- April 24, 2024
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Citizens pleaded with the Volusia County Council to adopt the rollback rate for property taxes at the first budget hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 7 — a week after the council slashed $2.8 million from its over $1.1 billion budget in an effort to reduce the proposed tax increase — but, citing longterm fiscal responsibility, the council moved ahead with a 3.4% tax rate increase after a 4-2 vote.
Council Chair Jeff Brower and Councilwoman Heather Post voted no. Councilman Fred Lowry was absent; he is currently hospitalized with COVID-19.
The tentative general fund ad valorem millage rate is 5.3812, which is 3.43% higher than the rollback rate of 5.2025. It is also 1.26% lower than the originally-proposed millage rate of 5.45 (before the budget cuts). But Brower thought the county could do better.
He said that while the county has had increases — including the financial impact of the voters approving a $15 minimum wage, increased staffing demands in public safety operations and inflation costs on health insurance contributions, materials and energy, as detailed by county staff — the public has also dealt with the same issues. He proposed cutting an additional $3 million from the budget to go to rollback, particularly by taking it from Economic Development new infrastructure funding, which had already been reduced by over $1.5 million per the cuts made by the council at its meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 31.
However, Brower was corrected by Volusia County Finance Department Director Ryan Ossowski, who said the council would need to cut $7.3 million from the budget, and the use of reserves would have to amount $18 million to balance the general fund.
“If you were to use $18 million in reserves every year for the four years, we wouldn’t have any reserves left," Ossowski said.
Councilman Ben Johnson said this was a tough decision, and that he doesn't like to raise taxes, but that they have to look at the future of Volusia County. Next year, the council can take a deeper look into the budget, as suggested by Brower, but that for this fiscal year, he could not "destroy the future of Volusia County for a vote.”
Per council direction, Volusia County Manager George Recktenwald and other department heads explored two possible budget cuts to its original over $1 billion budget— a 3% and 5% cut —and presented options to the council at its meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 31. The council voted 4-2 to move forward with a 3% budget cut, with Brower and Post voting against. Lowry, again, was absent.
The largest budget cut came from Economic Development new infrastructure funding, which will be reduced by over $1.5 million, and includes dollars for incentives. The fund also supports the county's small business incubator program and Team Volusia.
Despite the reduction, there are still $8.2 million in the fund.
The budget cuts didn't stop there. The council, following a suggestion by Post, did delve into other cuts in three different departments: Coastal, parks and recreation, and growth and resource management, and all budget reductions were proposed by the respective department heads.
"These kinds of reductions that have been offered here do not put in a financially-irresponsible position," Brower said. "It's savings. It's reductions in the rate of increase."
Item by item, the council decided whether or not to reduce funding. Among the cuts were: The closing of two beach ramps (Williams Avenue and Florida Shores Boulevard) during the off-season; the beach ramp at Crawford Road in New Smyrna Beach will only operate on weekends in the off-season; the frequency of beach ramp sweeping will be reduced; outsourced educational printing for beach kiosks will be eliminated; two positions in growth and resource management were downgraded; an almost $40,000 reduction in grant match funding for water quality and sustainability projects (as the department states it has never used it in full) river clean up allocations were reduced because dollars are later reimbursed; and one vacant parks and recreation position was unfunded.
Post said at the Sept. 7 meeting that it's hard to believe there aren't other ways to be more efficient.
"It’s consistently said that it’s not council’s job to get into the weeds, and I agree council," Post said. "It’s staff’s job.”
She defended herself against the accusation that the push to go to rollback was a political move.
“Whether someone wants to vote for me or not, I say you’re welcome for trying to represent you in a way I feel I should be representing my constituents," she said.
Councilman Danny Robins said going to rollback would place a financial burden on the county in the future.
“A full rollback at this point would decimate us," he said.
He did, however, ask if there was a tax increase Post and Brower could agree to that they could work on for the final hearing, but both the chair and the councilwoman remained steady in their stance: They wanted to adopt the rollback rate.
“I don’t want to go through our reserves either," Brower said. "I’m willing to use some of the reserves, and the reason that’s my bottom line is because this was one of the toughest 18 months that Volusia County has faced, with COVID-19, people out of work, people losing their homes, people losing their jobs. I think we owe it to them.”
Post said she didn't understand why the council could continue to increase taxes when they aren't looking at reductions "across the board." The few times she said she's tried to offer suggestions on reductions, she has been silenced by her fellow council members.
“Until that changes, I’m not okay with continuing to increase the taxes," Post said.
Public protection and public works account for the two highest operating expenditures at over $172 million and $221 million, respectively.
County Manager George Recktenwald said he would be happy to do more in-depth "mini" budget hearings for the council to review for next fiscal year, but they would have to look into some of the bigger ticket areas.
"I do think you need to have more on the table than just growth and management, leadership, business services," Recktenwald said. "We need to have a much bigger look if you’re going to make any meaningful change on that.”
The next budget hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 21.
