INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — County Administrator Joe Baird and Finance Director Jason Brown unveiled the county’s $252-million-dollar fiscal 2012-13 budget at a press conference this morning.
“This year’s budget is down $6 million from last year when it was $258 million,” said Baird.
Cuts came across the board, with all county departments and constitutional officers reducing expenses to keep pace with tax revenues that are still falling in the aftermath of the worst real estate collapse in history.
“Property values in the county were down 3.6 percent over the past year,” said Brown.
Since property taxes are tied to property values, and the County Commission has declined to increase the property tax rate to offset the decline in value, the county expects to collect $3.4 million less in property taxes next year.
“That is a 4.7 percent decrease,” said Baird.
Since fiscal 2006-07, annual property tax revenues are down more than $33 million, from $103.3 million to $69.4 million.
During the same period, Baird and Brown have cut the county budget by 46.9 percent to stay in the black.
“There are no tax or fee increases in the budget and there will be one fee reduction, for certain types of building permits,” said Baird.
Baird credits guidance from the County Commission and cooperation from the county’s constitutional officers, especially the sheriff, for making a balanced budget possible.
“The sheriff’s budget accounts for 57 percent of the general fund so the impact is huge,” he said.
Sheriff Deryl Loar cut his budget by nearly $1.4 million according to budget documents, a reduction of 3.52 percent.
“This is the first time in 30 years I have seen a sheriff agree to the full budget cut that was requested,” said Baird.
The county is saving money in next year’s budget by eliminating nine positions in human resources, golf course operations, lifeguard staff, library staff and traffic planning and engineering. Five of the positions are open slots that will not be filled.
The other four jobs were eliminated this morning.
The county incurred a substantial new expense from a state Medicaid mandate that will add $790,000 in costs next year.
“It is tough,” said Baird, with a resigned shrug. “We saved $629,000 by eliminating nine positions but the state is adding more than that in new Medicaid costs.”
