Pier Park Pier, Mexico Beach Millage, Port Pellets, and LaVela Tax

Last year's hurricane activity brought destruction to much, including our piers, specifically Dan Russell Pier - Pier Park Pier. The pier is 1,466 ft long; however the last section has been closed for almost a year. Repairs need to be made and upland infrastructure upgrades are being discussed. Click here to read more about it.

Speaking of Pier Park, what's going on there? Target is almost completed; in fact I think it opens this weekend or next. There certainly is a lot of dirt moving there, and the 16 theatre movie cinema has broken ground due to open by May 07. You can read the press release here.

Mexico beach lowered its millage, but not as low as originally planned. The article is here.

The area is growing and so is our port. After hurricane Katrina last year, our port's activity doubled. A Swedish Bio-energy company has agreed to use the port to export a minimum of 300,000 tons of compressed wood pellets from our port. The pellets will be made of wood waste such as pulpwood, chips and sawmill residue. They will then be used to create energy in Europe. We should take note. When other countries are using our waste to create energy, we need to pay attention. The article can be found here. Another article regarding the pellet plant can be found here.

There is discussion in the area on the fairness of the Bay County property appraiser's office. Read about what Club LaVela has to do with this here.