By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

                It was one of their biggest blunders in weeks.

            Maybe it was something in the water, or they didn’t sleep well the night before, but Levy County Commissioners stumbled through a budget workshop Tuesday as though it was an advertised public hearing.

            It wasn’t a public hearing.

            The public hadn’t been informed that the proposed millage rate and tentative budget for the 2024 fiscal year could possibly be given preliminary approval by commissioners.

            Tuesday’s meeting was an important budget workshop and nothing more. The top of the agenda said it was a workshop. Commission Chairman Matt Brooks announced it was a workshop in his opening remarks but then proceeded to call for motions from the board.

            The county commission never votes in workshops.

            The board mistakenly voted 4-0 to approve a preliminary property tax millage rate of 9 mills and 4-0 to approve a bloated tentative budget of $155.3 million for next year, which has a $2.8 million revenue shortfall due to overspending.

            Commissioners won’t go to jail for voting to approve the tentative millage and tentative budget in a workshop, but it wasn’t a good look for sure. County Attorney Nicolle Shalley did a last-minute dust-up in case anyone from the public was listening on the internet.

            “I will just clarify just in case there are members of the public listening. The action you took today is just your final direction to staff that they will use to prepare,” Shalley said. “There are still two more steps that you all were just talking about. There’s going to be a public hearing for a tentative millage and budget and a final hearing for the millage and budget and that’s where it truly gets adopted.”

            Asked later about the voting, she said the county commission generally agrees by consensus to direct staff on how much millage the board wishes to levy and the size of the tentative county budget in its final workshop. Agreeing by consensus means there’s no voting by commissioners. It means commissioners agree by head nods and grunts to go forward with the final budget. The budget numbers are very close to being final in the last workshop.

            It was an especially awkward moment for the two senior commissioners on the board who carried all the baggage. Brooks called for both motions and Commissioner John Meeks made them. Commissioners Tim Hodge and Desiree Mills added their votes. Commissioner Rock Meeks was absent. He lucked out by missing the meeting.

            The next step in the budget process is for the board to meet in a Sept. 5 public hearing for the budget at 5:01 p.m. in the Levy County Government Center. They will consider voting to approve the tentative millage and budget at the hearing. The final public hearing is later in September. The workshop on Tuesday was the final preparation for the public hearings. The first day of the new fiscal year will be Oct. 1.

            Brooks got off to a shaky start soon after convening the workshop. He forgot to ask the board for a roll call of commissioners to publicly confirm who was present and absent, and he neglected to call for a motion to approve the agenda. Those are always the first steps in all board meetings. Meeks reminded him of what he needed to do. It went downhill for him from there.

            The commission passed up an opportunity to adopt a lower property tax millage rate. The state requires all county commissions, city commissions, city councils, and town councils to consider adopting a millage rate that actually reduces property revenues to the previous year’s amount. It’s called the rollback rate. The rollback rate for the Levy County Commission would have been 8.2062 mills. However, if the board had selected the lower property tax rate, the shortfall in revenue would have doubled from $2.8 million to $4.8 million in the 2024 budget. Commissioners have selected 9 mills which will generate a smaller deficit. Staff will transfer reserve funds to make up the shortfall in revenue.

            Meeks also noted that the City of Cedar Key is expected to get a little over $1 million of county government tax money in 2024 through its Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) program. Williston is scheduled to receive about $269,000 of county government money through its CRA. The CRA programs are designed to redevelop parts of those cities that need an economic boost. Meeks always notes that the CRA programs also take money away from the county commission. The CRA program is authorized through the Florida Legislature.

            Meeks also noted that the proposed county commission budget contains more than $8 million for a new communications system at the Levy County Sheriff’s Office. He said every time the commission thinks it’s getting ahead financially something like the communications system comes along. The budget also contains big pay raises for employees that must be paid for by the taxpayers.

————————

Budget Workshop August 1, 2023; Posted August 1, 2023