3.11.25 Pasco Board of County Commissioners Meeting (Morning Session)

[Music]

I'd like to call to order the Pasco County Board of County Commission it's our 10:00 meeting on March 11th at 2025 at this time silence all electronic devices and mute your microphones please rise for the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance oh merciful creator your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature make us thankful for your loving Providence and Grant that we remembering the account that we must one day give may be faithful stewards of your good gifts amen amen Al to the flag the United States of America and to the stands Nation God indivisible withy and justice for all okay Mr clerk could you please call the rooll district one commissioner Oley here District Two commissioner Wan pres District Four commissioner jger here District Five commissioner Mariana here District three chairman star here okay now is the time for public comment citizens are given an opportunity to comment wait uh on any current or future agenda item coming before the board and on other business under the B board's purview today's public comment will be handled as follows first we will take public comment from those who are here in person then we will take public comment from those who have pre-registered for a WebEx link and are currently on Q we request that when you address the board comments are not directed personally against the commissioner or a team member but rather directed at the issues this provides mutual respect between board members and the public after stating your name and address for the clerk a 3-minute timer will be activated after 2 minutes a single beep will beep will indicate you have 1 minute left and when your time is up two beeps will sound and you should close your comments WebEx participants will be disconnected automatically when their time is up do we have any people signed up for public comment this morning yes we do we have two uh but first Mr Galvin Scott Galvin you're signed up for a item P36 which is actually this afternoon do you wish to speak at this time yes come forward please they'll they'll set it just give your name address for the record my name is Scott galin I currently live at 16512 Laur Le Drive um in West Pasco I'm here to ask today on the Adu laws considering by the commission um item uh 2f uh Adu must be built on a permanent fixed Foundation Ford Putters stem walls Ford peers or engineered slabs um we currently live in a area that's uh zoned for mobile homes and what I'm asking for is clarification on whether mobile homes in where they're already Allowed by zoning to be included in the adus um as this language shows that you know if you know mobile homes are not on a permanent fixed Foundation they are placed on blocks anchored down as required by code on there so I would ask that this be included in the code for to use yes that's a public hearing item this afternoon yes he knew that okay and you can I mean it's legislative so you

can take the comment now and incorporate it into your record if you wish we can have someone meet you outside out the doors this morning but we don't engage in a conversation and dialogue at this point thank you um Can someone uh here he comes okay who do we who else Charlotte Paxton PT hi um my name is Charlotte Pon solo I'm a homeowner at 11744 Orangewood Drive Dade City Florida 33525 and Pasco County which is a little outside the DAT City Limits and um ever since um I bought my home in April of 2024 um there has been nothing but a bombarding of traffic on orangew Wood Drive and I also came to clarify the record of Orange Wood Drive because the county um appraisal's office and Public's Works have told me that the West portion of my property is private and I have been being harassed by code enforcement and law enforcement stating that it is County property when the records don't reflect and also there is a business zoned in a residential neighborhood and the business has exceeded the capacity for that road the road is completely tore up and um there's been several accidents it's very dangerous and I'm bringing this to the attention of the County Commissioners because I fear that someone's going to be killed because of all of the traffic and all of the congestion and nothing's being done about it I have emailed um Ron Oakley I have emailed um the director of Code Enforcement I have emailed um several uh police officials and even filed an internal affairs complaint because I have I have made numerous documentation of the dangers and and photographic evidence and police reports of the dangers of the traffic on that small Road there's a lot of elderly people who live there which is why I moved there because I wanted to live in a quiet um condensed neighborhood and because that business has exceeded the capacity for a residential Zone I was requesting that it would be rezoned but I was told that I was not allowed to request that and would like further um um opportunity to request to have that um business rezoned out of the residential area because of the dangers to um the community um yeah you still have a minute but Mr carbal is there someone here who could I I would say probably David Allen okay David but David did you meet with the other gentleman no they had some someone else went outside Terry went oh Terry went out okay Terry okay if you could meet with our assistant County Administrator David Allen over here and our new code enforcement officer Denise head of Code Enforcement more than code enforcement okay is there anyone online that was we have no one online and that is all we have signed up in advance is there anyone else that wishes to speak under public comment appearing to be none okay we'll close public comment and we'll move on to the consent agenda um I have three items uh one that was withdrawn by Mike carbal

C11 and uh um then we have or resolutions we can fly through consent sorry I moved on to consent so we'll do resolutions after you can does it matter it's your choice okay well since I started I'm going to keep going um we have c22 which is pull and discuss from commissioner waitman and c31 Pull and discuss are there any other items which to be pulled for the consent agenda move approval of the other consent item second all in favor hi hi hi commissioner waitman thank you yes I just wanted to pull c22 to recognize the efforts that this countyy is making with improving sidewalks and so I was just want to highlight that to to everybody that hey we're moving we're taking the the sidewalk operation seriously in this County to get kids and families to and from schools and where they need to go safely um I'm excited to see the Florida legislature taking up legislation on sidewalks due to the busing issues not just here but from around the state and appreciate those Hillsboro County members who are running those bills and so um with that I move approval second all in favor I um and c31 c31 I just wanted to thank all anyway see him out there now but just want to thank 4G for their continued efforts in Pasco County there's Mr GI and you know recognize that hey they're they're willing to to give up 18 1,000 over 1,82 acres to apply that to our El lamp program to save environmentally sensitive lands in this County so thank you all for willing to to do that and take a haircut on on your property and help us preserve Wildlife cor doors and green spaces in this County so just incredibly grateful and with that I'm moveing appr second little discussion y uh and I tell you that is a very key piece for the El quar so we appreciate it yes and in in that area the state uh dot is building an underpass for the trail to go from one side of 52 to the other so um having this land near there um is wonderful and we hope to get that up to uh Cypress uh crossbar and albar so it's going to be a wonderful part of the county and and thank you very much so uh all in favor I opposed okay we're done with the sent um we will move on to resolutions res one resolution number 25146 a resolution by the border of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida honoring Ronnie de for his service to the citizens of Pasco County and congratulating him on his retirement whereas after graduating high school Ronnie D's enlisted in the United States Army and then went on to get his bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Alabama and then his certified public accountant license and whereas Ronnie was hired on September 1 1988 as the Chief Financial Officer for the with Luchi River Electric Cooperative and whereas Ronnie oversaw the $6 million budget each year and the Redevelopment of the Luchi area for the with Luchi River Electric Cooperative and whereas Ronnie was very involved with the boys and girls club in Luchi Lake Javita and one Pasco Center and was

involved with the Walmart distribution Center coming to Hernando County and whereas Ronnie's role at w included locating substation sites negotiating contracts for pole attachments and towers and other important transactions dealing with business partners and whereas over the last 36 years Ronnie was on several boards including the Pasco County Fair Pasco Hernando State College Advent Health date City and the Chamber of Commerce and whereas Ronnie retired from the wuchi River Electric Cooperative on January 17th 2025 after over 36 years of loyal and dedicated service and whereas Ronnie will be spending his retirement watching his grandson play baseball taking his family fishing working on his ranch with his quarter horses and Angus Cattle spending time with his wife and family and is thinking about teaching ACC County at Pascal Hernando State College now therefore be res by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida that said board hereby honors Ronnie de for his dedication and service to the citizens of Pasco County and congratulates him on his retirement done and resoled in regular session with the quum president voting this 11th day of March 2025 move approval second all in favor I I Comm Mr Oak Mr de I never s thought I'd see you retire but still a young man well thank you commissioner I've tried to help them my community like you all have um it's something we strive to do I've had a lot of co-workers friends and citizens of this County that I have depended upon that I could always go and ask for help money whatever was needed to better our community and they haven't buried me yet so I plan on continuing those projects in fact I've started a new one in the last few days so don't be surprised if I knock on your door but I'd like to see that our senior citizens that are improvised get an opportunity to go out to a few restaurants occasionally and uh that is a goal of mine and that's the new project we're taking up and thank you very much for y'all recognizing the work I've done I uh I want to thank you I I certainly appreciate the relationship we've had over the years and doesn't seem like that's coming in and I guess it's not so but I always knew you had a good message coming to me when you came to visit and I knew there was a gentleman behind you that actually um helped you develop those relationships and things things that we need to do for the citizens of Pasco County big part of boys and girls club working at to get that building built many years ago and um just the different projects that we work together we um started with uh rebuild and Luchi and W and Mr Brown were all really pushing to have that that done and a lot of things have moved up there to the point that we've got three new businesses up there now and uh one I'm probably hadn't finished their construction but they're going to be

