That's Keep building Man, I was hoping to see y'all squeezed in like the commissioners is now called to order and we'll have an invocation and pledge of allegiance if you would stand with me. Heavenly Father, we come before you this
evening asking for your blessing and your mercy. Thank you for your love, your your grace. We give all the honor to you, heavenly father. As we embark on our agenda tonight, sharing with our community what we know and its impacts. Let us do it in such a manner as to show
respect for one another as we receive comments from our our constituents and from the deases as well. Lord, we ask that you bless each and everyone that is here, those who may be listening online, and help us in our move moving forward
that we make the best decisions that will be for the best interest of our community. In your son's name we pray. Amen. >> We pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Ladies and gentlemen, the whole purpose in having the town hall was to share with you what we know and the potential impact uh that we may have as a result
of the as a result of what happens may happen in November. We don't have uh answers particularly for you but we want to keep you informed as much as we know and also hear from you and get your input and as you come to share um your
comments please adhere to the three minutes so that we can hear from as many people who desire to to make comments and um Mr. Carnegie you want to do um our comments from the persons first or do you want to do the presentation first? That's strictly your option,
Madam Chair. Um, if you'd like for the for the people to have the opportunity to come up and speak first, that'll be fine. If you'd rather wait and hold comments to the end, that would be fine, too. >> I'm going to ask the will of the people. Do you want to hear um the presentation first and then ask your questions or
make your comments? What's your preference? >> Okay. Everybody good with that? Okay. >> All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. We uh we had put this presentation together back in April and presented it at one of
the uh regularly scheduled board meetings. Since then, we do have a little bit more information. A few things have become more clear. So, we've updated the presentation to include what we do know that we did not know then, but there's still a lot of uncertainty
uh surrounding this issue. First of all, we don't even know if it's going to pass or not, right? it goes goes to the ballot in November. Um at which time the state of Florida will vote and then we'll know whether or not um we're going to be faced with with uh you know all
the ramifications of what tax reform really means. So we'll go ahead and get started. I want to let everyone know what the purpose of this presentation is right from the beginning. The purpose is to provide factual financial information
and explain the local service impacts of what this statewide proposal could mean to the residents of Bradford County. [clears throat] This presentation in no way advocates a position or recommends a vote uh yes or no vote. It is strictly
here forformational purposes for you to take. hopefully it will spark an interest and you can go out and do more research on your own. So that is the goal for tonight and uh hopefully by the time we're done um we will achieve that.
So just a quick overview of the statewide proposal. The proposal is to increase the homestead exemption from 50,000 to $250,000 a year. >> [clears throat] >> The current exemption of course is $50,000.
The proposal would increase it to $150,000 in fiscal year 2728 and then in fiscal year 2829 it will go from 150 to $250,000. What's important to remember about this
issue is that only taxpayers who have a homestead exemption on their private residence will benefit from this additional exemption. So if your property is not homesteaded, this will not benefit anyone that is in
that category. As we all know, counties rely on property taxes to fund the day-to-day oper operations and local impacts of course will vary county to county because all 67 counties are different. Some are more prosperous than others. In
Bradford County, of course, we're physic fiscally constrained. We're a rural county and uh you know we have challenges that the larger calendar uh counties such as Miami Dade, Hillsboro, Orange, Duvall and Broward uh do not
have. They will be the impact on those counties will be very limited because they have the resources to generate revenue from other sources which we do not. Now, here's a snapshot of Bradford
County's um total revenue tax revenue. Actually, it's Adalorum tax revenue. And this is for tax year or fiscal year 2526, the year we are currently in. That number is $15.5 million for all Avalor
and property tax. If the homestead exemption passes, that um we would lose $5.4 4 million of that 15.4. So, as you can see, it's roughly a third of the current revenue.
Now, just to take a broad look at some of the countywide impacts, um there would of course be reduced access to services. And as we go forward in this presentation, we're going to talk about each individual department and how the how they will be impacted. But from a
from a high altitude view, we're looking at um you know, seniors and families uh leading to unmet needs. Our infrastructure, deferred maintenance on our infrastructure would continue to grow. Roads, bridges, public facilities would deteriorate and increase future
costs [clears throat] within planning and zoning. Uh in Bradford County, we're experiencing growth and uh by all standards, we'll continue to experience growth. At least that's what we're striving for. And this would come at a very bad time because it
would mean slower permitting and um not the high level of customer service that we're currently accustomed to. And then of course the long-term effects on the quality of life. Um you know, negative impacts on the community well-being and
as I mentioned economic growth. Like I said, we're going to take a look at each department and what these negative impacts would be. And we're going to start with public works. Uh, a couple of the things that we can anticipate is delayed road resurfacing and maintenance schedules, reduced
drainage and storm water system improvements, longer response times for public or for potholes and safety issues, as well as higher long-term repair repair costs due to deferred maintenance, which we mentioned earlier.
