INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Board of County Commissioners Wednesday unanimously approved a $72.9 million general fund budget and a 2.3 percent increase in the property tax rate.
The Board set a maximum general fund tax rate of $3.33 per $1,000 of taxable property value. That’s 7 cents more than this year’s rate of $3.26 per $1,000 of taxable property value.
A homeowner assessed $200,000 in taxable property value would pay $14 more in taxes to the general fund under the proposed, new rate. There was no public outcry at the workshop in opposition to the increase in taxes.
Property owners also pay into the Emergency Services District for fire and ambulance service at a rate of $1.97 per $1,000 of taxable property value and for various other funds like land acquisition, the Municipal Service Taxing Unit and fees for the Solid Waste Disposal District.
On top of that are School District taxes, special districts and city taxes for those who live within the borders of Vero Beach, Sebastian, Fellsmere, Orchid or Indian River Shores.
Indian River Shores property owners do not pay the Emergency Services District tax because the Town operates its own police and fire departments.
Taxable property values increased 4.5 percent countywide this budget cycle as the real estate market continues to rebound from the the 2008-09 recession.
When the tax base shrunk, the county made deep cuts to personnel, operating and capital expenditures and employees did without cost-of-living increases and anniversary or “step” raises for several years.
The proposed budget considered during Wednesday’s all-day workshop for the year beginning Oct. 1 provides for merit raises for many union and non-union employees.
Eight positions will be added in the coming year, including staff to allow the building department to ramp-up operations, for a total of 1,608 county staff members across all departments and funds.
The county just signed an agreement with the Teamsters Local 769 for 2.5 percent raises but remains at formal impasse with the International Association of Firefighters Local 2201 over numerous articles in their labor contract.
The most contentious part of the morning session of the workshops was the section dealing with non-profit organizations seeking grants from the county.
Traditionally, County Administrator Joe Baird has held the line on this grant spending, rarely increasing funding from one year to the next and outright rejecting applications from organizations deemed to fall under some other granting agency.
Two applications kicked back this year were from Treasure Coast Community Health, which sought $85,000 to care for needy patients, and from the Gifford Youth Orchestra, which asked for $20,000 to help train young musicians.
County staff advised TCCH to seek funding from the Indian River Hospital District, which levies taxes for indigent care, and referred the orchestra to the Children Services Council, which leverages county funds to make grants to organizations serving the county’s youth.
The afternoon session focused on the constitutional officers, or the agencies that provide services that are mandated by the Florida constitution such as the Supervisor of Elections, Property Appraiser, Clerk of the Court, Tax Collector and Sheriff.
Supervisor of Elections Leslie Swan explained that she needed slightly more money in the coming year to purchase 51 new pieces of equipment to ensure access to timely, accurate voter rolls at all the polling places. The county is also putting money away for three years in preparation for purchasing a new electronic voting system after the 2016 election.
The afternoon session lingered with more than two hours of debate over Sheriff Deryl Loar’s $42 million budget request. Staff and commissioners took issue with some of Loar’s numbers and with the lack of consistency from the previous year’s budget on several items, but in the end the Sheriff got a portion of the increase he asked for.
Loar took the hard line on his budget needs but tried to smooth things over with Baird by praising his accomplishments. Loar said he’d been in contact with Baird and with Budget Director Jason Brown’s office countless times in recent weeks and that,”This is a great team, and we have the ability to call and debate things.”
Despite vigorous protests from Baird and Brown, commissioners added back in $330,000 of cuts recommended by the staff, plus the 3 percent salary increases, the money for new vehicles and $537,000 worth of “special pay,” which was already recommended for approval. Loar explained was money to compensate retiring employees for banked sick and vacation time.
There was also quite a bit of discussion over the $900,000 electric bill for the Sheriff’s office headquarters and the Indian River County Jail, who would pay it and how it would be reflected in the budget. Loar balked at that cost being included in his budget because no other constitutional office, he said, is charged for its electric bill.
When the rhetoric got a little sharp back and forth between Baird and Loar, Chairman Peter O’Bryan, attempting to play the diplomat, said, “Sheriff, let me first just let’s say I commend you for fighting for your budget and for your employees. I think we all work hard together for the citizens and the taxpayers that we represent.”
Commissioner Bob Solari blamed Loar for at least part of the confusion in the budget workshop and for the lengthy probe of his planned expenses.
“The Sheriff’s budget is complicated,” Solari said. “There would be a lot of value added if we came back with good quarterly reports with good information.”
Solari noted that Loar used to report to the Board each quarter about spending, but that practice fell by the wayside. Loar indicated that the quarterly reporting did not help his cause.
“Every year that I came back quarterly we were cut,” he said.
Only Commissioner Tim Zorc voted against a motion by Solari and seconded by Commissioner Wesley Davis to allot the Sheriff $40,968,433 for his department — nearly 1.1 million less than his full request.
“I was looking for a little bit more to accomplish things,” Zorc said.
Public hearings of the county budget are scheduled for 5:01 p.m. Sept. 10 and 5:01 p.m. Sept. 16. Between now and the public hearings, the county will review operating hours at the Gifford Aquatic Center, possibly adding an hour in the afternoon if the cost is warranted.
The total budget can be reduced at that time, but cannot be increased unless the Board votes to take money out of reserves to cover additional expenses, as the maximum tax rate is already set.
