BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
SEMINOLE COUNTY, FLORIDA
SEPTEMBER 11, 2013
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,
2013, 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 John Horan (District 2)
Commissioner
Lee Constantine (District 3)
Commissioner Carlton
Henley (District 4)
Commissioner
Brenda Carey (District 5)
County
Manager Jim Hartmann
County
Attorney Bryant Applegate
Deputy
Clerk Eva Roach
Commissioner Henley gave the Invocation.
Commissioner Carey led the Pledge of Allegiance.
PUBLIC HEARING
TENTATIVE FY 2013/2014 BUDGET
Chairman Dallari announced 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 advised 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 take comments regarding the proposed millage rates
and budget, amend the budget as desired by the Board, and tentatively adopt the
millage rates and budget of the County for FY 2013/14.
Joe
Pennisi, Resource Management Director, addressed the Board to display a
PowerPoint Presentation (received and filed) for the FY 2013/14 Tentative
Budget. He displayed the first slide and
reviewed Budget Development for the upcoming fiscal year. He stated that the proposed reductions of
$2,634,059 are being made to the County Manager’s original proposed budget
which is detailed on pages 12 through 19 of the First Public Hearing Book
(received and filed).
Mr. Pennisi advised that
adjustments were discussed and actions were taken by the BCC since the release
of the County Manager’s proposed budget, as well as updated projections of
anticipated revenues and expenditures.
He displayed the Millage Rate Summary and advised the proposed FY
2013/14 Budget presented for tentative adoption is based on the millage rates
shown on the slide. He reviewed millage
rates for the Adopted 2012/13 Budget; Proposed 2013/14 Budget; Rolled-Back
Property Tax Rates; and the Percentage Change in the Proposed Millage Rates
over the Rolled Back Millage Rates for the Countywide, the Road District, the Fire
Services District and the Voted Debt Service (Lands/Trails Program). He continued by reviewing slides relating to
the 2013 Change in Taxable Property Values; Property Tax Revenue; the Proposed
Budget Summary (totaling $711,916,210); and a Graph showing the Total Proposed
Expenditures by Service Area.
Walter Osborne, Red Ember Road,
addressed the Board to suggest a few things for the next budget year. He stated a lot of taxpayers are concerned
about the salaries of the fire department due to them sitting around all day
waiting for emergencies. The taxpayers
are also concerned about the union possibly doing too much intimidation to get
what the workers desire. He suggested
that the County take a look at the management of the fire departments to find
ways for workers to do something useful during 95% of the time. He recommended that the County may want to
consider privatizing the fire department so the companies can deal with the
union. He encouraged the County to
develop an e-mail data base so they can keep in contact with the voters. He said he feels that will make it more
difficult for the special interest groups to intimidate the Board. He added he would support a salary increase
for employees who are in the low-pay and mid-pay grade as he is impressed with
their work. He said he would not support
a pay increase for those making $70,000 or more a year unless there is
something special going on.
No one else
spoke in support or in opposition.
Speaker
Request Form was received and filed.
Commissioner
Carey commended the Clerk’s Office for providing information for the County
employees (W-2’s) so quickly. She said
she does not support the idea of an across-the-board raise and she is hoping
that, before the next Budget Public Hearing, the Board can agree on some
formula that would fairly spread the salary increase pool.
Motion by Commissioner Horan, seconded
by Commissioner Henley to adopt the FY 2013/14 Countywide tentative millage
rate of 4.8751 mills.
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 2013/14
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 Henley to adopt the FY 2013/14
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: The
tentatively-approved Countywide millage rate of 4.8751 mills represents a 2.35%
increase over the rolled-back millage rate of 4.7630 mills. The tentatively-approved Fire MSTU millage
rate of 2.3299 mills represents 2.77% increase over the rolled-back millage rate
of 2.2670 mills. The
tentatively-approved Unincorporated Road District MSTU millage rate of 0.1107
mills represents an increase of 2.69% over the rolled-back rate of 0.1078
mills. The proposed “aggregate” millage
rate is 6.5192 mills, which represents a 1.78% increase from the current year
“aggregate” rolled-back rate of 6.4054 mills.
Motion by Commissioner Horan,
seconded by Commissioner Henley to approve the proposed budget for all funds
for FY 2013/14 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, 4 and 5 voted AYE.
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Chairman Dallari announced that the final public hearing to
adopt the FY 2013/14 millage rates and budget is scheduled for September 24,
2013 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 2013/14, scheduled for September 24, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. in Room 1028 of 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 7:22 p.m., this
same date.
ATTEST:_______________________Clerk_____________________Chairman
er