very successful and they're bringing good jobs to that area uh soon to follow will be some homes and and Workforce housing that'll help people that work there have a place to live so it's just a part of that that big picture but Pasco uh one Pasco Center has has done great and continues to look good and um just anything and everything you've touched has been pretty good we've always agreed to disagree but we always came out with a good result so I certainly appreciate your friendship thank you Ronnie and thank you for bringing Billy Brown's name up because he has been a he has taught me a lot and he always put the citizens of this County First and let us know everybody over there that worked for him the citizens and our members came first yeah that's true anyone else Mr wait thank you thank you chair a piggyback on commissioner Oakley the highlights in this resolution don't begin to describe your mark on not just East Pasco Community but throughout your entire service territory that the co-op covers from here North and it's safe to say without you knowing there are probably many gener ations of kids and families and the kids of those families that you have helped whether it's in your professional career with aoi or in your outside Endeavors and helping to to better troubled situations for people and it's an honor to have gotten to know you over the years and spend his time with you and um you know just congratulations on your retirement I'm glad you're not going anywhere and uh the County's always looking for for good Finance folks folks aren't we Mike um so you know retirement looks good on you roll Tide and uh don't be a stranger thank you Seth any other comments real quick okay Maran yeah Ronnie it's uh it's been an amazing time to work with you through with Luchi the the character of the company has been phenomenal and and I'm glad you mentioned talking about Billy Brown his commitment to this community LED this company in a great way but it took a guy behind the scenes making all the numbers work and and going through everything that you've done politically whenever we've had an issue to come talk about you've been able to talk to us show us why it was good for the company why it's good for the citizens then every time you've been just dead on the mark and uh I I really appreciate the time we spent together um doing the lunches and that one time shooting was pretty cool too but uh you're just a just a great man uh definitely dedicated the community I greatly appreciate the service you've done you've made this a much better place so thank you and I hope that you enjoy your retirement doing all the things that I'm sure you're going to keep busy so I wish you all the best thank you Jack and um I just want to say that my goodness um with Luchi certainly hires people with great character and um the tradition continues and we keep seeing wonderful guys retire getting there myself here one of these days so um it's been a pleasure working with you

and I'm sure we're going to work with you more in the future um enjoy your fishing and your your grandsons baseball yeah so um it's it's a just an honor to uh be able to say give you this award I guess this Proclamation right Mr you got wait our clerk wants to say something well I personally have had the opportunity to work with Ronnie a lot over the years but on behalf of Nikki who was in Tallahassee this morning uh she wanted to convey to you uh and Mr Brown obviously thank you for your support of her and uh the Endeavors that they worked on together so on behalf of Nikki thank you also and myself thank you thanks to each of you Commissioners and thank you for the service you provide this County thank you ran you have family with you have them all come up and we'll take a victory you to join me a round of applause yeah [Applause] is it [Applause] okay res two resolution number 2548 a resolution by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida honoring Chief James E Walters for his service to the citizens of Pasco County and Dade City and congratulating him on his retirement whereas James E Walters grew up in inberest Florida and attended pasal Hernando Community College Go's Corner campus where he received his law enforcement certification in 1995 and whereas prior to graduating from St Leo College in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in criminology James E Walters worked as a wrestling coach and an assistant football coach at Pasco High School and was on the coaching staff when Pasco High School won the state championship in 1992 and whereas in 1995 James E Walters joined the date City Police Department as a patrolman and moved up in rank over the years including detective Sergeant captain and police chief where he was committed to the of protecting the life property and individual rights while maintaining peace and Order and instilling the core values of respect Integrity professionalism and service and whereas from 1999 to 2018 James E Walters taught at PHCC now phsc as an instructor in the Law Enforcement Academy teaching well over a thousand recruits many of whom now work for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office and whereas in 2006 then Sergeant James C Walters earned his master's degree from St Leo University in criminal justice Administration and continued to work at the University as an adjunct faculty in the criminal justice program and whereas since 2018 Chief James Z Walters has made it a priority to host an annual back to school Shop with a cop programed to instill in confidence in local students and Ensure they have the essentials to be successful in school and whereas in 2019 Chief James Z walers was awarded the president's award through the greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce and was elected president of the Tampa Bay Area Chief of Police Association in

2022 and whereas Chief Jamesy walers took great pride in his commitment in implementing a true community policing model within Dade City where he promoted his philosophy of stop walk and talk to assist in fostering a change uh fostering a culture of trust within the community of Dade City and whereas Chief James Z walers consistently provided exceptional customer service and professional law enforcement Services as evidenced by the support he has received from the community he served while fostering strong relationships with Pasco County Pasco County Sheriff's Office Pasco County School District Pasco County emergency management and Pasco County Fire Rescue and whereas Chief James Z Walters retired on February 28th 20125 after serving D City with dedication and distinction for a 30-year career in law the law enforcement profession now therefore be it resolved by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida the said board hereby expresses its gratitude and appreciation for chief Jamesy Walters and his contributions to the date City Police Department dep the community of Dade City and Pasco County and extends his best wishes to Chief James E Walters for a long healthy and happy retirement done and resulted in regular session with a qu president voting this 11th day of March 2025 move approval second all in favor I and this one is Seth is it Seth yes uh again I had two I just had two great guys come forward so but uh Chief wers thank you for being here today and we I'm honored to be your friend and I'm honored to uh have been with you and seen you in service and you did a great job for date City and just on and on the things that you did to make Dade City citizens very safe and did a great job of bringing everybody together here in Dade City along with d City and the county to do the right thing for the citizens of D City and Pasco County so thank you thank you Ron yeah you want to say some more you got plenty to say I'm sure oh yes we can hear from you thank you madam chair and members of the County Commission I'm I'm honored to be here today and I'm grateful uh for the recognition um I've enjoyed as stated in the resolution great Partnerships with all of your departments in in Pasco County from Emergency Management fire rescue uh Public Works helping out during natural disasters uh it it's we're nothing without the Partnerships that we have we can't accomplish anything by ourselves as you well know and so I'm grateful for that I'm grateful for the the partnership that we had uh and hopefully continue to have with pasal Sheriff's Office and U just keeping all of our citizens and visitors to this community safe thank you thank you very much commissioner waiton thank you well Chief good to see you retirement looks good on you no thank again you know being a a municipal police chief is more than just being a chief you become part-time city manager part-time sanitation worker social worker you name

the hats that you've probably worn in your career over the decades um you know it doesn't go unnoticed and with your uh children's programs and making police human towards youngsters and taking away the potential you know not intimidating Factor but making making your local law enforcement approachable to the youth is something that goes a long way in building Rapport between the public and a police department and you've done a wonderful job with that and I think and I hope that Legacy will continue and um you know just the legacy of public service within your household within the education world thank you both um the told hours you put in into investing in our kids and our community uh Public Services it's a special job and thank you both for for making a a lifetime of of that work so congratulations to you both and um it's good to see you thank you very much thank you okay well congratulations oh does someone else want to say okay well first of all happy retirement thank you congratulations um I never knew about Shop with a cop that sounds really really cool um I'd love to go to that event and um just also thank you to your family for you know supporting him because being a daughter of a police officer it's not easy um being a family member so thank you for everything you've done for our community and thank you to your family thank you Lis yes course Chief I want to tell you you've had a stellar career um the way you've lived your life in this community has been phenomenal uh I grew up in a small little town we had a police chief and in a really close association with it and he was so tied in the community just like you with sports um and I think when you tie in sports just the other activities it makes the kids feel safe the families feel safe it brings the community together and then when you leadership to goes to even a state championship even better but I think the pride that you brought to this community and the way you've cared yourself couldn't couldn't be any better couldn't be prouder and I wish you all the best in retirement thank you so much thank you and and I would Echo everything my uh Commissioners have said and I'm sure we're going to see you around the Community stealth so congratulations on your retirement thank you madam chair and this is kind of unique normally I sit here and say nothing but to have two back to back um Jim I mean it was my pleasure to be your city manager at a point in time in the past um and having worked with you on many things from come quat to you name it and uh being involved with the uh with the the various organizations that you have assisted us when we were doing our projects so um personally congratulations and the very very best and from Nikki uh who as I mentioned she's in Tallahasse today wanted me to be sure to convey to you appreciation for working with the clerk's office and and uh in the many ways that we interact and uh from her

too all the best please extend my appreciation to her as well thank you and thank you [Applause] Harold in addition my family and others uh some friends in the audience would would you all come forward for the picture also I don't know we'll break a protocol here but Genie s whoever else Kelly s who yeah we'll have to do it too late if you could someone else yeah we're going to have to have some folks in the front if you could come well then we [Music] need fine there you go congratulations [Applause] almost sat in your seat all right Res three resolution number 25 45 a resolution by the boorder of County commissioners of Pasco County Florida observing Tuesday March 18th 2025 as National Transit Employee Appreciation Day in Pasco County whereas March 18th was selected as National Transit Employee Appreciation Day in commemoration of the very first bus line launched in Paris in 1662 called caress Al Soul really and whereas the the American public transportation Association and his Partners celebrate Transit Employee Appreciation Day on March 18th 2025 and whereas Transit bus operators mechanics supervisors maintenance staff station agents and customer service Representatives keep our communities moving no matter the circumstances and should be recognized for outstanding contributions in planning building maintaining and delivering safe reliable and courteous transportation services and whereas the bus operators and support staff of the Pasco County public transportation are the backbone of go Pasco in providing Equitable public transportation in Pasco County and whereas go Pasco employees navigate public transportation smoothly safely and effectively and whereas go Pasco bus operators who work beyond the Call of Duty especially during Pasco County Emergency Operations deserve to be recognized for their extraordinary efforts and whereas Transit agencies around the country are taking the shared opportunity to honor their Workforce on National Transit uh Employee Appreciation Day showing their gratitude to the industry's dedicated employees through kind words gestures of appreciation and by actively promoting the use of public transportation now therefore be it resolved by the board of County commissioners of Pasco County of Florida that the said board hereby observ observes Tuesday March 18th 2025 as National Transit Employee Appreciation Day in Pasco County and expresses its sincere gratitude for the professionalism and dedication of

