BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
SEMINOLE COUNTY, FLORIDA
SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
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 11, 2019, in Room 1028 of the SEMINOLE
COUNTY SERVICES BUILDING at SANFORD,
FLORIDA, the usual place of meeting of said Board.
Present:
Chairman Brenda Carey
(District 5)
Vice
Chairman Jay Zembower (District 2)
Commissioner Robert Dallari (District 1)
Commissioner Lee Constantine (District 3)
Commissioner Amy Lockhart (District 4)
County Manager Nicole Guillet
County Attorney Bryant
Applegate
Clerk of Court & Comptroller Grant
Maloy
Deputy Clerk Chariti Colon
Commissioner
Lockhart led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Chairman Carey announced it is the 18th anniversary of 9/11 and called
for a moment of silence.
PUBLIC HEARING
TENTATIVE FY 2019/2020 BUDGET
Chairman Carey advised
that the Board of County Commissioners does not have any control over the tax
levies or 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, David Johnson. 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. Chairman Carey described how
the budgets for the Constitutional Officers are reviewed and approved. She pointed out 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 2019/20.
Chairman Carey stated the first public hearing has been
advertised through the Notice of Proposed Property Taxes which was previously
mailed by the Property Appraiser's Office in August to all ad valorem taxpayers
of the County.
Lorie Bailey Brown, Resource Management Director, addressed the
Board and displayed a PowerPoint presentation (received and filed) for the FY 2019/20
Tentative Budget. She reviewed Budget
Development for the upcoming fiscal year.
She explained there were four budget work sessions held, and the final
public hearing for final approval of the millage rates and the budget will be
on September 24, 2019.
Ms. Bailey
Brown displayed the Millage Rate Summary and reviewed millage rates for the
Adopted 2018/19 Budget; Tentative 2019/20 Budget; Rolled-Back Rate; and the
Percentage Increase in the Proposed Millage Rates over the Rolled-Back Millage
Rates for Countywide, the Fire Services District, and the Roads District. Ms. Bailey Brown continued by reviewing 2019
Change in Taxable Property Values and the Tentative Budget Summary (totaling $836,411,822).
The Tentative Budget is detailed by fund
on pages 11 and 12 of the First Public Hearing Book (copy received and
filed). She noted the total Tentative
Budget is decreased by $1,563,283 from the Proposed Budget due to the Sheriff’s
budget decrease of $4.9 million for contracts that will not flow through the
BOCC but will still be part of the Sheriff’s budget. This decrease to the BOCC budget is offset by
budget increases for grants, adjustments to fund balance, and investments in
the Environmental Department and Fire Mobile Technology Refresh Plan. This reduction is detailed on pages 13 and 14
of the First Public Hearing Book.
Ms. Bailey
Brown reviewed a pie chart depicting the total proposed Expenditures Budget of
$564.8 million by Service Area. She concluded
her presentation by stating the Board is also requested to approve Exhibit C,
Revisions to Project Listing, which is detailed on page 23 of the First Public
Hearing Book.
PUBLIC
PARTICIPATION
Bill Hyde, 2379 Audley Street, Oviedo, stated he followed the
entire budget process and downloaded everything made available online. He thanked the Board for providing that
information to the public. Mr. Hyde
stated he was prepared to explain why it is not fair to the taxpayers to say the
County is holding the taxes by holding the millage rate when really taxpayers
will be paying more money because of increased property values. Mr. Hyde stated after attending yesterday’s
budget work session he realized nothing he is going to say is going to change
anything. He expressed his appreciation
for relief provided to senior citizens and disabled veterans. Mr. Hyde stated the Board is supposed to be a
great steward of taxpayer money and he thinks they can do a better job.
With regard to public participation, no one else in the audience
spoke in support or in opposition and public input was closed.
Public Comment Form received and filed.
DISCUSSION
Chairman Carey stated part of the countywide budget includes
funding for the Constitutional Officers.
