- April 25, 2024
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The Volusia County Council meets Thursday to vote on the final budget and millage rate.
BY WAYNE GRANT | STAFF WRITER
Those who would like a say in the county's proposed millage rate increase and $598,114,471 operating budget get one more chance Thursday, Sept. 26, when the Volusia County Council meets for its final vote. The 9 a.m. meeting will be on the second floor of the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center, at 123 W. Indiana Ave., in Deland, with the budget hearing scheduled for 6 p.m.
A proposed 44 cent-per-$1,000-of-taxable-value increase in millage will bring the general fund tax rate to $6.32 per $1,000. At that rate, the owner of a $125,000 home with $50,000 in exemptions would pay about $474. Last year’s millage rate was $5.88.
The proposed rate is a 9.58% increase over the rolled-back rate, a rate which would bring in the same amount of revenue as last year. The increase also includes millage hikes for programs such as library fund, Volusia Forever, the ECHO Ranger Program, mosquito control and more.
Tammy Bong, director of management and budget for the county, said more money is needed by county government this year to maintain the levels of emergency services (EVAC), Votran and economic development. Also in the budget, she said, is a $2 million state mandate for the Florida Retirement System. Money is also needed to offset rising costs of operations and pay adjustments, she said.
But some residents, like Tony Ledbetter, chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of Volusia County, believe these costs can be covered by finding reductions in the operating budget and by “saying no to new expenditures that are not necessary to maintain the public's safety.”
Ledbetter and other fiscal conservatives have sent several cost-cutting suggestions to the council the past few weeks, including making fire services 50% volunteer, privatizing the marketing of the Daytona Beach Ocean Center, selling naming rights for county property, reducing landscaping at libraries and cancelling any new artificial reefs.
Ledbetter said county government has been spending from reserves and some projects should be removed and added back in “better times.”
Volusia County Manager Jim Dinneen doesn't believe it's that simple, however. When presenting the proposed budget to the council July 25, he explained that the general fund revenues from property tax have been flat at $133 million over the past three years. As a result, the county lost $9.2 million in buying power from inflation.
Ledbetter has said that property taxes have risen this year, though, and that would bring in more money for government even if the tax rate is not raised.
According to a PowerPoint presentation presented by Dineen to the council, property values peaked in 2008 then started dropping until 2012 when they started to level off. They still have not reached the levels of 2005.
