Town attorney corrects millage rollback number, advises gift-reporting for event tickets

The town attorney told the Pembroke Park Commission on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, that a scrivener error in a previously adopted resolution about the preliminary operating millage rate will be corrected and re-executed; the attorney said the correct rollback rate for the upcoming fiscal year is 7.8676 and that the proposed millage rate of 8.5 will be properly advertised on the TRIM notice. The attorney said the correction does not change the proposed millage.

The attorney also briefed the commission on a July 25 opinion from the Florida Commission on Ethics regarding tickets to a League of Cities installation event. He said the commission found such tickets are reportable gifts under Chapter 112 of the Florida Statutes for reportable individuals except in the limited circumstance where the commissioner is receiving tickets in their capacity as the town's appointed delegate and a board member of the nonprofit; in that narrow instance the ticket is considered in service of their official duties and is not reportable. For all other commissioners and employees who accept town-paid tickets to such charitable events, the attorney said the gift is reportable on the quarterly Form 9 disclosure.

The attorney asked the clerk to remove an unredacted exhibit from the public meeting record because it listed employees and plan types; the clerk removed the page pending legal review. The attorney said the clerk and finance director had alerted him to the scrivener error earlier in the day and that he would correct the resolution and re-execute it for the record. He also offered to answer follow-up questions about gift reporting and to remind the commission at the appropriate time before future League of Cities events.

The commission proceeded to other business and adjourned after routine closing items.