Great VERY local information from the Palm Beach County Clerk & Comptroller. This is the “Checks & Balances” report…
Such as that there were 5051 Building Permits issued in 2013 which is very near a peak year of 6927 for 2006.
And other interesting facts like that the top tax payer in Palm Beach County by a factor of 10 is Florida Power & Light which paid over 76M in property taxes in 2013.
Palm Beach County grew in FY 2013 – both in its tax base and population. The County saw property values increase, with overall tax bills at $3.03 billion in 2013 – a $60 million increase from 20121. The County’s population also grew, with approximately 1.35 million people calling Palm Beach County home in 20132. It is the fourth consecutive year of population growth for Palm Beach County, which remains the third most populous in Florida.
The number of jobs also grew in Palm Beach County during 2013, with employers adding approximately 13,200 nonagricultural jobs in the West Palm Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area4, a 2.5 percent increase from the previous year. The sectors adding jobs included Trade, Transportation and Utilities, Retail Trade and Education and Health Services. As companies added jobs in Palm Beach County, the County’s unemployment rate dropped by 15.5 percent5 from 2012 to 2013. This rate, which measures the percentage of the workforce that is unemployed and looking for paid employment, fluctuated between a low of 6.8 percent in April 2013 and a high of 8.4 percent in October 2012.
Palm Beach County’s growth is changing the makeup of its main industries. While agriculture and tourism are still important parts of the County’s economy, the biggest industries in 2013 include health care, energy and security. Of the companies represented in Palm Beach County’s top five private employers, two – G4S (Wackenhut Corp.) and Bethesda Memorial Hospital – were not among the County’s largest businesses a decade ago.
