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Riviera Beach CRA presents draft 2025–26 budget; TIF revenue and debt service highlighted
Summary
CRA staff presented a draft FY2025–26 budget at a Sept. 9 workshop that projects tax-increment (TIF) revenue growth, a reduction in debt service and several staffing and program changes. Commissioners requested multiple follow-ups, including clarified Singer Island TIF numbers and cost estimates for pay increases.
The Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) of the City of Riviera Beach presented a draft fiscal year 2025–26 budget at a Sept. 9 workshop that shows continued TIF (tax increment financing) revenue, a drop in projected debt service and operational spending to support redevelopment projects, neighborhood programs and the Clean & Safe initiative.
CRA Executive Director Jadel Merzius told the CRA board the agency’s “main mission is to guide the city's redevelopment efforts.” He said the district’s taxable base has grown substantially since the CRA’s creation and that current annual net TIF receipts include about $5,000,000 from Palm Beach County and roughly $9,400,000 from the City of Riviera Beach (figures CRA staff said they will confirm for the record).
The draft reduces the CRA’s debt-service requirement from about $4.1 million in the current year to roughly $2.9 million in 2025–26; staff said the decline results from maturing debt and recent refinancings reflected in the packet. The budget groups expenditures into redevelopment projects, housing and neighborhood stabilization, the Clean & Safe program, operations/administration, capital projects and debt service.
Staff described several line items the board asked about during the workshop: a $400,000 “project support” line earmarked for Marina Village phase 2 consulting; expanded promotional and event allocations for the Marina Village and the CRA’s event center; and a utility-burial project along Broadway that is active now and expected to continue into next spring.
The draft also reflects an organizational change: the economic and business development project specialist position will be removed (the position remained vacant), while the CRA plans to add one clean-and-safe ambassador in FY2025–26 in addition to filling an existing vacant ambassador slot. Merzius said staff will reallocate those salary dollars into the priorities shown in the packet.
Board members asked staff for follow-up information on several items before the CRA finalizes the budget: a verified breakdown of Singer Island TIF receipts, the specific uses and prior-year spending under the CRA’s promotional and special-events line items (including a breakdown of the $36,000 board promotional pool that is divided among commissioners), and a fiscal impact analysis showing the cost to the CRA for alternative cost-of-living adjustments (for example, 4%, 5%, 6%). Merzius agreed to provide the requested documents and clarifications to the board.
The workshop was informational only; no formal votes were taken.
Ending: Staff said it will return with the requested line-item detail, TIF confirmations and cost scenarios for personnel increases as the CRA prepares a final budget to present to the board.
