09.28.2021 Pasco Board of County Commissioners Public Hearing (FY22 Budget)

this is the final public hearing to adopt the fiscal year 2022 budget for the board of county commissioners of pasco county florida citizens will be provided a opportunity to speak during the public comment portion of the hearing does the clerk have proof of publication yes mr chair proof of publication um in the tampa bay times on sunday september 26 2021 in accordance with florida statute 200.065 [Music] the first issue to be discussed is the recommended millage rates and percentage changes from the rollback rates thank you mr chairman members of the board the aggregate millage rate as advertised on the truth and millage notices was 9.3482 mills which represents a 1.49 increase from the aggregate rollback rate of 9.2 mills the reason the aggregate millage rate is higher is because the total taxable value increased between last year and this year generating additional revenue levied for the same millage rate table 1 in your handout shows the millage rates for the various county levees and a comparison of the recommended millage rates to the rollback rates and the prior year adopted millage rates rather than read this chart into the record we have provided copies to each commissioner board records and members of the audience at the first public hearing on the budget the board of county commissioners adopted a budget based upon the millage rates used in the truth and millage notice each property owner received at this time i'd like to give a brief summary of the general fund and transportation trust fund budgets stating the millage rates the percentage change from the rollback rate and the reasons for such a change the millage rate for the general fund is 7.6076 mills which is a 3.82 increase from the rollback rate of 7.3275 mills the millage rate is the same as last year's millage rate this morning the county commission received a presentation outlining the amendments to the final budget these changes will have no effect on the final millage rate the county realized a 10.8 percent increase in taxable assessed values over the past year compared to the current fiscal year the current i'm sorry the general fund expenditure budget represents an increase of 106 million dollars the main factors for this increase include an accounting of the american rescue plan contribution reaching the recommended reserve level of 16.7 percent of budgeted expenditures fully funding the sheriff's budget request a wage increase for board and constitutional officer employees opening two new fire stations and adding a second rescue unit at station 30 adding a veteran service officer and additional personnel in the planning and

zoning divisions to address the increasing development workload prior action by the florida legislature eliminated the requirement for mandatory transportation out of lorem tax no transportation millage was levied last year and we proposed no millage be assessed this year for the transportation trust fund at this time i would ask that the board accept public comment and then vote on the general fund and the transportation trust fund millage rates and associated budgets the minimum vote required to levy the general fund millage rate is a simple majority or three votes according to the maximum military calculation does anyone wish to speak to the board regarding the general fund and transportation trust fund mr chair we have three people signed up okay so i will call um the three individuals if you could line up at the podium first is shannon egbert followed by jennifer newsome followed by faye noyle [Music] hello my name is shannon egbert good evening and thank you commissioners for allowing us to speak tonight i have a letter to read into the record for a friend who is unable to speak commissioners i'm unable to speak at this meeting due to a work commitment i have been a citizen in this county since 1988 and this is the first time i felt compelled to address you on several occasions this past year our elected clerk has spoken to you concerning funding for the clerk's office it was stated at the last meeting that it is the county's responsibility to fund the multi-agency criminal justice information system for court-related functions it is my understanding the county is planning to only fund a portion of that cost i would use this analogy i am responsible to pay my monthly water bill i know it's my responsibility but i'm only going to pay half of it for this year next year i will think about paying the correct amount this board has done and continues to do great things for its citizens i am so proud to call pasco my family's home it is time for this board to do the right thing and correctly fund the clerk's office sincerely donnelly schmidt 6872 gideon circle zephyrhillsflorida335441 thank you again for letting us speak and i just want to acknowledge everybody out here that is in support of nikki thank you thank you thank you county commissioners for all you do and thank you for your time my name is jennifer newsom i watched your last meeting in which the clerk requested that the county take back its expense for the multi-agency sieges while the board agreed that it is the county's responsibility discussion ensued to phase in its obligation over three years while agreeing to only 40 percent of the expense in fiscal year 22. mr biles stated that the clerk's request

