BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
SEMINOLE COUNTY, FLORIDA
SEPTEMBER 25, 2012
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 Tuesday, September 25, 2012,
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 Carlton Henley (District 4)
Commissioner
Bob Dallari (District 1)
Commissioner
John Horan (District 2)
Commissioner
Dick Van Der Weide (District 3)
County
Manager Jim Hartmann
County
Attorney Bryant Applegate
Deputy
Clerk Jane Spencer
Commissioner Henley gave the Invocation.
Commissioner Horan led the Pledge of Allegiance.
PUBLIC HEARING
FINAL MILLAGE RATES
AND BUDGET
FOR FY 2012/2013
Proof of publication,
as shown on page _______, calling for a public hearing to consider adoption of
the final Millage Rates and Budget for Fiscal Year 2012/13, received and filed. Chairman Carey 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. She advised
that questions regarding property assessed valuations should be addressed to
the Property Appraiser, David Johnson, who is here tonight. 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.
She explained how the budgets for the Constitutional Officers are
reviewed and approved.
Chairman Carey stated the purpose
of tonight’s meeting is to formally discuss the budget, to hear public comments
regarding the tentative millage that has been set in the budget, amend the
budget as desired by the Board of County Commissioners and to adopt the final millage
rates and County budget for FY 2012/13 as required by Florida law.
Chairman Carey stated a Notice of
Public Hearing and Budget Summary advertisement announcing Seminole County’s
intent to adopt the final 2012/13 millage rate and budget was advertised in the
Seminole Section of the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday, September 20.
Lin Polk,
Budget Manager, addressed the Board to state that the tentative budget for FY 2012/13
is outlined in the Second Public Hearing booklet (copy received and filed) which
was previously distributed to the Board and made available for public review on
the County’s website. She explained that
adjustments of $13,700,842 are being made to the County Manager’s originally
proposed budget and are detailed on pages 9 through 12 of the Second Public
Hearing booklet. Adjustments include
updated projections of available fund balances and revenues, items discussed
and actions taken by the Board since the First Public Hearing and Grant
Carryforwards which are identified on page 12.
Ms. Polk displayed and reviewed a
PowerPoint Presentation (copy received and filed) covering the following
topics: Proposed Budget Summary; Appropriations
by Service Area; Millage Rate Summary; 2012 Change in Taxable Valuation; and
Property Tax Revenue.
John
Horvath, 1004 Bradford Drive, addressed the Board to state that he remembers
when the County only had a population of 25,000 and the population is now 430,000.
He discussed the replacement of rescue trucks, the traffic light modulation
program for the emergency vehicles and the need for coordination with the City
of Casselberry regarding the road maintenance schedule.
No one
else spoke in support or in opposition.
Speaker
Request Form for John Horvath was received and filed.
Commissioner Dallari confirmed with
Ms. Spriggs that the pieces of equipment that were discussed during the work
session are still appropriated within the budget for expenditures. Ms. Spriggs stated they are not coming out of
the $2 million that was set aside in the Fleet Fund. She noted it is the asphalt milling machine,
the clam truck and the mower that were discussed.
Commissioner Dallari stated he
would like to have the money allocated but not appropriated to be spent. He wants to be sure when they are buying big
equipment, they are buying the right equipment and believes there needs to be
more discussion on it. He stated he has
no problem earmarking the funds to be spent but he does not want to appropriate
the funds without it coming back to the Board.
He stated he did not know how the rest of the Board felt about this.
Chairman Carey asked if there was
concurrence with Commissioner Dallari’s request. No
objections were voiced.
Ms. Spriggs confirmed with Chairman
Carey that they will leave the funds appropriated within the budget but staff
will come back prior to spending the funds.
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Commissioner Dallari stated that he
believes Mr. Hartmann did a good job explaining why every County employee
should be getting a 3% increase across the board and explained why he believes
that is appropriate. He stated he does
have an issue with the lower pay bands and believes there needs to be an
adjustment on some of those lower pay bands.
He suggested that they could give a $500 bonus in the lower pay bands
for anybody making $35,000 or less on top of the 3%. He asked how the rest of the Board felt about
that.
Chairman Carey stated that the
assumption is that all of the team members and employees gave 100%, which she
believes they did. She explained that
there being no performance-based evaluation being tied to this gives her
concern about doing a flat 3% across the board.
One of her concerns is the issue they still have with lower paid
employees and noted that 66% of the staff makes under $50,000. She suggested a way they could look at it,
which would help fix the lower-end employees, is take the pool of $1.3 million
and divide it, which comes to about $1,350 per employee. Put that amount into their base. She stated that would be a way to fix the
lower pay bands, a way to put it into the base, and spread it more equally
among the employees.
Commissioner Van Der Weide stated
he does not have a problem with that or other variations as long as the money
is going into the base.
Commissioner Henley asked Ms. Spriggs
what implications there would be in the salary schedule as far as
compression. Ms. Spriggs stated based on
the Chairman's recommendation, they would be doing a flat $1,350 on everybody
so it would keep the same compression that they have now.
