By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                Williston City Council members agreed Thursday in a budget workshop to set their maximum property tax millage rate for the coming fiscal year at 7 mills, an increase from the current rate of 6.75 mills.

            The decision was just the start of a process to choose a final millage rate for the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1. The board will vote on the tentative millage Tuesday, and 7 mills appears to be the number it will approve.

            Board members can lower the millage in the September budget hearings but are required to set the maximum rate and send it to the Levy County Tax Collector by Aug. 4. Several board members said they preferred keeping the millage at 6.75 mills. Lowering the millage could happen later in the budget process.

            Property taxes are a relatively small part of the city’s total multi-million budget. The current millage of 6.75 would generate $895,000 in property tax revenue in the coming 2022-23 city budget, an increase of $96,000 due to increased property values.

            If the city were to increase the tax rate to 7 mills, it would generate $928,658 for next year’s budget.

            The city’s finance director, Steven Bloom, is also recommending the council transfer $925,000 from the city’s electric fund to the general operating budget for the coming fiscal year, a $25,000 increase over the current year.

            City officials use the transfer of money from the city-owned electric utility to supplement the city fire and police budgets and pay for other expenses. The council is also discussing a proposed 5.8 percent increase in electric rates.

            City Manager Jackie Gorman said there is pressure to stop using electric fund money to pay for general operations, but she didn’t go into detail.

            The city council can’t officially vote on any business in a budget workshop but they can agree on what they would like to do as the budget process moves forward.

            Council members agreed they would give their firefighters a $2 per hour pay raise, which was less than what Fire Chief Lamar Stegall requested. He wanted an across-the-board $3.51 increase.

            However, the council agreed to pay for a second firefighter to ride fire engines to night calls. The city often has only one firefighter on duty for the night shift and the on-duty firefighter frequently responds alone.

            Stegall said he has a very dedicated group of firefighters who said they preferred the city hire an additional officer for night shifts as a safety factor rather than getting pay raises.

            The council talked briefly about whether the city should have a fire assessment to provide additional money to the fire department. Council  President Debra Jones said a fire assessment probably would have generated enough money to meet Stegall’s funding request.

            The Williston Police Department is requesting $144,000 in total pay raises for the department. The department has become a training ground for other police departments due to low pay, according to Deputy Chief Terry Bovaird.

            Police Chief Mike Rolls said the cost of training and losing a half dozen rookie officers every year costs about $62,000. Their proposed solution is to raise the base pay of their officers to encourage more of them to stay.

            The city council was asked by Spotlight why city police patrol cars aren’t equipped with laptops as part of their communications system. The Levy County Sheriff’s Office has used laptops mounted in patrol cars for years. Chiefland police have also used patrol car laptops for many years, but not Williston.

            Rolls responded that Police Chief Terry Holland of the Bellview Police Department is donating 15 laptops in good condition to the Williston Police Department for use in patrol cars. Belleview police are about to replace their patrol car laptops. Marion County is donating radar units to replace the Williston radar units that are down.

                The city police department has been using make-do radio communications for dispatchers for many years. Dispatchers for the city are using patrol car radios mounted on the counter at the police department. Dispatchers are unable to communicate by radio with the sheriff’s office or Emergency Medical Service.

            The sheriff’s office is switching to a new state-mandated radio system. The city will need new dispatch consoles to communicate using the P-25 system. The cost of two new consoles for the police department is expected to be in the $400,000 range. The city is hoping to get a grant to buy the consoles. With the consoles, dispatchers will have the ability to communicate with the sheriff’s office and EMS.

            Brooke Willis, who works for the police department, said the sheriff’s department is purchasing new radios for all the city police departments as part of its new system. Levy County Commission staff is working with the sheriff’s office to prepare the complex bids to purchase the new radio communications system, which apparently will use encrypted communications.

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City of Williston Budget Workshop July 28, 2022; Posted July 29, 2022