Transit employees the board encourages all citizens to thank their bus operators and engage on social media using the hashtag ashrit Employee Appreciation Day Den resolved in regular session with the quum president boting this 11th day of March March 2025 who approval second all in favor I I um I want to welcome you here but I think there are more so if you would all trans fol come up that would be awesome and stand there behind the podium so good morning Commissioners PA to support services here with Anette oring our operations manager representing our assistant County Administrator uh Kathy Pearson who could not be with us today proudly standing here with the go Pasco team supporting our bus operators who are the backbone of the services that they provide to the community and so with that I'll leave it to Anette to share a few words about the team thank you great I want to sincerely thank you Commissioners for recognizing Transit day and acknowledging all um the vital role public transportation has in our community and I want to thank um all of the people behind me from bus operators supervisors superintendents safety um who make all this happen every day thank you that's awesome and and how many people do you you have in your department do you know off hand um we have 180 180 nice 120 120 yeah 120 wonderful um well I'll let my other commissioner speak and then I'll speak so anyone else want to say anything about I certainly appreciate the work y'all do it's not an easy job and I know that y'all do a very good job servicing our citizens all over the county so I certainly appreciate that commissioner jger yes I just want to say thank you um you guys were amazing especially during the storm I would call last minute and say hey I've got a bunch of people and you guys would go pick them up or and you even were willing to stay late like truly your dedication to your job just comes through and I appreciate that so much for everything you guys do in our community so thank you okay Mr marianao and I greatly appreciate the service you provide to our people some people really depend on you guys to be able to be there get them to where they got to go so it's very important and I'm just disappointed only got a day she get a whole week Mr waitman thank you yes moving people is not easy let alone driving keeping your head on a swivel keeping yourself safe keeping your Riders ship safe you know there a lot going on a lot to think about when you're doing your job for your safety and the safety of our ridership and it's a big job that you do and uh thank you all for for choosing to to work in this department and providing the service uh to folks pass County you know um I grew up part of my life in Cal Northern California and fifth sixth and seventh grade I lived in the Hills above Oakland it's called Mont Clair pedmont this area and we looked out over the Bay and San Francisco where I was I was born in Redwood City and uh I literally took the bus with a girlfriend I must have been

points but I'm honored and humbled to get to call these people my colleagues my partners my collaborators and most importantly my friends a very nice good morning Heather Grimes chief administrative officer for the clerk's office um thank you commissioner Jer for sponsoring this uh Amy said a lot of what I was going to say because I do believe it it's the first time we've ever had such a resolution um and this group of people um behind me and I've had the opportunity to work with both when I worked at the board I worked with a lot of these individuals and now at the clerk's office um they in my mind are the unsung heroes um one of the most important things in my opinion that uh this board does is make sure that you're good stewards of the taxpayers money and this group helps you do it um they care they work collaboratively between our two groups which wasn't always the case if you've been here a long time um but they work very collaboratively um to get things done and to do the right thing and so I just appreciate this board's recognition of this uh quiet group they're not like fire and Sheriff that enjoy being in the Limelight like Amy said they like to hide out so um this thank you thank you SE thank CH oh and then open sorry we keep the order I can't all right first um thank you for being here today and thank you for Amy and clerk's office all all of you being here together this time time a year actually uh you come to the Forefront you come out of the back rooms and make sure everything happens right for our citizens and the programs we have to service our citizens so very important to all of us and thank you each for what you do okay yeah commissioner wait thank CH it's fitting that um you guys get your your week during spring break take advantage take advantage of it um I'm just kidding I I for one um no secret how I am about managing the taxpayer dollar and managing this budget and I don't take for granted and I share this with with Amy and Mike as we go through this process uh how appreciative I am of your work and how critical it is you know to help manage this County our number one job as a County Commission is to is to vote on a budget and we could not do that without your help help without your dedication without managing five quirky personalities at time on what's important and what might not be important during the budget process or you know last minute votes two budget Cycles ago and we're doing cocktail napkin math you know thank you all hopefully you find that as exciting as I do um I one very much appreciate your line of work and um you know thank you for dedicating and and being being being a steward and a watchdog of of our money and uh keeping the electeds in this process honest and transparent so congratulations and thank you both sides of Clerk and our team for for coming over this morning and um I would just Echo everything my uh fellow Commissioners have said um and I wouldn't want your

job for anything no no no commissioner Jager there's so many why don't you go down and we'll stand one oh sure oh uh I want to thank thank you all for the work you do uh clerk's office for you guys to make sure our paperwork's lined up so everything's done the right way is is critical um and for our om team the budget work that you guys do um it's fluid and it's it's kind of like it almost finishes one year and we start the next year um we talked about doing things by annually but I don't think we'll ever get there just because things change all the time so it's hard to do that but I I want to I want to say just coming back from DC watching the attitude change and looking for efficiencies up there I want to empower you guys when you see some things that could be done more efficiently maybe it's not done quite the right way whatever please speak up bring it all the way up the chain and let's make sure we're doing the best we can every step of the way and I I just I want to thank all you for the great work you do appreciate it I know you have something to say I do here because everyone is social distancing from the podium it looks like so what you do is foundational right I mean without without you Amy I think you described it perfectly it's that quiet p in the background that we take for granted and should take for granted but it's it's foundational to how we invest how we're transparent and accountable to the taxpayers and how we invest their hard-earned money into the services that they've asked asked us to provide them so I can't thank you enough for that I'm married to a government Finance professional so I understand uh what what you guys do what you go through uh and sometimes even we at the administrative level can be a little perky with some of the some of the Hoops we make through just well what if we did this way what if we did that way but you always do it you do it well and you do it precisely and that's that's what's great you can always just count on what it is that you guys do so I just thank you for your professionalism your attention to detail and just your dedication uh to to the job that you've been called to do so um and one more from the clerk well just to add on what Mike was saying working together um as we announced to the board here about a month ago um at that once again again for the 40 41st 41st year Pasco County has been awarded the Excellence in financial uh accounting which it takes both sides to make that award happen so um we can be proud of a long history that they are under tremendous pressure to not lose oh that would that would be a not a good dat I'm just saying when nck I've already heard you know but no it it it takes both sides to make it work and uh and as Heather said I've been around watching a long time and I cannot remember when the relationship and communication is ever been better than it is today wonderful all right let's take a photo yeah yes state

[Music] as much as possible might have to have like a couple of you come in front [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] okay I think we are now on to our RS and so we will start with R32 R32 is Mr M2 okay so r33 I didn't see him here so the G budget director um she just left B in the week all right so Amy Ferell budget director with Pasco County Office of Management and budget so today's presentation is both a followup and then a completion of um the January 28th board meeting where we started talking budget and strategic Direction um the board had asked us to come back and also do a deeper dive into Municipal Services taxing units talking about kind of how they work pros and cons um and then some topics that we ran out of time covering in the January meeting we we have a handout board memb somewhere yeah yep so you should have the presentation in front of you have this um I have two maybe I kept some on oh no this is from last last week is it the same as last meeting okay I have extra one uh is there one for commissioner Mariano have this got all right so the agenda today is laser focused on Municipal Services taxing units and our long-term capital planning all right so just some general information around what I will continue to refer to as mstu rather than saying the full four wordss um so the intent is to fund Municipal like services and or essential facilities it does require an ordinance to be established and trim notices and tax bills updated by July 1st so we can stay compliant with our trim process if if we have a current ordinance that we'd like to revise the target date to do that would be by May so we can make sure that we can include it in this year's trim process um it does take five votes to establish a millage rate and typically um four votes to maintain and if the cities were to be included and to contribute they must adopt an ordinance to do so by that same um July 1st deadline you have any questions about kind what I call the the rules of the road so to speak when you say um I have a question yes when you say to maintain is is there a vote on an mstu every year so for the mill yep and so it's five to create it four to move it up or down it's typically four just to maintain what that to maintain status quo and it has to do a lot with um the different criteria in how you calculate rolled back rate from the prior year and then what level of votes is required to generate a certain amount of Revenue so it follows similar rules to your general Village in terms of roll back R right any other questions before we move