was a significant ask the clerk is not asking for funding to purchase software or raise salaries she's asking the county to take back its own expense that the clerk's office has been bearing since 2017 the significant ask here is not the clerks but the board asking our small office to continue bearing the county's expense if you all agree that it is the county's responsibility why would you have the clerk continue absorbing the cost at all thank you thanks i'm a little challenged good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board thank you for this opportunity to address each of you i am faye noel and i stand before you as a pasco county resident for five and a half years now my family and i chose to locate here to pasco after i served in the military for 30 years in the air force i have also had the privilege of working at the pasco county clerk and comptroller's office for five years i had the opportunity the other day to watch the board meeting specifically the part where the pasco county clerk and comptroller address finances for our office and i have some thoughts for the board i know each and every one of you are charged to make some tough decisions sometimes but i believe i heard you agree that the county is required to pay the funds addressed by the clerk according to the florida statute as a citizen i'm just trying to understand the discussion because you see i i i preference my military career because this is what makes sense to me i had a boss of mine that used to talk to me about being a rule follower he would tell me faye sometimes you realize you don't always get it right but when you find out something is not right especially if you're not following the rules you have the responsibility to get it right immediately so my last comment to the members of the board is if you agree with the rule and you agree maybe we missed some years following the rule then don't you have the responsibility to get it right immediately i do know you have tough decisions to make but i believe i chose to live in a county where the leadership follows the rules and they get things right thank you

[Applause] is there any discussion by the board i would like to address that last concern as i addressed it at the last meeting and in addition speaking with nikki if it's in our florida statute that we're supposed to be funding the cds program and the i.t department and we're utilizing and she's utilizing that department to do service provide services on behalf of the bocc i feel that we should be providing and reimbursing her for her expenses also after discussing with her she is told notified me that she has actually had to have hiring freezes and not able to rehire therefore that is putting additional work loads on additional staff back 30 years ago when i was growing up we discussed they always talked about job security and when someone is working for someone and giving them their all they should have that job security and not have to worry about oh what if i'm going to be fired because we don't have the budget to provide enough funding to pay our salaries to our staff and in addition also making having that job security not know that when the next person quits i'm gonna have to take over all of that workload so i do feel that it should be funded and i wouldn't make a mo i will make a motion to fully fund the six hundred and forty thousand dollars for nicki just for clarification it's um the additional amount would be 671 thousand but i can get the exact number motion for 600 171 000 because i feel everyone should have that job security and know that when they come back to work they're not going to have to do the work of another employee that is no longer being able to be funded is there a second of this motion hearing none motion dies lack of a second thank you commissioner you had a discussion from the board if it is our responsibility i don't feel we should be waiting three years to fully fund something that we are responsible for by florida statute thank you is there a motion to adopt the millage rate with the general fund of 7.6076 mills second i got a motion in a second [Music] all those in favor say aye aye opposed like sign motion pass 4-0 is there a motion to adopt the military for the transportation trust fund of 0.0000 mils [Applause] got a motion a second all those in favor say hi all opposed black sign motion pass war zero

mr goring thank you mr chair mr chairman of members of the board i will now provide a summary of the fire municipal services taxing unit budget stating the millage rate the percentage change from the rollback rate and the reasons for that chain the fire municipal services taxing unit fund has a tax levy of 1.8036 mills this represents a 6.11 increase from the rollback rate of 1.6998 mills the increase in property values results in an additional 6.2 million dollars in property tax revenue the total fund is 9.5 million dollars higher than the current year the increase is primarily attributable to the negotiated firefighter wage increase the opening of two new fire stations and fully implementing the firefighter wellness program at this time i would like to ask the board to accept public comment and then vote on the fire municipal services taxing unit fund millage rate and associated budget the minimum vote required to levy this millage rate is two-thirds or four votes according to the maximum millage rate calculation does anyone wish to speak to the board regarding the fire municipal service taxing unit anyone signed up no one signed up okay uh is there a motion to adopt the military of 1.8036 meals for the fire municipal service taxing unit got a motion a second all those in favor say aye aye aye all opposed lack sign motion pass 4-0 thank you mr chairman and members of the board i will now provide a summary of the seven voter approved debt service millage rates these millage rates are levied to repay the debt service for the general obligation bonds to include two tranches for the jail project two tranches for the fire rescue projects one tranche for the parks and recreation projects and two tranches for the library's projects the seven individual millage rates are listed on table one in your handout rather than read this chart into the record we have provided copies to each commissioner board records and members of the audience the total of the seven voter approved debt service millage rates is 0.2098 mills this is an increase of 0.1096 mills over the 2021 actual millage rates of 0.1002 mills three additional tranches of bonds one for fire rescue one for libraries and one for jail were completed for the past year and will be levied for the first time during this budget cycle at this time i would like to ask the board to accept public comment and then vote on each debt service millage rate there is no vote requirement for these millage rates so a simple majority or three votes is all that is needed does anyone wish to speak to the board regarding any of the seven bonds millage rates seeing no one is there a motion to adopt the millage rate of 0.0387 mils for the

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