Nassau County sets tentative millage for FY 2012-2013

Submitted by

Steve Kelley

Suanne Z.Thamm

Reporter – News Analyst

During an officially noticed meeting on July 23, 2012, the Nassau County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) set the tentative county millage for FY 2012-13 to continue at the FY 2011-12 level:  5.5670 (county-wide) and 1.6694 (municipal services) for a total of 7.2364. (Note that residents of the city of Fernandina Beach do not pay the municipal services fee, but residents of the unincorporated part of Amelia Island do.) The vote was 4-1, with Commissioner Steve Kelley dissenting. The back-up millage meeting set for July 25, 2012 was cancelled.  The BOCC also set the first county public hearing on the millage rate for September 10, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.  At that meeting, the millage rate in theory can decrease further, but it cannot rise from the rate that has been tentatively set.

By setting the millage rate as they did, the BOCC for the time being has gutted the one-cent fund ($6.5M), used over the past few years to fund capital improvement projects, and dipped $2.5M into county reserves to make up what would have been an $8.8M budget shortfall. The revenues in the one-cent fund come from the optional one-cent county sales tax.  Commissioners expressed the intention of meeting individually with County Manager Ted Selby in August to review budget line items in hopes of finding other places to trim in order to avoid dipping into reserves or sacrificing the Capital Improvement Plan. Should other areas be found to make up budget deficits, those areas will be brought back to the full commission for discussion and voting, with possible adjustments to be made during the public meeting on the tentative millage rate.

Commission discussion followed the lines of the two previous meetings. All commissioners gave credit to earlier boards and themselves for tightly reining in county spending and producing a more responsible budget over the past few years. They acknowledged in previous meetings that staffing levels had been cut as much as they could be without sacrificing programs or services. Likewise, they all expressed concerns about having to put off important capital projects for at least another year. They also understood that once the reserves have been spent, they are gone.

Commissioner Barry Holloway continued to sound the caution bell with respect to putting off capital improvements and dipping into reserves. He made it clear that he did not support raising taxes, but he was concerned about using the one-cent fund and reserves to balance the budget. He said that in his opinion the BOCC had not sufficiently explored other areas of the budget, where designated funds might be “undesignated” to free up money for this year. He expressed a fear that the BOCC was “painting itself into a corner” by indicating no mechanism to replace capital reserves. He said that in his travels around Nassau County over the year, only one person has complained about taxes, but many people are happy with progress that they see and the possibility of new jobs through economic development efforts.

Chair Danny Leeper and Commissioner Stacy Johnson agreed in principle with Holloway, but expressed their view that the BOCC needs to help the citizens get through the next 1-2 years until the economic recovery takes hold. Commissioner Junior Boatright agreed and said that he is still committed to exploring the budget to find alternatives to sacrificing reserves and the Capital Improvement Plan.

Commissioner Steve Kelley said, “365 days from now we will be a minimum of $6.5M in the hole on top of any other shortfall.  I think we are closer to that cliff than anyone else thinks.  We are taking, not borrowing, $2.5M from reserves.”

Chair Leeper agreed that the BOCC needs to take a look at other potential revenue sources. But based upon real estate statistics that he recently saw, he expressed optimism about next year:  inventories of unsold houses are down, the median sales price of homes is up, leading indicators are up and Nassau County is poised for great growth. Johnson chimed in saying, “Perhaps we’ll see an increase in the one-cent fund next year, tourism is on the rise, and I hope to see a turnaround next year.”

Commissioners also acknowledged that we are in “the silly season” because this is an election year.

Holloway stated one final caution:  more residential roofs mean more, not less, cost for the county, and that it takes industrial growth to bring taxes down. But he was finally persuaded to join with the majority in supporting the current rates with the caveat that over the weeks ahead the BOCC would work diligently to identify funding alternatives to the reserves and the one-cent fund.

July 24, 2012 2:05 p.m.