on all right and we can always come back all right so um pros and cons to be honest I think pros and cons might be a little bit too strong of words because because there might be some perspective that would say something in the con column should be moved to the pros column because it really is about perspective um but we did just try to divvy them out in a way that maybe make some kind of sense so when you have an mstu there is non-competitive funding meaning whoever is in receiving that tax revenue you're only competing amongst others who might be in that tax revenue so for instance our fire mstu our fire is the only one in there so all of that tax revenue does go to fire so it's less competitive in that sense um there's a lot of transparency on the trim notice because there is a very specific this millage that will equate to this much tax provides this level of service so that is kind of a one for one which we don't necessarily have in our general fund because there's a lot of services being provided with that one taxing source to increase the tax that particular business unit would make the case for that increase not necessarily the board and ensuring that you're not paying for duplicative services so we'll use law enforcement as an example if that were in an mstu it would be carved out cities only the cities that aren't providing that service or opt into that service would be contributing rather than potentially a global contribution in the general fund millage where there might also be some county or city services that are the same or similar all right so we'll move on to the con side so cities do not inherently contribute meaning they would have to opt in the what was that that last bullet on this Slide the cities would have to adopt an ordinance to opt in for that Municipal service taxing unit um if they don't adopt an ordinance it could lead to increased cost for cities um administrative work there is additional administrative work when you have an mstu on the board side for our property appraiser our tax collector whenever there's an additional Levy there's just going to be administrative work associated with it and the board does pay the cost of those trim notices so if it were to for example generate an additional piece of paper in that trim notice the board would pay those costs um and then when we use an offset millage methodology where we reduce the general fund to increase an mstu millage there is a compounding Revenue loss to the general fund but there would also be um potential for a compounding Revenue increase to that business unit you were to slide over to an mstu and we have an example so you can kind of see how that shakes out it's a lot of information do we have any questions before I move on to the next slide

all right so we have two examples here for you we have one example of a Parks mstu assuming that the cities do opt in and contribute and then we have a second example assuming that the cities would not opt in and contribute just so we can see how that math Works um it is important to notice that our current state in the general fund um we are not providing $8 million worth of program Revenue to Parks Capital maintenance so this would be new monies um we do have $100 million dedicated for Parks but those are for projects at $50,000 or less that they can complete within one year 1 million what did I say one million that's not what I meant t like here we go all right so so the actual millage number don't necessarily get tied to what that necessary that millage number looks like right now because as you all know in June we get preliminary taxable assess value from the property appraiser in July we get final taxable assess value so that number subject to change based off what those taxable assessed values are it's really that third column where it says program Revenue that you would want to be paying attention to and then the last column where it says new revenue or growth to Parks over five years so we'll talk about about that one in more detail so let's use the middle example of operations where we're looking at what millage would we need to generate roughly $23.7 million which is Park's current operating budget if we were to just take that operating budget out of the general fund and move it to an mstu so using the same growth assumptions that we use for our existing fire mstu we've looked at assume a flatline budget of $23.7 million for five years and then using our growth assumptions in the mstu we've looked at what is that Delta from $23.7 million and what we anticipate additional Revenue to be over five years that program would grow by 28.9 million so that's that explains that compounding Revenue increase in the mstu and then that would be an or to you said it increases by 28 million do you mean it increases to 28 million no but that's how much additional Revenue over a 5year period the if you never change the millage rate would get generated in that MSU above and beyond the 23.7 million operating budget so what's happening is is the parks budget being separate into the mstu would organically grow by 28.9 million if the board did nothing else so the board could either modulate that millage right to control the growth of the park budget right now that growth occurs in your general fund and then it is used to fund other things so if you move it to that mstu it's not available there but it is available here and I think that was the the last item that Amy was trying to hit on that compounding effect I I hope that makes sense right so the compounding effect is the park budget does not I'm sorry the Park's budget right now uh it it it

maintains a pretty pretty flat growing in the general fund I you know so when when departments come forward and they they have budget requests and proposals they're competing within the general fund for those dollars so um you know the park budget would not increase much more over 23.7 million normally but if it was in an mstu and that mstu was allowed to grow that Revenue would be isolated and kept in in Parks or the board could decide to reduce millage or do something with it right now it grows within the general fund and then it is used to cover other things like Corrections uh you know libraries there could be other Public Safety Sheriff's budget Etc where those dollars are currently allocated but so are you saying that in five years our General Revenue fund will more than double now what she's saying here is well that's what she's saying there that that in five years if the operations is 23.7 million Park yes the park budget could theoretically double of course theoretically General Revenue fund your General Revenue fund would not well why would that and because that's not in your general fund anymore you've taken it out the Assumption here that that what she's showing is is that we reduce it's been mentioned here before that pull Parks operations and pull Parks maintenance into their own separate mstu the example that she's showing is if we took Park's budget which is currently 23.7 million and we removed it from the general fund that represents 4715 Ms so you establish an mstu at that now park budget is set at 23.7 you make a commensurate reduction in the general millage which lowers you from 747 right now which is about where we're at to 695 okay and so now your general your general has been cut your Parks is running so the dollars that would have grown in your general fund are not growing there anymore they're going grow in your Parks I just thought it grew to 28 I didn't know it was an additional it actually would be a it would be a larger number in your general fund because you have a larger base and a larger millage and again those dollars would not be available in the general fund because normally we we would not grow the park budget at that rate right right and and nor should we yes okay sorry go right and so to to Mike's Point it's important to to understand that the what we're bringing before you in terms of examples are assuming a net neutral impact to the taxpayer right so they would be paying the same taxes it's just a little bit less for our general fund and then taxes for the parks MSU so we did run these scenarios assuming net neutral impact to the taxpayer so I just have a question so this is just to operate the parks right that's not that second one would be to operate the and that's not making any improvements or anything like that just operating correct just their ability to grow their program based off of taxable assess value growth and then how the board decides to set that millage on an annual basis the Third scenario would assume that we're looking at building their

operations budget plus $8 million of capital maintenance in there as well which is not how they're currently funded this year Amy for clarity that's combining with the mstu that the board last year coupled with into this new example correct right so so let's say the board wanted to opt into something like that third one it would require an amendment to the current ordinance which we would have to put that into action by around May that way we can hit our trim trim requirements and deadlines for this year um are you wanting us to discuss this now well so I just want to show one I would like us to discuss it but I do want to show one more example so this is is um assuming that the cities raise their hand and says yes we want we want to opt in and they adopt their ordinance in order to do so we do have a second example if the cities did not raise their hand opt in adopt an ordinance and say they want to participate um it does look a little bit different this one would have an impact to our homeowners um worst case scenario uh a little over $7 annually based off $150 ,000 taxable assess value so scalable based off taxable assess value am so because I know what they're thinking so the municipalities correct me if I'm wrong after discussing this and thank you all for using this as an example this is exciting stuff for me uh the municipalities share into our Park system is what a million bucks collectively for for within the parks system what we consider say say this goes through and we're not collecting to commissioner Mariano's concern is this the municipalities aren't paying in what are we not collecting from them roughly a million bucks total what's the what's the sum total of it's a dious amount we don't have so my point is I don't think have that me but I can get it my my point to that comment is is with the inter loal cuz back in the the pros and cons section we might be able to get more out of our city Partners to help help towards the fields and not right now they're contributing basically nothing but they're using it and wearing out our field so the current Formula doesn't doesn't work anyway that's for discussion point so anyway thank you um I do have a question on that too um so we took over the baseball fields for the City of Newport which Keith you may need to stand up here I don't know um we took over the baseball fields I think for the City of Newport Richie um I can't think of any sports fields that the City of Newport rich M operates and maintains just off the top of my head um are there any uh no and um date City there's there's yeah there's a handful the city of dat city is Burks maintained by the city or by the county that's a County facility okay is there a soccer complex maintained by the I wouldn't call it a complex but there's some single field sprinkled within the city limits yes that does count and Zep for Hills do they have any they also have a handful of fields as well so um

