BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
SEMINOLE COUNTY, FLORIDA
SEPTEMBER 10, 2014
The following is a non-verbatim transcript of the BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MEETING OF
SEMINOLE COUNTY, FLORIDA, held at 7:00 p.m., on Wednesday, September 10,
2014, in Room 1028 of the SEMINOLE
COUNTY SERVICES BUILDING at SANFORD,
FLORIDA, the usual place of meeting of said Board.
Present:
Chairman
Robert Dallari (District 1
Vice
Chairman Brenda Carey (District 5)
Commissioner John Horan
(District 2)
Commissioner
Lee Constantine (District 3)
Commissioner Carlton
Henley (District 4)
Acting
County Manager Nicole Guillet
County
Attorney Bryant Applegate
Deputy
Clerk Jane Spencer
Commissioner Henley gave the Invocation.
Commissioner Horan led the Pledge of Allegiance.
PUBLIC HEARING
TENTATIVE FY 2014/2015 BUDGET
Chairman Dallari announced that this is the first of two
public hearings regarding the budget. He
advised that the Board of County Commissioners does not have any control over
the tax levies and budgets of the School Board, the Water Management District,
or any of the seven cities in Seminole County.
Questions regarding property assessed valuations should be addressed to
the Property Appraiser’s Office. The Board
of County Commissioners has limited authority over the budgets of the
Constitutional Officers of the County which include the Clerk of the Circuit Court,
the Property Appraiser, the Sheriff, the Supervisor of Elections and the Tax
Collector. He described how the budgets
for the Constitutional Officers are reviewed and approved. He stated that by Florida law, two public
hearings must be held before adopting the final millage rates and annual budget
for Seminole County. The purpose of this
first public hearing is to hear public comments regarding the proposed millage
rates and budget, amend the budget as desired by the Board, and to tentatively
adopt the millage rates and budget of the County for FY 2014/15.
Joe
Pennisi, Resource Management Director, addressed the Board to display a
PowerPoint presentation (received and filed) for the FY 2014/15 Tentative
Budget. He displayed the first slide and
reviewed Budget Development for the upcoming fiscal year. He explained that the County Manager
submitted her proposed budget to the Board in early July. Proposed adjustments of $2,733,467 for the
General Fund and $186,430 for remaining funds, totaling $2,919,897 in
adjustments, are being made to the County Manager's originally proposed
budget. He explained that this is
detailed on page 15 through 21 of the first Public Hearing book.
Mr. Pennisi displayed the Millage
Rate Summary and advised the proposed FY 2014/15 Budget presented for tentative
adoption is based on the millage rates shown on the slide. He reviewed millage rates for the Adopted
2013/14 Budget; Proposed 2014/15 Budget; Rolled-Back Property Tax Rates; and
the Percentage Change in the Proposed Millage Rates over the Rolled-Back
Millage Rates for Countywide, the Road District, and the Fire Services
District. He continued by reviewing
slides relating to the 2014 Change in Taxable Property Values; Property Tax
Revenue; the Proposed Budget Summary (totaling $724,766,711); and a graph
depicting the total proposed Expenditures Budget of $423.3 million by Service
Area.
Jeffrey Bauer, 423 Eagle Circle,
addressed the Board to state he is here as chairman of the Early Learning
Coalition of Seminole County. He noted
that the budget's proposed recommendation for the
Coalition is $49,500 and went on to explain the services the Coalition
provides. The current monthly average of
families served is between 2,300 and 2,600.
He pointed out that the Coalition's administrative costs are kept below
5%. For every dollar of locally
committed funds, the Coalition draws $16 in matching funds. He concluded by explaining that the families
served by the Coalition are working families that must meet stringent
requirements during the application process.
He thanked the Commission for their continued understanding of the
important role the Coalition fills within the community.
No one else
spoke in support or in opposition.
Speaker Request Form from Jeffrey
Bauer was received and filed.
Chairman Dallari thanked Ms. Guillet,
Mr. Applegate and the staff for putting together the budget. He also thanked the Constitutional Officers
for their hard work.
Commissioner Horan commended the
Constitutional Officers for working so hard on reducing costs and making the
budget as tight as possible.
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Motion by Commissioner Henley, seconded
by Commissioner Horan, to adopt the FY 2014/15 countywide tentative millage
rate of 4.8751 mills.
Under
discussion, Commissioner Carey stated she is supportive of keeping the millage
rate where it is and will vote to keep it where it is. She is still not comfortable with where the
discussion went at the Work Session yesterday regarding compensation for
employees.
Districts
1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 voted AYE.
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Motion by
Commissioner Horan, seconded by Commissioner Henley, to adopt the FY 2014/15
Fire MSTU tentative millage rate of 2.3299 mills.
Districts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 voted
AYE.
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Motion by Commissioner
Horan, seconded by Commissioner Constantine, to adopt the FY 2014/15
Unincorporated Road MSTU tentative millage rate of 0.1107 mills.
District 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 voted
AYE.
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At the
request of Chairman Dallari, Mr. Pennisi read the established millage rates
into the public record as follows: For
the Countywide General County millage, the proposed Fiscal Year 2014/15 millage
rate is 4.8751 mills, which is the same as the current rate and represents a
4.40% increase over the rolled-back millage rate of 4.6696 mills. For the Fire District MSTU, the proposed
millage rate is 2.3299 mills, which is the same as the current year and represents
a 4.81% increase over the rolled-back millage rate of 2.2229 mills. For the Unincorporated Road MSTU, the
proposed millage rate is 0.1107 mills, which is the same as the current year
and represents an increase of 4.63% increase over the rolled-back rate of 0.1058
mills. The proposed “aggregate” millage
rate for all BCC taxing districts is 6.5233 mills, which represents a 3.8% increase
over the current year “aggregate” rolled-back millage rate of 6.2844 mills.
Motion by Commissioner Horan,
seconded by Commissioner Constantine, to approve the proposed budget for all
funds for FY 2014/15 as originally presented to the Board of County
Commissioners by the County Manager in official capacity as Budget Officer and
subsequently adjusted as the tentative budget of the Board of County
Commissioners.
Districts
1, 2, 3 and 5 voted AYE.
Commissioner
Henley voted NAY.
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Chairman Dallari announced that the final public hearing to
adopt the FY 2014/15 millage rates and budget is scheduled for September 23,
2014 at 7:00 p.m.
Motion by Commissioner Horan, seconded by Commissioner Henley, to approve the
second public hearing to take final action on the millage rates and budget for
FY 2014/15, scheduled for September 23, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. in the Board of
County Commissioners’ Chambers, and authorize staff to advertise the public
hearing pursuant to Florida Statutes.
Districts
1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 voted AYE.
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There being no further business to come
before the Board, the Chairman declared the meeting adjourned at 7:19 p.m., this
same date.
ATTEST:_______________________Clerk_____________________Chairman
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