MINUTES OF GMCA ADVISORY BOARD MEETING

APRIL 21, 2005

The Meeting was called to order at 11:00 A.M. by President Rozema.

Board Members present: Rozema, Ieraci, Berkowitz, Glickfield, Gill, Guttman, Rossi, Alfano, Blacke, Comis, Freismuth, Gilligan, Hamaker, Mayor, McBride, Montross, Schultz and Songer.

Approval of Minutes - The minutes for March 17, 2005 were approved.

Old & New Business - President Rozema introduced and welcomed Lori Parrish, Broward County Property Appraiser, and Bob Wolfe, her Director of Media and Governmental Relations. They shared the following:

• She recently completed her 100 working days as Property Appraiser.
• High quality customer service is one of her goals, an example being homestead exemptions. Customers no longer have to wait to speak to a particular specialist because now everyone is trained to handle this task.
• She is available by email; the 300-600 daily emails received are answered by the end of the day.
• Wages and opportunities for women and minorities were brought to appropriate levels.
• The Office needs 20 new appraisers and the space to accommodate them.
• When calling the office, dialing �0� will connect you to a real person, not a recording.
• New Fraud Department - 131 cases opened in her first 17 days. In her first 60 days, she found $12 million; half billion dollars is fraudulently buried in the tax rolls; discovery of these funds by this department should lower taxes.
• She answered questions regarding reassessment - the Office can legally go back 10 years to recover taxes due.
• Tax rolls will be accurate and current by July 2006.
• Her staff is pleased; an open door policy has been instituted.
• She answered a question about reducing property valuations. She referred inquiry to Bob Scherer of Condos and Co-ops in the Real Property Department.
• A homeowner may rent homesteaded property once during in a lifetime without losing the Exemption. If the rental extends past January 1^st, the homestead exemption is forfeit. A sales tax is due on rentals. Many people are not paying the sales tax.
• Parrish explained portability for �save our homes� protection. Taking �save our homes� protection with you locally would require a constitutional amendment. She intends to work on this next year.
• She feels that audits should be made public.

Suggestion made to mail laws to Presidents/Managers on the Galt Mile. Pio asked if there was a formula that could be used to differentiate the appraised value from the market value - furnishings are included in the market value. She said that, �unfortunately, it has to be determined on a case by case basis�.

Click Here to read about Broward County Property Appraiser Lori Parrish�s address to the Galt Mile Community Association Advisory Board Meeting . [Editor]

Opus South - Robert Lochrie gave a presentation

• The project is consistent with the Galt Merchants Association Master Plan
• two separate towers are planned
• a parking garage is planned for public parking
• streets will be narrowed - parallel parking
• retail establishments on lower level, residential space above
• The fire station will be rebuilt at a new location, possibly Oakland Park Boulevard
• A park on the north side will allow access to the waterway
• new pavers/landscaping
• 15 foot wide sidewalks
• completion target date: 3 - 3 1/2 years from now
• The project is expected to be heard by the zoning board in May and the City Commission in July-September.
• tower will be 12 stories total, including garage
• Units will cost from $500,000 to $1,400,000.

Il Lugano - Ralph Hamaker - 32^nd Street will be closed during construction. Permits have been received.

Click Here to access an update of Il Lugano�s progress. [Editor]

Smile on the Mile - The Galt Mile looks better.

Newsletter Discussion - New issue will be out this week.

Galt Mile Web Site - Eric Berkowitz reported there had been 468,490 hits in March, including 20,300 unique site visits. Eric reported on the condo bill (HB 1229) on the website.

Correspondence - Reviewed attached correspondence and police reports.

Treasurer�s Report - Leah Glickfield reported $15,513.02 in our Treasury.

Other Business Eric: Oakland Park Boulevard bridge painting will be done next year - May/June 2006. Commercial Boulevard construction will be completed by next summer.

Next Board Meeting - THE NEXT REGULAR BOARD MEETING WILL BE HELD ON THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2005 AT NICK�S ITALIAN KITCHEN AT 11:00 A.M.

Meeting adjourned at 11:40 A.M.

Fern McBride, Assistant Secretary