the to me there's two ways to go around this uh one our cities are not that big um so it's not a big issue to me but it would be nice if they participated if we go to this the other way around it is if you live in the city and you're on a county field they could pay a fee to use it um depending on your your home address if we if that was an issue to a commissioner um um but you know and or maybe we say a city's of a certain size and not I mean San Antonio St Leo how many people live in San Antonio the only thing I have to add is living in this city I pay of new we paid $4,000 worth of taxes to live in the city I feel like they should contribute um okay I want our tax dollars going somewhere all right so um Okay so then um do we want to look at ju just taking I think what we talked about earlier was the maintenance being in an mstu or do we want to discuss the whole Kaboodle going in the maintenance mstu is what made it all the way to being all the way across seeing ordinances in place this would combine the maintenance piece that we made it to the end of the budget cycle but didn't fund and then the remaining pieces of the parks budget and this is what I was advocating for last year um within this obviously you see the compounding growth which gives the board an opportunity to manage that growth and just if you don't like the grow reduce the reduce the taxes and grow with it and then Kei Department can can do what they they need to do and they're not being their funds not being being rated I'm I'm for and I'm going to continue I'm for an all encompassing Parks mstu based on I think this fantastic presentation that am team put together of why I think it's important that we go through the exercise and look at the park budget through this example um and then obviously Keith Keith I'm going to speak for Keith but I think Keith is probably had some conversations with the municipalities and he may have a solution which may alleviate some of commission Mariano's concerns but again I think this is a very healthy and fantastic discussion and I'm very glad that we're we're doing the parks as an example of of the mstu for for me I it it doesn't matter to me as long as we get the money to safely uh and professionally operate and maintain our parks and we have more Parks coming online with no money to maintain them we shouldn't even open a park you know every time we open a park it needs to have the Cor responding maintenance in the budget yeah I mean that's very irresponsible to open something and then and the maintenance is and you can't maintain it you can't mow it um so we we have to have a plan to get him the maintenance money he needs sty you what I'm hearing you so you're favorable of exploring the opportunity of combining an alls MST for the part yeah I I I would go either way um now obviously I don't think it's appropriate that I mean Keith's got to we've got to keep the park budget at the

right number that's our job yeah and so that mstu um Delta that isn't needed by the parks needs to go back into general fund and so so we just have to tweak that number every time right every year and we just do a a budget of millage reduction clarify the last thing that you said about putting money back into the general fund because once it's in the mstu that's where it is so unless you make changes to your general operating millage right that we can do that every year right we say how much does how much should be in the Parks I'm you certainly you certainly can I mean I don't know what that when I when I when I say modulate that may be increasing some years cutting other years to well can't they tell us what the number is well it depends on growth the problem that you you can reduce the mstu millage easily putting it back in the general millage you're going to still you it's not seamless you're going to have to then have an extraordinary vote likely because you'll be above the roll back rate right so it you can't just take it and put it into the general back it it's going to the the way the statute operates is it's going to be considered an increase to your general millage that then has to go through the oh then people say we raise taxes right four or five four or five I was waiting for Jeff to finish but that's what I was I was going to say is that you know everything from Washington DC is they're like trying to you know save and I know we run very thin but to the taxpayer it's going to look like we're raising taxes yeah so as soon as they see that mstu on their tax role so how do we how do we accomplish what we want to accomplish without having a tax well we can't no I mean simply would be aiori of how you want to spend money I mean so right now we we we put money into various but you know in various buckets during the budgeting process if this board says you know look we we want that $8 million we it will come from somewhere within the existing funds and we reprioritize and that's that's how it would be spent that's how you would do it we're we're taking the total we're pulling the millage dollar for dollar essentially off the general operating fund so there's seven Mills we pull four Mills so that's a good you know we have three Mills and this is hypothetical in the generate fund the four Mills go to the parks budget so it's flat so there'll be a reduction in one and you're just taking that money and putting into another but the millage rates balance out so there is no tax where we have an opportunity as a board is when it comes time to the parks mstu this board has an opportunity to reduce taxes by cutting Mill in the Parks mstu to keep that fund where it needs to be so there's an active vote discussion public hearing people may Advocate hey I want to have more money in Parks we may not but it gives the

board total autonomy to cut that tax as they want in any board into the future and that's why I think this mstu is is a is a good move and because it protects it you you it's transparent to the taxpayer it's transparent to what the needs are because it's a budget a bank account for that particular duty of those funds which is the fund the parks I'm all for this plan um and so let me let me follow up on I think I had something backwards so because Keith um if you don't mind can you go back to the slide that was there before this one um so operations in five years so right now you're at 23.7 and maybe and like I I am not the finance person in my family it's 23.7 if I understood what they were saying you're going to take 23.7 and add 28.9 in 5 years no no okay well that's what you said is you said that's the anticipated growth if the operation before you said it's new Revenue 28.9 it it is that it is that is what we would project that's what it grows from 20 23 to 28 that makes more sense okay which is maybe what you than what you do need well that so I think Mr carala explained it yeah that's over five years but I think Mr carbal explained this great So currently the parks operating budget is is not growing this way so I think this example is an opportunity for it to grow like the like the adalum and the general fund but in its own dedicated taxing unit so I I think what what om is trying to explain here is that as cost of goods services and contracts increase just operationally we would probably be able to address that through a dedicated Ops mstu the piece that's not clearly called out yet or has not not been resolved is the third it's the maintenance piece which also needs to grow right but will also grow in its own taxing unit as well correct okay I I maybe I didn't ask it right but the way I thought you saying it that is the sum total yeah so if you add the total of the growth yeah if you add and this is projected right so things are subject to change especially five years out right but that's our projected year 1 plus year two plus year three plus year four plus year five that is assuming we don't touch the millage and our growth assumptions 5e out are accurate I mean we're we're adding more and more parts and um and so his budget needs to his operation needs to grow and so does maintenance mam chair yeah so the bottom line is we control the budget if we want to increase the budget I don't need an mstu to increase the budget we can just do that and put it in there and if you if you're worried about protecting it well so be it it's going to take a vot vote every year as we do our budget every year to keep funding in when the economy went to to in the toilet back in 07 guess what we had to cut and we cut hard did we cut too much maybe we did but guess what that board made the decision and that's what we had to go with the problems I have number one you're going to put 91% of the population to pay for all these parks and it's not right CU everybody uses them everybody needs to come to the table if you're going to go this way

then my major objection goes away the other thing you've got to look at is you got cras that are out there I've got very wealthy people very wealthy homes that are still in a cra the City Newport Richie has no plans to ever get rid of the CRA Port Richie they've cut a few things back I haven't seen any more Cuts in a few years now I think we need to go look at those cras too because that's taking money out of our County operations that could be in there that those guys are just ging and you think po Richie is 100% new po rich is 100% blighted do you think new P Richie is 90% blighted our taxpayers for the county are paying the freight for them people to go work these cras and I don't agree the way it's being done I I think we going to go we should be looking at that if you want to increase and help this but again back to the basic points if you get every single City in I think it's okay to go this way if you want to separate it out but if you don't have every single City in it it's not fair to the regular County taxpayer okay and and I want to clarify something that that um that if if the mstu grows more than is needed all we have to do is roll that back we don't there won't be necessarily any extra Revenue to put back into the other and we don't have to touch we don't have to touch the other although it wouldn't be a tax increase it would be a tax decrease because we're potentially we'd be adding money to back into the general fund so right so for example if if that year one operations right so that sum total is 28.9 if that year one was $2 million and we decided that Park's budget only grow by $1 million then you could reduce the to only provide $1 million of Revenue to parks that year now based on your current setup and again I just want to foot stomp this is that additional million would have normally reev resided in your general fund but when you make the reduction as this is you know a dollar for dooll reduction you will not have that growth in your general fund right now what happens is other things get prioritized and that's why your Parks budget kind of kind of grows at the rate that it does so you would have to make other decisions regarding what other expenses may be coming to the board well we're not I throw out there on that item we don't budget Parks the way we should and commissioner joerger there is no 8 million in our budget for there is no money in our budget for Keys maintenance that's that's why we are talking about mstu and it is the way that most many places fund their Parks Hillsboro County funds it this way um I don't know if you've done an analysis of how many counties they fund it through mstu sometimes it's the county wide sometimes it's in districts so um ke Keith have you talked to any of the Cities so when we did the impact fee study we did an analysis and it's a mixed bag commissioner so um I will say this though uh talking about just the growth in the general fund so my team did an analysis from 2017 to present and

