Port Canaveral panel rejects changes in commissioner term limits, power to collect taxes
Dave Berman, Florida Today
Updated 4 min read
An advisory board has rejected a series of proposals from a current Canaveral Port Authority commissioner and a former commissioner that would have made significant changes to Port Canaveral's charter.
Among the proposals a majority of the 10-member Charter Review Committee turned down: Lowering the cap on how much Port Canaveral could tax residents if it started collecting property tax again; placing stricter term limits on the port's five elected commissioners; giving commissioners the role of confirming high-level Port Canaveral hires; and eliminating the position of Port Authority attorney.
The committee did approve a number of other charter change proposals, including ones that would increase the number of votes needed from port commissioners for approval of long-term leases with port tenants; increase how much of any future property tax revenue could be spent specifically to service debt on borrowing; and change provisions for awarding port contracts.
The Canaveral Port Authority Charter Review Committee has met nine times so far to discuss proposed changes in the port's charter.
Port Authority commissioners can overturn the advisory panel's recommendations when they meets to discuss proposed port charter changes in August. All changes approved by port commissioners then also must be approved by the Florida Legislature.
The Charter Review Committee is convened once a decade, and has held nine meetings in the current cycle, with a 10th and final meeting scheduled for June 23.
Canaveral Port Authority Commissioner Fritz VanVolkenburgh.
Port's taxing authority
Port Authority Commissioner Fritz VanVolkenburgh had recommended to the Charter Review Committee that it approve reducing the cap on how much the port could assess in taxes from $3 per $1,000 of taxable property value to $1 per $1,000 within the port district, which includes in the northern half of Brevard County.
The port has not collected property taxes since 1986, but has the power to do so. At current maximum allowable tax rates, the port would be allowed to levy about $67 million a year in property taxes. The tax could be up to $600 a year for a house with a taxable value of $200,000.
The majority of Charter Review Committee members were concerned that the proposed reduction in the power to collect taxes could result in a reduced bond rating for the port. That, in turn, could increase the interest rates when the port needs to borrow money.
Separately, the panel unanimously approved increasing the amount the port could use from any future property tax collections specifically for principal and interest payments to $20 million a year, up from the current $7.5 million a year.
Confirming high-level appointments
VanVolkenburgh also proposed that port commissioners be given the power to confirm new hires at the level of vice president or senior director, rather than the port's chief executive officer making the hiring decisions unilaterally. Thirteen positions at the port would be affected.
This would be similar to the current system in Brevard County government, in which the County Commission confirms high-level appointments made by the county manager.
But the majority of the Charter Review Committee felt that this would hold up the hiring process, and that if port commissioners didn't like the CEO's appointments, they could replace the CEO.
Term limits
Charter Review Committee Vice Chair Robyn Hattaway, a former port commissioner and current candidate for Florida Senate in the 2024 election, proposed that future port commissioners have a limit of holding the office for two consecutive four-year terms, rather than the current three consecutive terms.
That would be put port commissioners in line with term limits for a number of other elected officials, including, most recently, a Florida Legislature move to establish limits of two terms for school board members.
But other Charter Review Committee members said they were comfortable with the current three-term/12-year limit for port commissioners.
"If it's not broke, I don't know why we would try to fix it," committee member Marcus Herman said.
Port Authority attorney
Hattaway also proposed eliminating the position of Port Authority attorney.
The current Port Authority attorney, Harold Bistline, is not technically a port employee. He is paid $250 an hour for the work he does for the port.
Hattaway contends that the port's own in-house legal staff could also handle the work for the Port Authority, much like the Brevard County attorney's office also does legal work for the County Commission.
Bistline, who has worked for the port since 1986, told the Charter Review Committee that "I work at the pleasure of the commission every day. They can fire me at any time."
Unlike Hattaway, other committee members, favored keeping the Port Authority attorney role separate from the port's in-house legal staff.
Port leases
The Charter Review Committee unanimously approved a charter change proposed by VanVolkenburgh requiring a "supermajority" vote of 75% of the port commissioners to approve leases of more than 30 years. Currently, a supermajority vote is required only for leases of more than 50 years.
