County’s Budget Workshop Reveals Multi-Year Fiscal Plan to Avoid Tax and Fee Increases

County’s Budget Workshop Reveals Multi-Year Fiscal Plan

to Avoid Tax and Fee Increases

 

In its continued efforts to deliberately focus on the most fiscally responsible budget possible, Leon County held its first budget workshop of the FY 2020 cycle. As part of today's workshop, the Board of County Commissioners, in a 7-0 vote today, approved a Multi-Year (FY2019-FY2021) Fiscal Plan to avoid tax and fee increases totaling $4.6 million annually.

The multi-year fiscal plan builds upon strategic decisions approved by the Board in recent years. Several of these decisions include establishing a catastrophe fund, refinancing long term debt, decreasing the use of one-time savings, establishing reserves to address the homestead referendum, and constraining budgetary growth. These previous actions have positioned the County to implement the multi-year fiscal plan, which will address anticipated expenditures and avoid anticipated tax and fee increases in the near term while providing budget certainly in the short term and continued fiscal viability in the long term.

"While we are early in the budgeting process, I am proud of the Board's hard work today at the budget workshop," said Leon County Commission Chairman Jimbo Jackson. "The Multi-Year Fiscal Plan that the Board approved today demonstrates the County's commitment to serving citizens while avoiding new expenses and supporting our high-quality services."

The plan includes the following fiscal planning efforts that have positively positioned Leon County:

• Aggressively paying down outstanding debt. Adopted as a five-year target of the FY 2017-2021 Strategic Plan, the County is on pace to reduce outstanding debt by 60%. The fiscal plan presents approaches to utilize the reduced debt service payments beginning in FY 2021;
• Reallocating homestead exemption reserves. As part of the FY 2019 budget, the County budgeted a $2.1 million reserve to address long-term fiscal impacts of the additional homestead exemption. With the referendum failing, the fiscal plan will reallocate the reserve to avoid tax and fee increases;
• Reallocating gas tax. Due to the Blueprint extension, the plan reallocates a portion of the existing gas tax funding for the next two fiscal years to fund other critical transportation needs;
• Eliminate the need for future tax and assessment increases of the EMS MSTU ($2.0 million), Solid Waste non-ad valorem assessment ($1.0 million) and the fire services fee ($1.6 million).

Through the County Commission’s responsible fiscal stewardship, Leon County continues to plan, economize, and exercise enormous budget constraint,” said Leon County Administrator Vincent S. Long. "As the multi-year fiscal plan demonstrates, effective budgeting is not done each fiscal year in isolation. Rather, it is a continuous process of planning and making strategic adjustments as conditions change along the long-term path of ensuring the fiscal viability of the County."

At today's budget workshop, the County also provided an overview of the tentative preliminary budget, approved implementing the Integrated Sustainability Action Plan to drive sustainable progress, amended the County's recycling contract with Marpan to ensure a viable recycling program for the future, and discussed other budget items.

Based on the results of today’s workshop as well as the June 18 budget workshop, the Board will establish the tentative countywide millage and Emergency Medical Services Municipal Services Taxing Unit rates at their July 9, 2019 meeting.

Citizens will have the opportunity to provide input on the budget before it is finalized in September. The first public hearing will be on Tuesday, September 17, at 6 p.m. in the Commission Chambers on the fifth floor of the Leon County Courthouse, located at 301 S. Monroe St.

The second public hearing will be at the same location on Tuesday, September 24, at 6 p.m., at which time the Board is scheduled to adopt the final budget and millage rates.

To inform the community of the upcoming budget hearings, Leon County will continue to implement public information and community outreach via media partner interaction, utilization of the County’s website, government access television channel (Comcast Channel 16 / CenturyLink) and social media outlets.

For detailed information on Tuesday’s budget workshop, please visit the Leon County website at www.LeonCountyFL.gov/OMB/ , call the Leon County Office of Financial Stewardship / Office of Management & Budget at (850) 606-5100 or contact Leon County Community and Media Relations at (850) 606-5300 / CMR@LeonCountyFL.gov .

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