we looked at our adopted Budget on Goods services and contracts to present day and we compare that to an inflationary 6% increase from 2017 to present and what we should have gotten through natural growth was almost $2 million more than what we have currently today from 2017 so I think the you know the County Administrator is saying it very clearly you know it's it's ultimately going to come from some other place in the general fund so I've been your Parks director for almost eight years I haven't seen that growth come to this department specifically so uh we are kind of continually falling behind whatever yeah chair it's it's my viewpoint of this and and maybe I didn't articulate as clear as last year it's it's it's a restructuring of our budget it's not an increasing in taxes it's just right restructuring the money that we have and putting that money to work differently yeah and have a better compounding effect look at the fire Ms to it's performing really really well I think it's it's from when it was increased two years ago I think it's outpacing its projections at least last budget cycle seemingly it was performing really really well and that just further reinvigorates my my support for really considering something similar for for parks and then we tackle the other issues at hand uh you know uh the way that that the board sees fit again thank you guys Amy and the team for for doing and Keith for being patient with me I I greatly appreciate it and Commissioners on those points are very valid and you know I think however we need to do it get the buying from the cities need to have skin in this game too and I don't disagree with that but I don't want to rely on the cities for the overall greater good of our our Park system and What needs what needs to happen but they they need to to be uh in the room where this happens and have get in the game and and I'm going to agree with you commissioner waitman um I think this is actually I'm I'm I'm more and more supportive of just putting it all in the mstu um I'd be I'd like to know what the Ci's feel um too yeah so um I think one of the at least this is fun yeah we should do this more often so I appreciate using my department as an example this is Fantastical yeah I feel a lot more comfortable talking about it uh and I'm I'm probably more excited then commissioner waitman to discuss this um timing so I think the reason we wanted to get this on the agenda quickly is timing is really important I hear commissioner Mariano's Point uh in terms of the Cities we've had some conversations with the cities there's again mixed interest uh in terms of because no one really at the time knew what the number would be um I think we I think Amy you said that we have to have the existing ordinance that the board approved for Parks Capital maintenance last year uh revised by May correct ultimately so that's that's one paragraph It's you know we can work with the county attorney's office we can get

that section cleaned up and then we can kind of you know get ready for the budget cycle what I would ask is that maybe the board give us an opportunity if if we don't do that and we have the cities ahead of that then we have to negotiate with the cities first before we do anything at all which means that the parks department would fall another year or two behind in critical funding so I maybe I guess what I'm asking for direction is is a modification of the existing ordinance to go to an all-in mstu number with the with the condition that we would work with the cities to structure some kind of ordinance or local agreement after the fact that's the direction I think we're looking for cuz we need the time to do the work that's what I'm in favor of M so before we get before we get to that there's a couple things I do want to add in let me let me go please thanks okay um so I've got some friends that played soccer they played either in penel or Hillsboro when they went down to play down there they sear charged them to come in to play so maybe the way to make it work to the bounce of fairness I'm trying to get for the County Employees is maybe if a city doesn't participate there's a search chch you've got to do some calculations because you're going to have do your homework I need you to go comparison for what Hills Ro palal does we're going to find out what the sear charge would need to be to balance it out yeah and if you can do it that way because let's say politics and whatever they may not do it even though it's the right thing to go do but if you can bounce it out financially that does the burden doesn't fall in the county people maybe that's the way I can get to that point but it's going to take the resour search the numbers to go figure out the way to do it and that would keep it fair which is what I'm trying to make it happen I I personally think it should it it should be for um cities of a certain size I mean everybody even as St Leo everybody so that's just the feast get to commissioner maran's Point that's a fee schedule update there's a way to audit it I'm sure we could figure that out and I think Amy wants to just talk about a number if we don't include them what that number would be and I just want to say one more thing yep Keith you are doing a phenomenal job with the parks what you're doing is incredible I got some slides up at Sun West the improvements that going on there the ones that are coming right up what you're doing with Parks is phenomenal and I think you know we saw Jim Walter say get his resolution the involvement of sports with families is phenomenal right it's it just keeps the families together keeps them going playing and for the seniors that want to go out and just go for a walk and be a place to go um parks are critical to to the livelihood this of Pasco County making this Premiere so you're doing a phenomenal job with it I want I want to help you get there but I think we might have a path at this point can I wonder can I just throw something out there and

we can talk about it a different time but maybe see like how our pennies spent and maybe some of our because I'm I'm on pelis right now and that's how they pay for their infrastructure their Parks helps with the jails things like that is there any way we could relook at how our penny is spent um I would have the County Attorney answer that question because we already Madam chair passed our pen so there is already a portion of the eamp uh penny that is actually going to Parks infrastructure for natural resources Improvement so I think it was 10% of all revenue proceed over the life of the penny no 10% of the county share of of yeah of the of the eamp portion not and just just to remind you commissioner jger uh 40 what is it 40% goes to the school district of our Penny 10% goes to the cities which maybe that's where they pay for their Parks part out of and and um 40% comes to the county of which that is divided into specific categories Transportation Economic Development and the El lamp program so it's it's kind of um set in its Lane already is that right County attorney you've renewed for 15 years you could have that discussion in 15 years yeah um but but commissioner jer's Point there's already um an allowance at least for some infastructure to the tune I think of $8 to10 million those are specifically with with El so so natural resources based amenities so it could be like a Wilderness Park um it could be an El lamp infrastructure project yeah things like that so we're giving the cities 10% yes cities get 10% of that so I say they they participate they participate to for our part um you know I had to talk with Keith this morning uh my monthly where is my uh anklet River Park plan from Health seems like it's been years and he you know we're renovating that Park it's way overdue we bought half of it from duke years ago and um and he said well commissioner yeah they're I don't know 60 70 whatever percent but he doesn't have the money anymore to renovate it because he had to take it from that to renovate and fix some other Parks so we he is woefully behind I know we want to add a Little League field um in commissioner jager's District we've got the little Le complex coming up in Bexley we hopefully we're going to do a MAG Maggie Valley make it into a park we've got some parks over here that are desperately needed and he has had no no increase in his maintenance budget that kept barely kept what he's had in the past so you know how do we add new park without maintaining it so we have we have to take a step um and remember that this would be a reduction in the general equal to the mstu so it's not a bottom line increase per se just depends on what we do with the general the millage when that time star yes hey so Keith to for the sake of this conversation on Direction in the paragraph that you have to tweak yes sir can you add if commissioner Marano goes forward with it because it's a unanimous deal mhm can you add the sear charge Andor or something in the sear charge language in

there I'm looking at Mr to cover at least you know preliminarily like last year if we get this thing we can bring it all the way to the finish line and not fund it but the structure is in place which to me is important which is a foundation of what we did last year so we can't go another year without we me commissioner Mariano on this sure um well that the attorney was going to answer that then I'll go to you so I'm not sure how you would do a fee or a sech charge that was not on League Play to begin with it may be legal it's not something we've been asked to look at um but it's not part of the mstu even if it even if it it is legal to to put it on so I wouldn't it would not be part I wouldn't see it would be part of the ordinance you can it's really a resolution a fee resolution or a Parks operational resolution it's not part of the financing vehicle called The mstu Madam chair if I may I think maybe a way to do this would be to estimate the loss Revenue you know of all the cities develop the search charge I think that commissioner Mariano was referencing and then kind of get that into the fee structure at a separate time um I don't think it necessarily needs to be included into the ordinance language for the MS to you but but to identify that Gap and the and the desire for them to you know to participate I think that's how we can and then to commissioner starky to your point it would obviously maybe the sear charge is based on population by jurisdiction I'm just literally Amy and I are just kind of hang I it's over it's an oversimplification of I think how to get there but that would be the path I think on the analysis in my opinion and commission and and so to what is that number that the we would need to make up from the cities so my team ran the number based off that second example of operations and it comes out to roughly 2.18 million that the cities would be or would not be contributing okay commissioner Mariana I'm comfortable trying to find way I wouldn't expect it in the mstu but as long as we're making policy for as setting it up with a resolution probably simultaneously pass them at the same time so we know and the people know his why we're doing his his how I think it'll be tougher to get I mean the league plays the easier part to get done I think it's be harder with the passive Parks when you factor that in so that number could be really small anyway so it may not be worth chasing um so if it doesn't me all the money Revenue loss that's okay long as we're close to uh offsetting it so the people of the county un paying the full burden yeah the the multiple employees you're going to have to hire for parks to chase down the single person that comes on just like just like we had the $2 fee at Hudson Park it didn't make sense we we spent more money collec them than we did going forward so for for all that reason

