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St. Augustine Beach commission approves business tax hike, infrastructure amendment, accepts audit and updates personnel leave policy
Summary
The City Commission unanimously passed a 5% increase to business tax receipt rates, approved an infrastructure-element amendment to conform with state water regulations, accepted its annual audit and adopted a change to vacation accruals for new employees.
The City Commission of the City of St. Augustine Beach on April 1 unanimously adopted a 5% increase to business tax receipt rates, approved an amendment to the city’s infrastructure element to conform with state water-management rules, accepted the city’s annual audit for the year ended Sept. 30, 2024, and approved a change to vacation accruals for new employees.
The votes came during the commission’s regular meeting at City Hall. Commissioners approved Ordinance No. 25-05 on final reading to raise business tax receipt rates by 5%. They also approved Ordinance No. 25-06 to amend the comprehensive plan’s infrastructure element so the city can transmit the update to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and the relevant water management district; the ordinance cites Florida Statutes section 163.3177(6)(c)4. The commission then unanimously accepted the independent auditor’s report for the year ended Sept. 30, 2024, and approved a personnel-manual revision that increases vacation accrual in the first year to 80 hours for new employees.
Auditor James Moore presented the audit and described the firm’s conclusions about the city’s financial statements. Moore said the audit firm issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements and noted corrections from the prior year, including adjustments related to ARPA and other funds. "We had an unmodified opinion on the financial statements," Moore said, adding that the city’s unassigned general fund balance was about $5.2 million at year end, roughly 50–57% of annual expenditures and above the city’s 20% policy minimum.
The business-tax ordinance was read into the record as "Ordinance number 25-05, an ordinance of the City of St. Augustine Beach, Florida amending chapter 12 ... providing for inclusion in the code of the City and providing an effective date." The motion to adopt passed unanimously.
On Ordinance 25-06, staff said the St. Johns River Water Management District had adopted its plan and asked the commission to transmit the city’s amendment. The reading (as provided in the meeting) described the amendment as "amending infrastructure element appendix A, policy U.1.5.5 and objective U.2.1 of the comprehensive plan ... to conform with Florida Statutes section 163.3177 paragraph 6 c 4." Commissioners discussed a minor wording issue and punctuation in the draft; staff agreed to correct the phrasing before transmittal. The motion to transmit/approve also passed unanimously.
On personnel policy, Human Resources and city staff proposed a cleanup of the personnel manual and one substantive change: raising first-year vacation accrual from 40 to 80 hours for newly hired employees for the first three years of service to improve competitiveness with nearby employers. Staff said the change would apply prospectively to new hires; the commission approved the revised manual and the vacation change by resolution (resolution number 25-01) effective April 1, 2025.
Commissioners also moved and approved the consent agenda and several routine items without separate debate.
The meeting record shows the votes passed unanimously on the listed items. No roll-call vote breakdown by commissioner was included in the transcript; the minutes record the outcome as unanimous for each motion.
