main parts. In its first year, the county would pay $95 million to $115 million to take over the fire-rescue department.
In year two, the county would pay $375 million to $470 million, or more, to take over Boynton Beach’s water utilities operations.
The money in both cases would be for the departments’ assets — their buildings, trucks, equipment and similar items. The county would also absorb the city’s estimated 185 fire-rescue employees and 141 utility workers, reducing the municipal workforce to 665 employees, Dugger said.
The combined maximum sum of more than $585 million would cover shortfalls in city employees’ pension funds, Dugger said.
“If this is a home run for the City of Boynton Beach, it’s a grand slam for the county,” Dugger told commissioners. He did not respond to requests for comment about the benefits to county taxpayers.
County commissioner Gregg Weiss, whose district covers part of Boynton Beach, said Abruzzo and his team had not yet discussed the plan with him.
Weiss said Palm Beach County Fire Rescue is a top-rated agency, and that “if Boynton is looking to merge into our system, I think it would be great for the residents of Boynton.” He said he did not have enough information to comment on the $585 million figure.
Marci Woodward and Bobby Powell, two other county commissioners whose districts include parts of the city, did not return requests for comment.
Dugger said he and his staff have been discussing the idea with Abruzzo for months. He raised the issue of the county buying the city’s water plants at a Sept. 30 meeting as a way to end Boynton Beach’s bid to annex nearby neighborhoods through water-use agreements signed decades ago.
At that meeting, officials said the county would need time to assess whether it should proceed.
“We cannot take on a utility if it is not financially viable for us to do so,” said Commissioner Maria Marino, who represents north county.
Boynton tax rate cuts would grow over time, city manager says
If the county took over the two Boynton Beach agencies, city property owners’ tax bills will decrease an average of $145 per household during the first year the deal, Dugger told commissioners on May 19.
During the second year, the city’s property tax rate would be cut almost in half, to $4.19 for every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value from $7.65, Dugger said. Cuts would continue until the rate is near zero, he said.
To pay for the city’s daily operations as the tax rate is reduced, the money from the county would be placed in what Dugger called a municipal endowment fund of $400 million to $500 million. The fund would make investments generating yearly income of 6% from interest, he said.
The deal would not damage law-enforcement funding, Dugger said, noting that Florida law bars local governments from cutting police departments more than 5% yearly.
Commissioner Thomas Turkin, who requested the May 19 discussion on the proposal, called Dugger’s proposal “a no-brainer.”
Commissioner Angela Cruz was more skeptical. “I do want to see more of the details and what the actual numbers look like,” she said, “And to make sure that we look at the long-term effects of any potential opportunities that we have in front of us.” The city also needs to meet with residents, Cruz said.
Commissioners Aimee Kelley and Mack McCray praised Dugger’s plan. Mayor Rebecca Shelton did not speak but nodded along to others’ praise.
Boynton’s annexation bids driven by old water agreements.
Boynton Beach officials have been trying since 2024 to absorb into the city’s boundaries about 35,000 people on 4,500 acres of land valued at $3 billion, the largest such annexation attempt in Palm Beach County history.
City officials said then that contracts signed by the original developers of communities outside Boynton Beach allow the city to annex them if the city provides their residents with water.
Dugger and other city officials have also argued that it is unfair that they spend city residents’ tax money on water service and maintenance upgrades while customers outside their boundaries pay no tax.
County commissioners have argued it is wrong to assume water agreements signed by developers when these communities were built are a sound legal basis for annexing them. They say residents in those communities must be allowed to vote on becoming part of Boynton Beach.
Email news tips and article ideas to Chris Persaud at cpersaud@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boynton Beach wants county to buy fire, water departments for $470M+
Reporting by Chris Persaud, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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