not worth it but I think for the leak pay it it kind of mirrors what pelis Hills Road does for out out of County people yeah now we're just going to do it for the same effective out of County people out of benness to you people for the same principle commissioner Oakley you you're good with uh proceeding well I'm just just trying to make sure that we're we've got the money we need for the parks and yeah um I think I need just to sit down with Amy and them and and Keith and figure this out myself so okay well it sounds like you've got board support to move forward and um and so I just wanted to remind the board you know secondary order effects um with a reduction to the general fund millage you would also see a reduction to commissioner Marano's point to what we actually contribute to the crra because that is based off of that's based off of that as well yeah um and then just a reminder that the the current agreement with the board with between the board and the sheriff is 40% of additional um growth so you know just big picture all of the different muscle movements on how this thing plays out mam chair yeah that's a great point with the c so you can factor that into and I'll be comfortable with that too yeah okay that's a good point yeah okay wow is there any more on this slide oh so we do have a couple more slides so we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't hear what all five Commissioners had been saying so we also put together some other ideas if the entirety of the board did not want to move towards um adjusting and amending the current Park so we did throw up a couple more options that you would have so I'll just go over them really quickly um requesting one of our commissioners I believe it was commissioner waitman had brought up Constitution officers getting moved into an MST as well um so just a reminder another way we could still maintain that level of transparency that would we would like that an MSU would give us could be um more detailed Bud budget submissions and presentations from our constitutional officers or maybe leveraging an earmarked um policy in the general fund which is not something that you would vote on or adopt but we could just say this much of our general fund millage will earmark for this particular purpose and then as we see you know Contracting and suspend and um growth in the general fund that program would grow and contract in by a like amount chair yeah to that point in in the whole organic conversation of mstu since our constitutionals you know we're this job of this board is to to manage its budget and my thought process was since the constitutionals don't have budget Authority they have their own mstu and it gives them a business case to come before this board to raise or lower their mstu and have input over their mstu uh and and engage them more in their in their budget process they're duly elected they have their shops to

run um and I've always thought it's a bit disingenuous that they didn't have budgetary authority and all the onus falls on this board so if constitutionals have their own mstu it gives them the ability to make a business case if they need more funding and to say hey County Commissioner we need a bump in our mill rate or we're healthy and they can come and say please cut my millage rate to to stay in line and we're working together to to cut taxes and save the taxpayer money so that was the premise behind the Constitutional um idea that I brought up with County administrator again it would be pulled off the General Revenue shrinking that General Revenue portion adding more transparency and accountability to the funds of the General Revenue pot and um you know again it's just a restructuring of our budget and the way it's it's been managed so that's just that was my idea behind it well I've talked about a um putting the sheriff you know working towards an mstu on the sheriff now I hadn't thought about the whole budget um but I am I mean that's that's the biggest one that that's where I would start first biggest one and um I'm I'm you know maybe we set it up and then next year have more discussions or you know roll one out a year see how it goes I don't know chairman if I if I can it's really only the sheriff I think that you're going to be able to do the constitutionals as as an mstu because Tax Collectors a fee office officer M yeah property appraiser has his budget approved by the Department of Revenue not by this board you just have to fund it uh clerk's office is half and half half state funded half County funded um supervisor of elections you're going to have the fluctuation of his budget goes up in a in a election year and then goes down the next year so you're going to have the the roll back rate issue for his budget so I think that leaves you with the sheriff as the only one that it makes sense for um completely up to the board do we know if there's any other County that funds law enforcement like that I don't know we can research and report back yeah I mean I think there has to be a lot more a lot of discussion on that one well again I think the MST the same way protects the Park's budget if you want to use the sheriff's budget as an example it protects the sheriff's budget yeah it gives him the compounding growth within the fund to to to use what the sheriff or future Sheriff's need and if it gets a little high it gives that sheriff opportunity to come back and say hey I'm watching watching out for you taxpayer roll roll it back a pinch um you know and like commissioner Marano said with politics the makeup of this board could change over time and uh with the whole we saw the defund the police movement and everything that goes into it to to mess with the mstu there's more opportunities for public comment public engagement it takes more than three

votes to to move the needle on these it's an added layer of protection for very critical service in this County and I I think it's the healthy way to go in the long in the long run of the budget F operation I'm willing to talk about it um where are we on the U Public Safety impact fee because we also want to well that's listed on this as a discussion item I mean we have the fire uh impact fee which is undergoing review right now but you do not have a all encompassing Public Safety impact feed we need one Amy here will make a case when you look at some of these long-term capital expenses but it's not a silver bullet there either because needs have been we we should have been collecting that we have to build the jail growth is causing us to expand the jail grow is causing us to build a courthouse corre gr should be helping pay discusses that so I mean you know Amy I don't know you want to hit the last bullet and then we can get to that point um so my team had did some research we asked who what counties had the sheriff or their sheriff law enforcement in mstu Alachua clay doodo Escambia Glades Maran pelis St Lucia and valua pelis M M chair yeah can you get us the some details on those all those companies so we can take look exactly they do it whether it's like 80% 20% whatever and let's go take a look at it I I think the key is the transparency what's going on in DC right now everybody's looking at every single budget every single item going through um I don't know how many pages of budget we get 10 10 15 pages and I think panel's kind of they get like 600 pages in a full day's presentation maybe it's more than one day okay a couple days so and maybe that's what we need to get to because I mean we we want to fund the police we want to make sure our people are getting done but we want to also make sure that the taxpayers are getting a good value too yeah and I just want to add I know you know with the the sheriff's office they assist the cities a lot so I when we're talking about you know the city's you know joining forces with us I I I really do again go back to feel like if we could collect that money from them if we can get them on board I think it's really important well some some we've taken over right and then Port Richie and Newport would she still have their own yeah we do does dat City still dat city has its own Police Department San Antonio St Leo contracted yeah to the sheriff services for the sheriff if I might add just a comment having lived through many of these same discussions back in the 90s as to Sheriff's Office mstu um and a caution to to be considered is be sure you're looking at a charter versus a constitutional counting where the uh and the attorney will say shut up you don't know what you're talking about but the again Pasco not being a charter County the statutes are very clear and are the underpinning Baseline for your smaller counties and historic that have not gone to a charter as to how budgeting of constitutional officers can

be done and therefore in order to change that and go away from that you're looking at some significant statutory Provisions uh and God help me from using the word charter uh when you write a charter County then you Chang all the rules uh basically uh as to how you fund that well legisl is looking at doing that anyway so Madam chairman yeah if I can respond so I think Mr clerk is correct in that used to be the way it was um but since the Constitutional Amendment that basically said that Charter counties can't regulate their constitutionals I think we're all sort of on the same footing but yeah it's an academic debate it's not can I just Chase is here can I bring him up one minute just Chase do you mind coming up hot seat sorry St Chase does a good job know I want to hear from you CH does a great job uh Chase Daniels Pasco Sheriff's Office uh 8661 citizens Drive Newport Richie sherff under Sheriff community outreach Sheriff Chief under um no so so thank you very much commissioner jger and thank you for uh for the discussion um so so just a couple of points for us as commissioner joerger noted um you know one of the big issues is is that City issue as commissioner Maran noted with the parks with 91% of the county being unincorporated for instance on Saturday uh Newport Richie had a shooting on US 19 with an inant bystander um that was shot they called us out to assist with that uh they call us out frequently for forensics you know to the point uh there is Dade City Zephyr Hills Newport Richie and Port Richie PD um but again th those are often small departments that we assist greatly with so there would be some concern about about the city aspect of that um and then you know just in general regarding the budget um you know we have certainly heard uh loud and clear from the commission so this year you will see a much more comprehensive budget I know the the sheriff has um meetings scheduled with each of you as well in the next couple weeks um we are looking this year just so the board knows you know guesstimating based on on some very early numbers um that our entire budget increase this year is basically going to be uh taken up by $2 million in self-insurance cost a projected 2 a. half million in state mandated retirement 3 and a half million in what we consider contract escalators so bullets cost more IT services cost more uniforms cost more uh and then we may have a million to $2 million left um for raises but but we're preliminarily not looking any new positions this year because of the the constraints of that budget um but to that point we're certainly open to discussion you know if that's the board's desire but like I said the big thing would certainly be to make sure that we had those cities um bought in as well because we we do assist a lot and whenever someone calls 911 they don't necessarily want to hear well you you don't pay into the MSU so we're we're not going to we're not going

to respond so that that would be a significant point for us so if we heard right this money comes before they get their CRA money so in effect we are I'd like to know that those numbers because in effect we are getting some money that we would have been given them for in the CRA so that that does help um I and I do have a question uh our bullets and uniforms what else did you say uh bullets bullets uniform and and information technology so like our our servic that's not capital is that Capital no ma'am okay so but are bullets and uniforms Capital costs why not operation oh shoot I was thinking that could be helped in an uh uh impact fee the strict definition the accounting definition of what capital is that Madam chair yeah Chase first I want to say I really appreciate being able to reach out to you every time I get an issue that goes on you're always responded well finding Solutions so I I greatly app appreciate the relationship um when you mentioned as far as going Self Insurance $2 million more is this a good move or a bad move if we spended more money so uh it is um I I I would hesitate to call it a bad move but it's certainly impactful um so so the sheriff's office so so we we do fully s self-insure our members um and we do not have have reserves so we have to make sure that every year our our health insurance is is fully capitalized um so unfortunately we have had an issue this year where we had uh two of our members who who passed after significant battles with cancer um as this board can can imagine certainly there there are significant Insurance costs that go along with that which has uh significantly impacted our our self Insurance Fund so so we have to make sure that that is uh going to be hold this year I don't know how our insurance works but have you guys looked at maybe joining with us and say some sometimes spread out the risk better it works out better have you guys looked at that we we would certainly be open to that discussion um the the one the one big issue with that is you know to make sure um you know whenever it comes to catastrophic and reinsurance and things like that but we would certainly be be open to disc right yeah we're self insured as well yeah we we would certainly be be open to that discussion because you know like I said whenever it comes to those those reinsurance costs and in catastrophic um you know last year unfortunately we did have a we we did have a couple of catastrophic that did significantly impact our our self Insurance Fund and so the the the business discussion for for the sheriff and the sheriff's office as a whole is you know at what point do we increase the the cost on our members for the health insurance versus what what we can cover um but you know this year like I said we're we're looking at a fairly small raise that you know we so we are trying to avoid members losing money to to increase their health insurance have have you guys joined with us with the clinics yes sir so we are uh we're part