So now let's take a look at some of the practical reductions that we could possibly make in the public works department. We would immediately eliminate two supervisors. We would reduce the number of leased graders from three to one. That would cut full two
full two full-time employees and then reduce the rightway mowing from seven to eight times a year to three to four times a year. reduced amount of millings and lime rock would be uh purchased that goes directly to road maintenance and then of course
the elimination of overtime. So as you recall we started out with a $5.4 million deficit. If we make these reductions in public works we can realize a $1.2 million cost savings that
gets us down to $4.2 $2 million to cut [clears throat] parks and recreations or parks and recreation. If we discontinued funding for that, um we're looking at about $166,000 reduction uh savings. If you subtract
that from the adjusted deficit that we just mentioned, now we're down to 4.04 million left to cut. Planning and zoning. We mentioned this in a previous slide. Uh longer review times um for development applications,
delayed updates to land use and comp plans, possible reduced support for local business expansion, and additional fees to cover the cost of consultants because while we could eliminate the position uh that we currently have, we'll still need to contract with the
consultant to provide the services. Um so with an adjusted deficit of 4.4 mill or 4.04 04 million and an $85,000 elimination of a position. Now we're looking at 3.95 million left to cut
[clears throat] library services. Um we would close the library. Of course, that would constitute the elimination of lit literacy and summer reading programs and reduce digital access to public computer uh computers and the internet. Um, the
adjusted deficit at this point would be 3.95 million. If we close the library, that would say 415,000, bringing us down to $3.54 million left to cut. Veterans Affairs, if we eliminate the VA
transfer and close the VA office, we're looking at about a $250,000 savings from the 3.5 mill or $3.54 million adjusted deficit. down to a remaining deficit of 3.29 million
senior services. Should the senior center closed, that would save us an additional $76,000, bringing the remaining deficit to 3.21 million. Solid waste uh is another issue. This is a little bit tricky because um there are
state requirements when it comes to this [clears throat] this particular county service. Um, we could, one potential, uh, solution would be to reduce the services by $500,000 to match our current revenue levels
because we only collect about 1.2 million now on our solid waste assessment and it cost us about 1.7 million to run. So we if we cut back on there, we could catch up on on that half. Then of course eliminating this
would another 66,000. So from the adjusted deficit of 3.21 to 1 million looking at 3.18 million left by um a uh one of our big community partners
that we we co-op with the University of we eliminated that a transfer that would save another 75,000 which would get us down to 3.1 million. Is this one any better? Okay.
All right. Next, then our uh our [clears throat] county IT consultant, if we reduce their budget by half, uh we're looking at about a $200,000 savings, which brings us down to 2.95 million. Um you can imagine the
hardship that that would create uh amongst county offices. Next is county administration and support services. we could eliminate one position, one full-time employee position at $55,000, bringing the total have to reduce to 2.9
million. Now, these are all the nonprofit orprofit organizations that the county currently funds. Uh the total amount of the nonprofit funding is 175,000. If all that were to be eliminated, that would
take us down to 2.72 million. So, we started out with a $5.4 million loss in Avalor tax revenue, and now after closing these departments and making these reductions in services, um we still have $2.64 million left to cut.
Uh so that means that the additional cuts must come from public safety and the constitutional officers, the tax collector, the clerk of the court, the property appraiser, and the supervisor of elections. But since the board of county commissioners and um the county
manager have no control over the sheriff or any of the other constitutional office officers, this we can only speak for board supervised departments which we just which we just did. So what are the key takeaways?
Eliminating a revenue source does not eliminate the cost of services. So that's where the decision has to be made. If if if the if the initiative passes and the revenue goes away then services will be lost or there has to be
alternative sources of revenue uh brought in. So the impacts I think it doesn't take it doesn't take it's not hard to imagine how impactful this would be in a negative way uh to all county services.
Now, some of the alternative re revenue sources that are at the county's disposal. [clears throat] First of all would be some of the assessments. Number one, the fire assessment. We currently assess at 50% which is about 1.6 million. So, if
the board chose to go to 100% that would um that would increase revenue by $1.6 million. And then I mentioned previously the solid waste assessment is currently $125 a year. If we were to go to about $180 a year, then uh that would that
would cause another $750,000 in revenue to come in. Franchise fees, which we've talked about previously. Um the total for franchise fees between Clay Electric and Florida Power and Light would total about 1.3 million,
which would bring in $3.65 $65 million in additional revenue, which would actually cover the cost of all the closures and reductions that we just talked about. Um, another another uh vehicle that is not
an option for Bradford County is an MSTU, a municipal services taxing unit. The reason it's not a option for Bradford County is because we're statutoily capped at 10 mills. And since this is considered an additional tax, uh it's not an option for Bradford.
There is something called a municipal services benefit unit, an MSBU, that is not considered a tax. It's considered an a fee or an assessment. And MSBUs could be created to raise additional revenue for specific purpose or benefit to the community. The process is long and
arduous, not unlike the fire assessment, but it is something that the board could consider. um if they chose to do so. So [clears throat] to recap, um amendment three, the property tax reform,
it it should be clear to everyone that amendment three is not a tax cut. It's simply a tax shift. Only property owners with homestead exemptions would benefit from this initiative. Fewer than 30% of
the population in Bradford County who pay property tax would benefit from this initiative. All others would face increases in fees and assessments should the board choose to maintain current service levels. Madam Chairman, that's the presentation.
