In 2022, our taxes were raised 81% to pay for paving roads. In 2023, Council took a loan for $3.5M to pave roads. They have not used our raised Taxes for roads. Where did our $3.2M in raised taxes go and when will it stop?

· In August 2022, Council and Staff raised the Ad Valorem Property Taxes by 81%. All records indicate this was strictly to pay for road resurfacing

· In November 2022, Council put a non-binding electoral vote out asking if Residents would be in favor of raising Taxes to pay for Capital Improvement. 74.56% of voters said NO. Yes, this vote was after they had raised the Taxes.

· The total 81% increase in Property Tax collected (for paving) from 2022-2025 is $3,156,513. The total cost of paving done during this time is $2,830,963. So, one would think it was all paid for and we have $300,000 for more roads. However, this is not the case.

· In November 2023, Staff and Council took out a $3.5M loan restricted to Paving to do $3M worth of paving and $500,000 in future roads. Yes, Malabar has a giant loan out there!

· Details about the loan

               1. If the loan was secured by the 81% ad valorem Property Tax increase, Staff and Council would have been required by Florida State Law to have the Residents vote on taking out the loan. Since the Residents voted down raising the taxes for Capital Improvements in 2022 by 74.56%, they knew that probably wouldn’t pass. The loan was secured by ALL our Town’s other income EXCEPT Ad Valorem, so that it would require a Council Vote only                                                                                 '             2. The loan has a 5 year No-call, meaning it can not be repaid until Nov 2028. Which means the Town was committed to paying 46% of the Interest of the loan, or $713k in interest. 

·             3.  The loan has a pre pay on top of that through 2031. 

·             4. Interim Town Manager and Treasurer Lisa Morrell said at the Nov 6 2023 meeting while presenting the loan terms that there is a pre pay through 2031, but nothing about the No Call. There was no mention of either in the Staff report. Treasurer and ITM Morrell also stated in that meeting that “We could raise these funds over the next few years, but it is likely the rates for service will increase, and if we bundle the projects, we are more likely to get qualified bidders.” 

·              5. The roads listed on the original $3M budget were never put out to Bid as a bundle to qualified bidders. None of the roads were bid at all, they were done one by one piggybacking County contracts as they came. To date, we have finally reached $3M of paving, 3 years after the loan. 

'              6. It was never pointed out that there was $670k collected in raised taxes in 2022, the year before the loan was take, and an additional $740k would be collected in the next 5 months after the loan was secured in 2023. These 2 years total $1.4M or 46% of the loan amount. Why did we take the full $3.5M and where is all of our raised tax money?  

· The $2.8M of paving done from 2022-2025 was paid for with the $3.5M loan.  We still have over $700k of proceeds from the loan  that has not been used for 3 years but we have paid interest on. This loan has cost $341,623 in Interest in 2 years. In the first 5 years we are not allowed to repay it, it costs $712,865.81. The full 15 year loan, the Interest cost will be a total of $1.56M. That means $3.5M in paving will actually cost the tax payers $5.06M with the Interest paid.   

. The total 81% increase in Property Tax collected (for paving) from 2022-2025 is $3,156,513. This year's increase will net an additional $918,247. This is a total of $4,074,760. Where is this money? What do they plan on using it for? and When do they plan on lower our taxes back down?    

· At the August 3, 2026 Council Meeting, I asked where all our 81% increased taxes were. I got a half answer in the Parking Lot from Town Manager Morrell that if the money is not spent, it goes back to the General Fund. 

· From our year end Audits, I found that we had over $5.6M in the fund as of 9/30/2025 despite never having more that $1-2M in there previously. So, I am going to guess it is in the General Fund.

· At the August 17, 2026 Council Meeting, I proposed to Staff and Council a way to pay off the loan with the funds that were collected and still have over $1M left in our 81% increased taxes after the 2026 Tax Year is collected. Only Councilman Heiler and Councilwoman Hoffmeister approached me to discuss my proposal. I now know, they can not pay it off because of the No-Call Clause until 2028. Though, this was not mentioned during the meeting since no one seemed to know the terms of this loan, even the person who initiated it. 