of the Care here clinics uh with with the school district yes yeah um M Mr carbal any thoughts on the joint health you know bringing the sheriff in under our health insurance I mean that's something savings you know what what the sheriff pays and how he self insures and what he charges his members versus how we run our programs could be different um but can we can we get a Meer are willing to do it and want us to sit down I'll certainly take that direction and and take look for yeah me too yeah I mean who knows you know there could be saving the money but it could increase ours because their job is very dangerous so I just we just need to look at it all yes ma'am yeah and we certainly appreciate we like I said we don't have those details um like I said the one thing for us would be um you know we certainly would would not want to necessarily impact that that 40% of of new Revenue agreement either with that so we could basically put put those funds to to better use you know additional positions things like that can I add that they have a no smoking policy and we don't we have a we do we're not hiring any more smokers we have a policy that essentially uh you don't get you pay more if you're a smoker okay but you have a policy that you don't hire smokers correct we we are strict non-smoking and in fact um our our first our first training campus um sorry um so uh so so our did yeah so so our our our first uh our first training campus um we have actually recently implemented a policy that we are not allowing uh even smoking on that campus so if an outside entity comes in and they are doing a training on our on our training campus uh it is a smokefree campus completely so I like that okay um good well you know lots of discussion um we're just trying to find the best way to move forward for our citizens and with the most transparency and you know I am not nervous about what the governor wants to do because you can go to my favorite little book how Florida counties compare and you can see how where we are on uh on the numbers compared to the size of our County and and the cost of our government services we are killing it I mean we're doing very well we are not we are not a high tax county at all so I feel very confident we will shine shine in any kind of um government look at look see in our County so um okay is there anything else did you want to go over anything else so there's still more to the presentation okay let's go keep going you got 10 minutes okay did my clicker fall asleep oh okay all right so I'm not going to be labor the slide because we have already looked at it but this is just a reminder of where our current levies sit and um some change over the past two years all right so here we've got a list of long-term capital uh criminal Courthouse which we talked during the January AR 28th meeting Public Safety operations center uh consolidated records which um my understanding is our

facilities team is working on a solution for that for us so that will be removed here momentarily and at least as of a month ago the sheriff's top three project priorities going into this next year and we do know that we've got a need internally in the county for additional fire stations to meet growth and all of that so when we look at um like I said removing that Consolidated records solution off the table as our facilities team is working on something for us we're looking at roughly $394 million of need just with what you see up here um if we remove that Public Safety operations center because we find another way to possibly fund that you're looking at roughly $244 million so um some things some options that we would have for funding that Public Safety impact fee um General obligation bonds um other revenue bonds things like that that we would have to talk through so that's another thing that we'd like to just kind of discuss with you all today board's appetite for those things um and we do have some information in terms of if we were to go General obligation bond for any of these what would that timeline look like um the earliest we could do a referendum would be the 2026 selection and if that passed then funding could we could start pulling down funding in 2027 well do you have any numbers on the uh Public Safety impact fee that would require a study um and in fact some of these for example if you look at your criminal Courthouse one one might argue that that's been a deficit and so it would be difficult to prove an impact fee for new builds going forward if they should pay something that's already been a deficit so your impact fee for example in the courthouse is just say you already you need you need 10 new courtrooms and you need five today the impact fee could only cover those last five the first five we we've already we have to find a way to do that that would probably be what Amy talks about going towards a general obligation typon or putting to the V to voters but I guess the question is is is the board comfortable with the strategy you know does the board want to try to move with these projects and if so a funding strategy that would be a combination of of a general referendum um as well as impact fees to cover the large costs associated with these Public Safety Ops sure yeah so the big nuts the criminal Courthouse public safety operations center I think we need to put those up to the voters um I would like to take an overall look at the impact fee if it needs to be restructured I'm not overly excited about increasing the impact we don't have one no no I know that I'm not overly excited to increase the impact fee the net impact Fe but by doing this but I am I would be interested to take a closer look at the structure of the impact fee and what maybe needs updated or you know can update something we don't have take over look at it we don't have a public safety impact fee I

understand that but we might be higher in some areas than others I think we need to take an overall look at the impact fee we have some of the we have correct we have some of the highest impact fees around and it hasn't slowed us down and um no but it's hurt some people in this County people that own land who want to subdivide their land they've had land for generations and they can't afford the impact fee to subdivide their property and build a house on it there's ex anyway that's a different discussion um so those are the way go Bond put I think a lot of these need to put up put up to the voters see what the voters want to say commission commissioner for the um for the EOC that new some of that grant money we might be able to use so we uh so in the current Universal notice um emergency operation centers and those types of facilities are specifically stricken in other words it can't based on the universal notice however we have been told that um federal government is rewriting that Universal notice we've been having conversations with our federal delegation and agencies about restructuring that Universal notice to perhaps be a little more friendly Emergency Operations okay cuz that would be helpful if we could take you know a big chunk out of that and then maybe help the criminal Courthouse yes ma'am we're we're we're pushing for that okay and and we learned um in Washington when we were making the rounds that other counties we need to connect connect with Hillsboro and pelis on that one because they both apparently pelis also wants to expand theirs already um they would be in favor this also so um mam chair yeah I want to just touch on something that commissioner wman brought up cuz I think it's a really good thing to look at we we do have the highest impact fees and I think that's helped out keep our taxes down that's let growth pay for itself all the way through but I think one of the best things we can do is we have families while we're pushing these adus coming in additional dwelling units it helps a family keep people together so whether someone's got a 20 acre parcel they want to keep their family together on it or whether it be 2 acre parcel going down an acre parcel I think I would love to have us go take a look at an exemption or I don't think we should be having impact fees for ad use personally well not for ad use I agree with that but I'm saying for if if I get someone who's got 200 acres and I want to go put 10 acres over for one of my family members this really no impact with that family because they're still living there but it gives them a separate way to go um and maybe David can can look at it and think about it maybe this afternoon talk about a bit but I think that's a really good way to go and would justify make it easier to say okay we're going to charge all the other folks that are coming in just coming into the regular subdivisions that are really having an impact and the other ones that aren't and if we can keep us more Rural and bigger Lots

bigger estate Lots that's a good thing for this community in the long run anyway so Chase did just give me an update so the District 3 expansion um the sheriff is trying to get some State appropriation dollars and for where which one is District three remind meated with oh yeah the one on triny Boulevard they want to make that bigger okay and for the Wesley Chapel field office they have been gifted some property that they're able to use or total ticket number um just dropped down to 218 million keep going what else do we got guys a anything well I you know we had a great meeting with Senator Scott and um Bill Aris and Lee's office and um I I only heard positive that they thought that it made sense with this EOC rewrite so I'm optimistic and you know we need to talk with our lobbyists of who else do we need to talk to I mean who are who are the real people involved in that rewriting which departments and or which who who sits on the Committees that are in charge we also had subsequent meetings too with with FEMA and FEMA's working together with us as well and so it's a good vibe up in DC very good okay mar mar we learned that um we were were in one of the meetings with um Walton County and this wasn't on their agenda and um and they said in their they had the Southern Accents so but I I can't copy it um but they decided that was a really good idea and they were going to support it because their EOC is actually an old bomb shelter they don't even have one so they're like yeah we would be in support of that because we don't even have an EOC yeah and they're a Coastal Community that gets hit by Hurricane so okay anything else on that Amy nope I think we heard what we need to hear to move forward with putting together a strategic package to then bring back to you all for consideration all right so we talked about the different merits of mstu our approach to mstu I'm pretty sure Mike we got the direction we need to move forward with that as well and we engaged on our long-term capital needs and various funding mechanisms so thank you again for your very important dialogue with us and Direction so we can March forward and bring back some solutions to you awes anything else thank you what you guys do Amy yeah guys awesome thank you okay we will adjourn for lunch recess [Music]

County waterways and Wildlife depend on you to keep them healthy excess fertilizer grass clippings trash oils and pet waste wash into gutters and storm drains when it rains