There is a request from the Supervisor of Elections, Chris Anderson, for
an almost 39% increase in his budget, which is over a million dollar increase
to last year's $2.8 million budget. The
Chairman advised she did meet with the Supervisor of Elections after his
presentation to see if there were some costs that could be deferred. The Constitutional Officers have historically
been very good about partnering with the County in helping reduce costs when
asked. Chairman Carey stated she will be
voting against the tentative millage rate for the countywide millage because
she cannot support the request from the Supervisor of Elections.
Commissioner
Zembower stated he reviewed the budgets, and the County is still recovering
from a downturn and many things remain unfunded. There is somewhere close to $50 million of deferred
or unfunded maintenance and repairs, replacement of fleet, and so forth. It is very important to him that they try to
get the county back to where it once was and allow staff the ability to move
forward with the property equipment, rolling stock, as well as maintaining the
taxpayers’ infrastructure the best they are able to do so.
Chairman
Carey stated it is a philosophical issue to her. The Board tries to provide the needs of the
Constitutional Officers. She asked the
Supervisor of Elections what his immediate needs were and he told her, and she
cannot figure out how he gets to that number.
-----
Motion by Commissioner
Dallari, seconded by Commissioner Constantine, to adopt the FY 2019/20 countywide
tentative millage rate of 4.8751 mills.
Districts 1, 2, 3 and 4 voted AYE.
District 5 voted NAY
Motion passes 4 to 1.
-------
Motion by Commissioner Lockhart, seconded
by Commissioner Dallari, to adopt the FY 2019/20 Fire MSTU tentative millage
rate of 2.7649 mills.
Districts
1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 voted AYE.
-------
Motion by Commissioner Constantine,
seconded by Commissioner Zembower, to adopt the FY 2019/20 Unincorporated Road District
MSTU tentative millage rate of 0.1107 mills.
District 1,
2, 3, 4, and 5 voted AYE.
-------
At the request of Chairman Carey, Ms. Bailey Brown read the
established millage rates into the public record as follows: The tentative countywide General Fund
property tax rate of 4.8751 mills represents a 6.07% increase over the
rolled-back millage rate of 4.5960 mills.
The tentative County Municipal Fire Services District property tax of 2.7649
mills represents a 6.12% increase over the rolled-back millage rate of 2.6054
mills. The tentative Unincorporated Road
District ad valorem tax rate of 0.1107 mills represents a 5.73% increase over
the rolled-back rate of 0.1047 mills.
The tentative “aggregate” millage rate for all BCC taxing districts is
6.9062 mills, which represents a 5.637% increase over the current year
“aggregate” rolled-back millage rate of 6.5381 mills.
-------
Motion by
Commissioner Dallari, seconded by Commissioner Constantine, to approve and
authorize revisions to Exhibit C, Project List of the 2014 Interlocal Agreement
among Seminole County, the School Board of Seminole County, and the Signatory
Municipalities Pertaining to the Shared Distribution and Use of the One-Cent
Local Government Infrastructure Sales Tax.
Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 voted AYE.
-------
Motion by Commissioner Constantine,
seconded by Commissioner Dallari, to adopt the proposed tentative budget for
all funds for FY 2019/20 as 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, 4, and 5 voted AYE.
Chairman
Carey requested her earlier comments regarding the tentative millage rate be
noted for the record.
-------
Chairman Carey announced that the final
public hearing to adopt the FY 2019/20 millage rates and budget is scheduled
for September 24, 2019, at 7:00 p.m.
Motion by Commissioner Lockhart, seconded by Commissioner Zembower, to
approve
the second public hearing to take final action on the millage rates and budget
for FY 2019/20 to be advertised for Tuesday, September 24, 2019, at 7:00 p.m.
in the Board of County Commissioners’ Chambers, and authorize staff to
advertise the tentative budget and public hearing pursuant to Florida Statutes,
Chapter 129 and 200.
Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 voted AYE.
-------
There being no further
business to come before the Board, the Chairman declared the meeting adjourned
at 7:21 p.m., this same date.
ATTEST:_______________________Clerk_____________________Chairman
cc