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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCBC Minutes 04_15_2022 APPROVED CITIZENS’ BUDGET COMMITTEE ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FLORIDA Regular Meeting April 15, 2022 Convened: 7:30 AM Adjourned: 9:47 AM 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:30 AM by Vice Chair, Mr. Hector Rodriguez. MEMBERS PRESENT: John Culverhouse, Chair Ed Lounds Hector Rodriguez, Vice Chair Gwen Morris Harvey Alligood Barry Mucklow Jeff Emmeluth Richard Pancoast Mark Gotz Steven Reuther Carl Hensley Jake Sanders MEMBERS ABSENT: Robert Lynch Ron Parrish OTHERS PRESENT: Thom Epsky Patrick Dayan Howard Tipton Jim Lappert Jennifer Hill Dan Zrallack Mark Lauzier 2. PUBLIC COMMENT No member of the public spoke. 3. APPROVAL OF March 18, 2022 MINUTES Vice Chair Rodriguez made a motion to approve the March 18, 2022 minutes and Mr. Pancoast seconded. All being in favor, the Committee unanimously approved the minutes. Regular Meeting Friday, April 15, 2022 7:30 AM 2 | Page 4. OLD BUSINESS FY23 Budget Update Jennifer Hill explained that she gave some information on the budget at the last meeting and the Committee asked for an update. At the last meeting the Committee had adopted a resolution related to impact fees. The first impact fee public hearing was on April 5th, and they moved forward to have a second hearing April 19th for final adoption. The Libraries, Law Enforcement, Public Buildings, & Parks Impact Fees are being recommended at the maximum allowable, which is an increase of up to 50% over a four-year period. Roads are being recommended at 75% maximum allowable. Mrs. Hill explained that to adopt the Roads Impact Fee increases at 100% would lessen the loss of revenue in the City of Port Saint Lucie, however it would have a much greater increase in unincorporated areas and Fort Pierce. Therefore, the staff recommendation is 75% of maximum allowable. At the first hearing there was a 4 to 1 vote by County Commissioners in support of accepting the increase. Mr. Ed Lounds asked about developers receiving reductions in impact fees to bring developments to this area. She explained that sometimes the developers will build roads which cuts out some red tape because they can accomplish it faster than the County can. When that happens, the developers are issued Impact Fee credits against what they built. The Public Works Director, Mr. Patrick Dayan, explained that these are not the internal roads in the developments, but are the access roads leading to it. Road Impact Fees are paid at the time of permitting, which is when any Impact Fee credits issued are drawn upon. Mr. Harvey Alligood clarified that the County is essentially being provided a road in lieu of being paid the Impact Fee, while the developer benefits by locking in the impact fee at its current rate. Mark Gotz says that developers pay their way by creating a large tax base. He believes that by building housing developments, the County receives more tax dollars. Mr. Alligood responded that the additional revenue received from that larger tax base is to be used for the ongoing maintenance and other expenses for the newly added roads. He maintains that with a discount given, the growth hasn’t paid for itself and has created an ever-bigger gap. Mr. Lounds stated that growth never pays for itself, to which Mr. Alligood agreed and questioned why there should be a discount at all. Mr. Richard Pancoast stated that growth does not pay for itself, and that’s why we created impact fees to begin with. Budget Manager Mark Lauzier gave an economic update and began a PowerPoint slideshow. Mr. Lauzier focused his presentation on State revenue sharing and ½ cent sales tax since those two categories are flexible in spending. We have achieved payment of budgeted sales taxes toward debt service and are projected at about $8.9 million in the General Fund. Due to inflation, sales tax revenues are outpacing anticipated budgets with a recent projection showing some additional flexibility of up to $900k. Preliminary FY 2023 Budget Recommendations are necessarily conservative in a volatile economy. Mrs. Hill gave a presentation on the Ad Valorem revenues based on an 8% growth rate scenario. The Property Appraiser will provide her preliminary estimates on June 1st. She stated that they start the millage rate analysis under the assumption that they will reduce the millage rate by .15 mills. When building the budget with an 8% increase in property value, build in an estimate for new construction, and then apply the millage rate reduction, the end net result is approximately an additional $9.5 million in revenue in the General and the Fine & Forfeiture Funds. Regular Meeting Friday, April 15, 2022 7:30 AM 3 | Page Mr. Gotz asked if the $30 million received from the Federal government in Cares Act last year was incorporated into the budget or is sitting in the General Fund. Mrs. Hill explained that money was spent on expenses that had previously been budgeted for, so the County’s money that was reimbursed was moved into a sub-fund of the General fund. Mr. Carl Hensley asked if there was a time limit on spending that money. Mrs. Hill clarified that because the money that was put into that fund was the County’s and not the Cares Act money, there is no time limit. It is