Upon inquiry by Commissioner Horan,
Mr. Hartmann stated his recommendation is to do 3%. He thinks if there is a desire to do more for
some of their lowest paid employees, then Commissioner Dallari's suggestion is
probably a good suggestion because it would not affect necessarily the
compression. He believes it is very
important for the Board to consider putting in money in a fair manner. He stated when they get into flat rates, they
don't have the same cumulative effect that there would be with a 3% distribution.
Commissioner Dallari confirmed with
Ms. Spriggs that there is enough money in the overall pot to do 3% plus the
bonus for the lower pay band and not ask for additional funds.
Upon inquiry by Chairman Carey, Ms.
Spriggs explained that based upon the memo (received and filed) from Mr. Hartmann, the probationary employees would not be receiving
the raise. She stated there are also
vacate positions within the budget numbers.
Collectively, they would be able to cover the extra $500 for the
employees making less than $35,000.
Discussion ensued with regard to pay bands.
Commissioner Horan stated with
regard to the 3% salary adjustment and how it affects the morale, how it affects
performance, and how it affects compression, those
have been analyzed by the County Manager, the staff, and department heads over
a period of many, many months. He
advised that this is the recommendation operationally that has been made, and he
stated he is not in a position to second guess that particular professional
judgment.
Commissioner Henley stated he is
sensitive to trying to help those people at the lower end and believes the only
way to do it, without totally destroying the pay band setup, is through a bonus
approach in addition to the 3%. He
stated he can support that position as long as he is assured that they have the
money to do it. Discussion ensued with
regard to pay bands and compression.
Commissioner Henley stated he
believes this indicates they need to revisit the salary schedule, the pay bands,
and compression because they will face this problem every year until they spend
some time trying to correct it and come up with a better way.
Commissioner Dallari agreed and
stated he is hoping that in November or the first of the year,
Mr. Hartmann and staff will not only be looking at the right type of
evaluation process, which is a performance process, but in the next process
will look at cost of living as well as the performance. Mr. Hartmann agreed.
Motion by
Commissioner Dallari, seconded by Commissioner Henley,
to approve a 3% adjustment, as outlined in the County Manager's memo; and
approve a $500 bonus for any County employee who is making $35,000 or less.
Under discussion, Commissioner Henley
confirmed this was for full-time employees only outside of probation. The adjustment will be effective within the
time frames established in the County Manager's memo.
Districts 1, 2, 3, and 4 voted AYE.
Chairman Carey voted NAY.
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Chairman Carey stated there are
many good things in the budget and she believes staff worked very hard to hold
the millage rate steady for taxpayers yet continue to provide all the services
that taxpayers have come to expect.
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Motion by Commissioner Henley, seconded
by Commissioner Dallari, to adopt the FY 2012/13 General Countywide ad valorem
tax rate of 4.8751 mills.
Districts
1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 voted AYE.
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Motion by Commissioner Dallari, seconded
by Commissioner Horan, to adopt the FY 2012/13 Fire MSTU ad valorem tax 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 2012/13 Unincorporated Road MSTU ad
valorem tax rate of 0.1107 mills.
District 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 voted
AYE.
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Motion by Commissioner Horan, seconded by
Commissioner Dallari, to adopt the FY 2012/13 Voted Debt Service ad valorem tax
rate of 0.1700 mills.
Districts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 voted
AYE.
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Chairman
Carey confirmed with the Board that the 3% adjustment will include the County
Attorney and County Manager. No objections were voiced.
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At the request of Chairman Carey, Cecelia
Monti, Resource Management, read the established
millage rates into the public record as follows: The 2012/13 General Countywide millage rate of
4.8751 mills is 1.53% below the rolled-back rate of 4.9508 mills. The 2012/13 Countywide Voted Debt Service
millage rate of 0.1700 mills is unchanged from the current year tax rate. The 2012/13 Unincorporated Road MSTU millage
rate of 0.1107 mills is 1.6% below the rolled-back rate of 0.1125 mills. The 2012/13 Fire MSTU millage rate of 2.3299
mills is 1.40% below the rolled-back millage rate of 2.3631. The aggregate millage rate, exclusive of Voted
Debt Service millage, is 6.5156 mills, which represents a 2.14% decrease from
the current year aggregate rolled-back rate of 6.6583 mills.
Motion by Commissioner Henley,
seconded by Commissioner Dallari, to adopt appropriate Resolution #2012-R-179,
as shown on page _______, Millage Levy for Fiscal Year 2012/13 inclusive of the
millage rates announced.
Districts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 voted
AYE.
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Motion by Commissioner
Horan, seconded by Commission Dallari, to approve budget adjustments to the FY
2012/13 Tentative Budget totaling $13,700,842.
Districts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 voted
AYE.
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Motion by Commissioner Dallari, seconded
by Commissioner Horan, to adopt appropriate Budget Resolution #2012-R-180, as
shown on page _______, for FY 2012/13.
Districts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 voted
AYE.
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Commissioner
Dallari thanked staff members for all the hard work they have done, not just
this year but in past years.
Commissioner
Horan stated that even with a greatly reduced staff, every year staff has been
able to come back and not only finish within the budget but replenish the
reserves putting the County in the financial condition they are in today. He stated staff deserves tremendous
credit. He thanked both the County
Manager and the budget staff for the budget that they put together this
year.
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There being no further business to come before the
Board, the Chairman declared the meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m., this same
date.
ATTEST:_______________________Clerk_____________________Chairman
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