· Councilman Heiler requested to have a discussion for paying off the loan on the Agenda for October 5, 2026. This is how we learned there is a No Call for 5 years. I presented my info again and again was met with silence. Council has decided to not even answer a question as simple as WHERE IS OUR RESIDENT'S $3.2M? Pretty sure they were instructed to not engage me, so Ms. Aquaviva attacked Mr Heiler. (You can listen to it below). If she asked me these same questions, I would have had all the answers for her since I have done nothing but research the past meetings. In fact, she stood behind a loan she "voted for" but wasn't even actually present at the vote for. And they all talked around the actual issue. Yes, a loan was taken. Yes, they though t it was best at the time and we shouldn't Monday quarterback. BUT, we did not JUST take a loan for paving. They raised our taxes 81% for paving first and then took a loan after that and won't answer where that $3.2M(soon to be $4.1M) is and what they will do with it. Will we repeat this again in the future? Maybe all non-disaster loans should require electoral vote to avoid this repeating? 

· At the August 17, 2026 meeting, the Council voted 3-2 to push ahead Councilwoman Aquaviva's road, Country Cove, ahead of other roads. Some roads had been on the original list of necessary roads for 4 years. They hurried to do it by the end of 2025-2026 fiscal year(September 30). Ms. Aquaviva will term out in November. It was originally on a consent agenda but Councilman Heiler had questions so it was moved to Discussion. Councilwoman Hoffmeister and Councilman Heiler were the 2 that voted no. They asked how the order was done, about unpaved roads ahead of it, etc but no one had answers. If any of them took the time to go down Country Cove, they would see little wear to the road(just the separation crack down the middle) and that the road has 10-15 years of use left. The original budget was $110,000. It cost the Town $157,114 plus an additional $8,200 for a cul-de-sac. So now we Pave roads that do not need it until we run out and start over again? Go down these roads that are up next and tell me if they need paving? 

· Why aren't we paving non-paved roads before these roads that have years of life left?  Not enough information about how the unpaved roads get paved gets to the Residents. There was an incentive that expired this year that if you have an unpaved road and can get 2/3 of the Property Owners on that road to agree to pave, the Town pays 40% of the cost and the Residents pay 60% of the cost, based on the frontage of each individual property. The dirt road need to be compact enough to just put paving down, but that is easy to determine. The Town will even give you a maximum out of pocket amount before you commit. The catch is, you need 2/3 of the Property Owners to agree. Maybe we should bring this incentive back and use some of our $4M? Paving the unpaved roads also lowers the really expensive maintenance that needs to be done year round.

· And then, there is Amendment 3.  For those who do not know why this is so vital, I will lay it out.  In November 2026, we will vote on Amendment 3 statewide. The proposal would take the $50,000 homestead for non-school taxes and increase the exemption to  to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028 and following years by $250,00 plus inflation indexing added. In addition, it caps Commercial taxes to 5% increase, down from the current 10%.

For all intents and purposes, Malabar is mostly Homesteaded residential. It will lose about half its Ad Valorem property tax revenue. According to the Town Manager's own Budget narrative, the State says the estimated loss for Malabar would be $439,490 in 2027/2028 and $598,853 in 2028/2029. The loan payment is $350,000 a year. 

· If Amendment 3 goes through, we will still have the 81% increase tax coming in, it will just be roughly half. So, we would get about $450-475k per year, if we have no recession. That is enough to cover the annual $350,000 payments but by the end, the Residents will have paid $1.56M in interest and your tax millage will keep going up instead of returning to the original amount after the paving is done, as promised. It fact, all the original roads on the list are paved, we just keep paving unnecessary roads that are in good condition. Keep in mind, Grant Valkaria survives on 1.3 mils vs our 4.45 mils. 

· ALL BACKUP DOCUMENTATION CAN BE FOUND IN THE PDF LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE