Photo: ImagePixel / iStock / Getty Images
The City of Delray Beach is in our Election Spotlight this morning. There's just one race there next Tuesday, after Seat 4 Incumbent Angela Burns ran unopposed.
The Seat 2 race came about when former City Commissioner Rob Long left to run and win a seat in the Florida House of Representatives.
Three candidates are vying for this open seat, including Andrea Keiser. She's an attorney who specializes in education law and land use and zoning law, and also holds several public service positions on a number of boards.
Keiser has also worked professionally for a number of non-profits. We asked for her thoughts on the proposed elimination of most or even all homesteaded property taxes.
"I am always pro finding ways to lower taxes for our citizens. Our families are feeling a pinch, our seniors are feeling the pinch and where I can use my experience to help the city is that when you work for organizations, nonprofit organizations with these wonderful missions, you are given taxpayer dollars that are restricted and you have to do more with less."
Candidate Judy Mollica is a realtor, who serves on Delray Beach’s Planning and Zoning Board and is President of the nonprofit Friends of Delray, which is all about community engagement and open, transparent local government.
Her response to the question about homesteaded property tax elimination.
"It's definitely gonna hurt city budgets because municipalities survive on that. First of all, we have debt that we have to pay but then we have our police and fire which take up about 53 percent of our entire budget. And then we have infrastructure, roads, parks so there's expenses. Unless we had a way to backfill it, I don't know how we would survive."
She hopes raising sales taxes won't be the answer, claiming that would hurt poor families.
A third candidate, Delores Rangel, did not respond to our request for an interview.
She spent nearly 30 years working in the City Manager's Office before retiring in 2023.