- November 6, 2024
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If Flagler County sets this coming year's millage rate dedicated to the general fund at 8.1167 — the same as this year's — that would generate about an additional $3 million in revenue, County Administrator Craig Coffey told commissioners in a presentation before the commission May 22. This year's overall rate is 8.6317 mills, or $8.63 per $1,000 of taxable value.
The county is facing upcoming costs — it needs to replace outdated equipment, is burdened by rising construction prices and expects a formal request from the sheriff to increase the Sheriff's Office's budget — and commissioners have to determine whether to raise taxes to handle them.
"I think we got super lean in those five or six years ... and now we're trying to build back smarter, better services."
— CRAIG COFFEY, county administrator
In the years of the recession, Coffey told county commissioners at the May 22 budget workshop, "We constantly had falling revenues, year after year, and every year we had to cut and cut and cut." Now, he said, "You're also seeing us makes investments in personnel and start to add back to accommodate for growth, and your seeing us really trying to make smart expenditures versus just adding back to where we were. I think we got super lean in those five or six years ... and now we're trying to build back smarter, better services."
Commissioners didn't make any decisions at the May 22 workshop. They won't get preliminary tax rolls and budgets from the Sheriff's Office, Clerk of Court and Supervisor of Elections Office until June 1. But once they do, they'll have to move quickly. By law, the county has to prepare a budget by June 17, Coffey said.
It will set the upper limit of its possible millage rate by Aug. 6 or Aug 7, depending on when it receives tax rolls from the county property appraiser's office.
Among the $9 million in budgetary challenges facing the county are the fact dealing with Hurricane Matthew has depleted the county's reserves, some equipment is outdated because it wasn't being replaced during the downturn years, the county sheriff is seeking a budget increase of about $3 million in part to hire more deputies, construction costs are rising and medical care costs for inmates at the county jail have been increasing.
"We want to continue to reduce the tax rate," Coffey said. "That may be tougher this year after seeing some of the budgets come in from the constitutional (officers)," like the Sheriff's Office and the Supervisor of Elections Office.
Grant money is paying for much of county's post-Hurricane Matthew reconstruction, Coffey said, but the county has still had to pay a portion of the cost out of its reserves.
"We think we’re going to be a million short just after we get done with all of our FEMA stuff, and we have to figure out how to make that up," Coffey said.
The county lost about 50% of its taxable property value during the downturn, going from a valuation of $12,184,917,324 in the 2007-2008 fiscal year to a low of 6,153,800,977 in the 2012-2013 fiscal year.
Although values have been increasing, Coffey said, they've been doing so "very modestly in the overall valuation." The county predicts this year's taxable property value to be about $7,808,216,792.
A proposed additional homestead exemption that will be on the ballot in November could cost the county $3.8 million in tax revenue if it passes, and could be offset by raising the millage rate $0.50 for every thousand dollars of valuation. But the change, if it passes, wouldn't affect the county's budget until the 2019-2020 fiscal year, Coffey said.
