OPINION: PCB City Council Drowns Locals in Taxes and Fees but Saves Commercial Developers Millions

BREAKING NEWS: Mayor Tettemer colluded with a former BCC contractor to receive an unedited copy of this article two weeks before it was published. For the record, every elected official in the county will be given carte blanche when it comes to replying to anything we publish at the BCC. However, the subterfuge you attempted to engage in here, Mr. Mayor, is beneath your office to say the very least, and of course, a rebuttal will be forthcoming. 

Since the great Impact Fee debate of 2025, I have been asking myself one simple question. “How were the members of the PCB City Council so easily fooled by the consultant they paid?”

Now, why would I say something like that? Well, it goes something like this. On the eighth, your consultant proposed raising water and sewer rates by twenty-one percent and twenty-eight percent, respectively, over the next four years. And here is how the conversation went. 

Councilman Register said that we are growing very fast, and we need to stay ahead of the curve. If that’s true, why did every member vote a few months back to cut Impact Fees by as much as ninety-seven (97) percent for commercial developers, even though their consultant told them commercial development was growing at twice the rate of residential development?

Most locals would rather see more residential development, not more commercial development that makes traffic even worse.

Then the mayor chimed in with the phrase that lets you know you are about to take it right in the wallet. “The politically smart thing to do would be to kick the can down the road.” Ouch, my wallet is still hurting from the past hundred times I have heard that. 

Quite a few local residents contacted the council and asked that they raise the water and sewer Impact Fees on Commercial Development as much as possible first, and then get back to me on raising our water rates. The response was that they were working on that, but they have no way of knowing if it will pass, and even if it did pass, it would be a major help, but wouldn’t cover everything.

Then how do they claim a few sentences later, “We will use Impact Fees to their maximum extent?” How are you going to use them to their maximum extent if you haven’t raised them and you are not sure they are going to pass anyway?

Is anyone else getting as dizzy as a cat chasing their tail for ten minutes straight? Talk about circular logic. I am beginning to think I moved to D.C. instead of PCB.  

Here is the thing: since the city’s founding, there has been a de facto agreement between the city and its residents that we will trade the insanity of Spring Break and Summer Season for lower taxes and fees on locals. 

Sadly, the city council has now shattered that agreement, so please spare us the sophistry of “well, we are below everyone else’s rates in the area.” That is where we are supposed to be.

There is, however, a simple way for the council to restore the public/locals’ trust. 

Set aside two-thirds of the money you will collect this year from the TDC for the lifeguard program and give locals a homestead exemption/credit against the excessive, seemingly never-ending Special Assessments.

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