[For those of you who may have missed this] ATTN: Lake Worth—Preliminary tax roll numbers for 2016 released

If you've already read this scroll down for new content. Below is very important news for the City, its residents and the business community and will affect to a great degree nearly every decision going forward to solve the City's problems, potholes included. Please share this information with everyone you know who is interested:

According to this article in The Palm Beach Post, taxable value of property in PBC increased by 8.4% countywide over 2015 values. Overall property values within municipalities total 8.7% which outpaced the increase of unincorporated county property value. This is important as these are the numbers which are used to determine local government budgets once the various millage rates are applied. These are numbers that will be used in the budget process that is underway now.

You have to get Thursday's (6/30) print edition of the Post to see it, the Lake Worth property value increase was one of the highest of all the cities in Palm Beach County at 12.1% over the 2015 number. This is great news for many reasons. First, the City was one of the municipalities that lost the most value during the Great Recession. In fact, there was a five year period when there was no new commercial development in the City. The numbers are beginning to reflect the investment and development coming on line since approval of the City's new land development regulations.

This is a signal that we are on the right track.

It would be interesting to study the breakdown of the increase. How much is due to new commercial, industrial and residential development? How much did the rebound in existing residential real estate market contribute? Perhaps we will have more detail later.

Here's a portion of the chart as it appeared in the print edition:

Another important takeaway from this data is to understand how conservative the forecast for property values was leading up to the failed "LW2020" bond vote in 2014. Payback of the eventual $63 million bond (3 bond issues) was based on projections of 3% annual increases. The 2016 increase over 2015 at 12.1% is nearly four times that conservative estimate. This means if the bond issue had passed, each individual property owners portion of the payback would have been smaller, the bond money could have been paid back sooner and the need for multiple bond draws would have been less. The 3rd bond issuance may not have even been necessary after all. But. . .

We would have been well on our way addressing the City's serious infrastructure problems: roads, potholes, sewers, water distribution systems, etc. It would have also helped diversify the City's tax base by providing a strategic investment in the Park of Commerce.

Knowing what we know now, I wonder how those 25 voters that made the difference in the defeat of the bond issue would feel having this information. Voter remorse?

Use this link to learn why the 2014 Bond vote failed by just 25 votes and will voters going forward "stick to the issues?"

Remember, the opposition told people that they could lose their homes if the City couldn't pay back the bond due to property values either not rising as fast as predicted, or worse, if they had fallen. And remember all of those improvements would have had to take the prospect of sea level rise into account, especially as related to drainage and other water-related projects.

Instead, we are stuck on the sidelines dreaming of a Lake Worth that could have been farther down the road (no pun intended) in addressing its infrastructure needs. Those who now complain about potholes need look no farther than their own ballot when they chose to vote "No" on the bond issue. Meanwhile, the City now has to wait and see if the additional ¢1 sales tax on November's ballot will pass. This debate would be moot if just a few more people ignored the hyperbole and voted "Yes".

A 2016 Letter to the Editor in the Post from one of the most vocal critics of the 2014 "LW2020" Bond. Do you feel much sympathy?