Sunday, February 7, 2016

News from Jan Sjostrom, the Arts Editor at the Palm Beach Daily News (aka, the Shiny Sheet)

Below are two excerpts from this article in the Shiny Sheet about a very important Palm Beach County (PBC) County Commission meeting this Tuesday (2/9) concerning a one-cent sales tax increase to fund the arts, culture, schools, and other priorities:
     If passed, consumers could shell out more than $1.3 billion over 10 years to improve aging roads, bridges, schools and other publicly owned facilities, update school technology and finance the cultural building boom that’s on the horizon. The tax increase would end in 10 years or whenever the projects are paid for.
     The county commission will consider Tuesday joining the school district, cities and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County in asking voters for a one-cent hike. It also will look at other means of financing more than $712 million in projects deferred during the recession, including a solo half-cent increase or bond. The commission must approve county sales tax referendums before they’re put on the ballot.
[and. . .]
     According to a recent study commissioned by the council, cultural groups plan to add more than 700,000 square feet of facilities in the next 10 years. “They are bursting at the seams,” council chief Rena Blades said.
     The council is asking for nearly nearly $190 million for 26 cultural building projects, plus an additional $38 million for projects that might qualify in the future.
And in other arts news, do you know where the new Cultural Concierge for PBC is located? It's in downtown Lake Worth at the Cultural Council.

If passed, consumers could shell out more than $1.3 billion over 10 years to improve aging roads, bridges, schools and other publicly owned facilities, update school technology and finance the cultural building boom that’s on the horizon. The tax increase would end in 10 years or whenever the projects are paid for.
The county commission will consider Tuesday joining the school district, cities and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County in asking voters for a one-cent hike. It also will look at other means of financing more than $712 million in projects deferred during the recession, including a solo half-cent increase or bond. The commission must approve county sales tax referendums before they’re put on the ballot.