HomeMy WebLinkAboutBudget Minutes 07-19-2010BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FLORIDA
BUDGET WORK SESSION
2010
Date: July 19, 2010 Convened: 10:05 a.m.
Adjourned: 11:40 p.m.
Commissioners Present: Chairman, Charles Grande, Doug Coward, Paula A. Lewis, Chris
Dzadovsky, Chris Craft
Others Present: Lee Ann Lowery, Asst. County Administrator, Marie Gouin, OMB Director,
Millie Delgado-Feliciano, Deputy Clerk
Com. Craft reiterated his proposal from previous discussions. An accumulative rollback.
Com. Dzadovsky stated they have taken a great deal of time attempting to meet the gap for
2013. He addressed various conversations he has had with the general public. Some of the
comments were they wanted to see a right sizing of government and not have employees
making a large sum of money with car allowances etc. He believes the public has now seen a
cut in vehicle allowances, reduction of staff tremendously; no pay raises for 3 years and none
projected going forward. In addition they have reduced the health care costs and look for more
reductions once the employee clinic opens. He advised the Board the public has more concerns
with Public Safety. He believes the public is starting to see the equilibrium and he believes by
2013 they will have to meet that need.
Com. Dzadovsky stated with all this in mind, he will take the recommendation of the Citizens
Budget Committee to the roll back rate adjusting the two MSTU's which will provide the same
tax dollars as last year. He believes they have minimized the wants and felt it is important to
support the investments the residents have made.
Com. Dzadovsky proposed going to roll back rate less the MSTU portions as indicated by Com.
Craft.
Com. Craft stated we are looking at collecting the same amount of money next year as we did
this year.
Com. Lewis stated they started decreasing the millage in 2005 and they were attempting to get
a handle on the situation then. She stated she believes the public is beginning to notice that
services are being affected and she cannot believe that anyone resident will pay much more
since the values are down considerably. She stated she believed they will not be able to full fill
their responsibilities if they do not act now and stated she concurred with Commissioners Craft
and Dzadovsky.
Com. Craft stated even if this is passed, they still have a lot of work to do. They will be working
with the Constitutional Officers and local governments. There are still things they can cut in the
budget, but he believes they cannot do this without the additional income.
Com. Coward stated they had cut 225 million in the budget in the last 5 years and have cut a lot
of staff. He believes it is a difficult time and cannot justify a tax increase during these economic
times. Port St. Lucie is proposing to increase their millage by 17%. He do not support
increasing taxes and felt they needed to pursue more efficiency at the jail for example the
prison health services contract was not bid, health benefits need to be addressed. He would
like to see if they can refine the number with the Property Appraiser. He is not in support of
the number recommended; he believes it's too much. He would like to see there not is a net
increase in the millage.
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Com. Craft stated they have not come up with that number and until then, it is incumbent upon
them to have a number to advertise. He proposed advertising the roll back rate and then
lowers it when they vote on it in September. He plans to continue working on this as they
move forward. He is looking to prevent slamming into the wall in 2013.
Com. Grande stated looking at what makes sense is the number in between the concept of a
millage rate increase that is almost the same as the city of Port St. Lucie in an accumulative
form and he does not find the increase of the millage rate along with the increase of millage for
Port St. Lucie acceptable to him (the balance of his comments were unintelligible).
Com. Craft reiterated the fact they are talking about a millage rate that they will not have to
vote on until September. He stated he would continue to work with everyone to come up with
a number that is fair to everyone. He stated the figures are still speculative since they have not
obtained a figure from the Property Appraiser's office. He would like to see how many people
would be affected by it and until he sees definitive numbers he cannot change his position.
With no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned.
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