nearly fully allocated and not included in the budget analysis. Mr. Lounds encourages the County to squirrel away funds while the opportunity is available, stating that the bubble won’t last forever. He feels that it’s important to build up reserves for difficult times later. Mrs. Hill is mindful of what history has taught the County and doesn’t see how there could be a repeat of 2009-2010 situation. The State legislature tax reforms of 2007-2008 limited the increase in annual assessments for non-homesteaded properties. Now, because a non-homesteaded property can only increase 10% a year, we will never see a 39% increase again, or such large drops. Mr. Barry Mucklow brought up the need for a new facility for the Medical Examiner. As this is a 4 County agreement, St. Lucie County’s responsibility is 46.11%. There have been discussions about leasing land on IRSC’s property. The Office of Management & Budget and Administration will be meeting with Departments to review their budget requests during the week of April 18 – 22. 5. NEW BUSINESS Infrastructure Surtax Update- Public Works Patrick Dayan introduced himself as the Public Works Director. He also introduced Mr. Chris Lestrange, the Road & Bridge Division Director, Mr. Dan Zrallack, County Engineer, and Mr. Jim Lappert, Water Quality Division Director. Mr. Dayan presented the 2021 Infrastructure Surtax Annual Report. Upon approval of the half-cent sales tax, the BOCC established the Infrastructure Surtax Citizens Oversight Committee. It was decided the surtax would be used to focus on 3 problems: better roads, more sidewalks, and cleaner rivers. In the early months of the pandemic, the County experienced some reduction in revenue collections. In April 2020, the Office of Management & Budget requested that Public Works reduce sales tax project expenditures by $1.5 million to mitigate anticipated shortfalls. Some projects were put on hold to meet the requested budget constraints. However, the revenue collections rebounded in June of 2020 to pre- pandemic levels. Since that time, monthly revenues have been higher than the same month in the preceding year. Mr. Lestrange began to discuss repaving projects and what has been accomplished over the past year. The County maintains 375 miles of paved roads. As part of the sales tax initiative 27 roads, totaling 72 miles in failed condition were identified and placed on a priority repaving list. 20 of 27 roads identified as priority sales tax paving projects have been completed in the first 4 years. The expected life of the paving lasts about 15 years but does depend upon other variables such as the traffic load, whether Regular Meeting Friday, April 15, 2022 7:30 AM 4 | Page vehicles are cars or trucks, and the drainage. Mr. Lestrange stated that roads should be repaved about every 15 years and the County should be resurfacing about 25 miles of road per year. There are 7 roads remaining to be repaved, which total 32.5 miles. Mr. Jim Lappert, the Water Quality Division Director, says because the sales tax program, is such a major contributor, they’re making big strides in stormwater drainage. The funding has been used very successfully on projects such as culvert replacements, community retrofits, and huge stormwater ponds. Lakewood Park and Harmony Heights have benefited greatly from these projects. The new stormwater ponds contain many native plants that naturally clean the water by removing nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, which they need to grow. Proper drainage also helps prevent runoff of nutrient laden water into the Indian River Lagoon. The runoff causes algae blooms and the die-off of seagrasses and manatees. Dan Zrallack spoke on the repair and replacement of bridges and culverts. He informed everyone that the Gordy Road bridge replacement is complete. Johnston Road will have its corrugated metal culverts replaced with concrete and have the S shape in the road straightened out. Keen Road Bridge over Taylor Creek will be replaced. Old Dixie Highway over Taylor Creek will be replaced with one lane, running one- way north, with a multi-use path on the other side. Mr. Zrallack said some of the Orange Avenue culverts will be eliminated which reduces maintenance, while others will need to be replaced. There are multiple sidewalk projects in different stages of design and completion. Some of these include Bell Avenue, Walton Road, and Oleander Avenue. Bell Avenue sidewalk will run from 25th Street to Sunrise Boulevard and will provide a safer option for students attending Fort Pierce Central High School. The Oleander sidewalk runs from Midway to South Market Road and is scheduled to be complete in September 2022. 6. OTHER ISSUES Mr. Gotz would like the Sunshine Laws investigated, stating that under Part 1, Section 3C, the CBC is an advisory and information gathering group, and therefore exempt from Sunshine Laws. Mrs. Hill stated that we can ask the County Attorney to come and speak on the topic once again to have any questions answered. 7. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to be brought before the Board, Mr. Culverhouse adjourned the meeting at 9:47AM. Respectfully submitted by: Lenita Evans The next CBC meeting is scheduled for Friday, May 20, at 7:30AM, in Conference Room 3, of the St. Lucie County Roger Poitras Administration Annex.