County Taps Reserve Funds to Purchase Old Bronson High School
By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
Levy County Commissioners are dipping into their cash reserves to purchase the old Bronson High School for $1.5 million.
The purchase won’t have to be financed. The county commission can just write a check for the school campus.
But tapping into reserves comes at a price.
Total reserves in the county commission budget will fall from just over $7 million to about $5.5 million after the purchase of the school.
That’s still a fairly healthy reserve.
The finance officer for the clerk’s office, Jared Blanton, said he understands the need to buy the old school and avoid the possibility of having to build a new courthouse the commission can’t afford.
But he said the board will have to continue to control spending and prevent expenses from exceeding available revenue to maintain a healthy reserve. He said the board appears to have stopped its deficit spending at the end of 2017.
With the budget process in full swing, the board is aware that if it spends more than it receives in revenue next year, the money must come from reserves. It would amount to deficit spending. The reserves would begin to shrink again.
The board doesn’t want to deficit spend. Blanton doesn’t want it either.
Tough budget choices may be looming for the board as the budget process moves forward.
One of the big issues facing the commission will be the sheriff’s budget. The sheriff’s office has requested $13.9 million for next year, an increase of $1.8 million over its current budget.
“It is significant. It’s quite substantial,” Blanton said.
Blanton works for Danny Shipp, the Levy Count Clerk of Court. Shipp is also the Levy County Comptroller. All the county commission spending goes through Blanton and his staff.
Blanton is basically in charge of assisting the county commission in building next year’s budget. County Coordinator Wilbur Dean is also heavily involved with the budget. Commissioners have the final word on what goes into the budget and what is taken out.
The county commission has a history of deficit spending, but Blanton believes the board has learned its lessons and is serious about controlling day to day spending.
The county commission reserves had been building. The commission was projected to carry $3.7 million in reserves into the current year’s budget, which ends on Sept. 30. Those cash reserves swelled to $8.7 million in November and December of 2017 when commissioners transferred roughly $5 million of excess cash from the fund used to repay debts, to the operating budget.
But Blanton said the board had already built $1.5 million of deficit spending and transfers into the budget. The board continued to tap into its reserves for various purposes, leaving $7,076,980 in reserves at this time. The purchase of the school will come from those remaining reserve dollars.
Blanton said he believes the board wants to control its spending but he also understands the board’s desire to fund good law enforcement services. Nearly everyone supports good law enforcement.
The commission is being asked to fund additional school resource officers in next year’s sheriff’s budget. The Florida Legislature said the responsibility for funding those additional positions lies with the school board. The school board is providing $440,000 of funding for school resource officers in next year’s budget. All of the school board money for resource officers is being provided by the state legislature.
County commissioners, on the other hand, must rely on local tax dollars to fund additional school resource officers, if they decide to go that route. The new county commission budget will be adopted sometime in September and will take effect on Oct. 1.
It will be a balancing act.
Levy Board of County Commission Regular Meeting June 5, 2018
Posted June 5, 2018