I'll turn the floor over to you. >> Thank you, Mr. Kneay. Then that just kind of gives you an overview of the potential impact um that the results from the election may have. And again, we don't tell anybody how to vote uh at all. Um
but we want you to be informed of what we know, what are the potential loss and what are the potential impact for the community. And at this time, we'll entertain comments from um the audience. If someone wishes to share comments, if you would come up to one of the two
podiums and if the mic isn't on, I think you can flip up the little button to turn it on and just adhere to the three minutes. And I believe that uh Miss Brook is going to be trying to keep a time. Any comments from anyone?
And in our usual fashion, just tell us. >> Yeah, I got it all written down so I don't forget. >> Okay. >> Can you hear me though? >> I'm German 2870 Southeast 50th Street, Keystone Heights, Florida in Southern Bradford County. I always say that because some people say Keystone, what's
he doing here? So, um, uh, anyway, I want to thank you all that, whoever and everyone that put this, uh, meeting together because I think it's real important. The numbers that Scott presented are staggering for sure. Um, but there is one thing that that we all
have to face the reality of, and that is that this thing could very well pass. And right now it is um while they need 60% voter approval for it to pass, it's currently current polling is showing it to be about 64%. It's being pushed very
hard. Um and um Scott mentioned it's going to have huge impact on us and um it's why it's important that we get ahead of this before November um u when it's voted on and ultimately takes effect on January 1. Um
unfortunately um you know there's there's going to have to be some cuts made no matter what happens I would think. Uh and but there are some guard rails that have been built into this that will um we hear a lot about cutting essential services.
That's scary. Um and um some people when they uh when we talk about this that's what they hear. But anyway um there are some guard rails built into this and currently local governments can increase the rollback rate based on the growth in Florida's per capita personnel income.
If amendment three passes, the amendment will limit that increase to the standard rolled back rate. The bill will also have higher approval thresholds for local governments seeking to exceed the roll back rate. In some cases, it may even require approval by voters. This will help limit the abil, excuse me, the
ability of local governments to increase property tax collection collection without wide um public support. The bill also adds even uh even a few more things. It requires counties to provide taxpayers with greater visibility into the government spending and budgeting.
Okay. Uh and um spending and budgeting decisions by requiring detailed financial information to the publish to be published online. A few examples are summaries of the budget, revenues and expenses, spending by department and additional quarterly reporting that will
promote yearround transparency uh for our budget. Most importantly, it requires budget restrict reductions exercise exercises before adopting a budget. Other guardrails that will probably help. Instead of just cutting services, local officials must identify
strategies to reduce proposed spending by 10% without affecting essential services such as law enforcement and fire protection. Um overall, the bill would provide a lot of relief to Bradford County and other Florida homeowners. Um, obviously there
are things that certainly need to be considered. Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. Okay. Um, next someone else. >> Uh, Paul still. Are we on? >> The mic may not just flip the switch if it's if it's not.
>> Okay. Uh Paul Still 14167 Southwest at Hearn First Avenue Stark. I think uh what's so important is that >> Yes.
>> I know. Okay. Thank you. uh that now is a time to begin looking at your current budget and use this uh threat as a way to see where you can cut expenses. And I think there's some
really key things that you can do. For example, one of the things that was mentioned was mowing roadsides. Well, a key activity that I've suggested in the past is if you mow just to the ditch, you will cut mowing costs by over 50%. And what you do is you create a great
environment for wild flowers. Uh the other thing that I've suggested is that you actually sell this building. Uh is this building really making you any money or is it in fact losing you money? If you sold it and you invested the the proceeds from the sale, would those
revenues be an important revenue to add to the uh to what you have available? I also think it's a bad idea to focus on closing all of these activities. For example, the library receives a very significant amount of state fundings.
Well, if you close the library, you lose that state funding. You have to figure out some way to keep the library open. Maybe it's an municipal service unit, uh, benefits unit. And I think if you could just
the landfill or solid waste management is another issue. I think we have way too many uh collection centers. You could easily reduce the collection centers by one, sell that property and also reduce the time that the collection centers are open. I very seldom have to wait in line when I take my garbage to
the collection center. Uh you're you're the hours that you're open are far greater than they are in Elatchua County. So you you need to be looking at these things. I think that will help reduce your cost in the current budget and this will help you focus more on
where else you can focus uh receive benefits going forward if in fact this passes. And I think you have to realize that the the small counties, the voting profile of the small counties is so small that more than likely this is going to pass because it's uh in the
bigger counties it doesn't make any difference to them. And that's where you know there's a lot more savings for the uh the people potentially. And so I think that it's it's time to really take a much
deeper dive into what this would uh uh amendment would do. But with the concept of trying to get it done before you approve the the your budget for next year and you're right at the point, you know, it's you almost need it. I would
hope that you would have a budget workshop to to sort of look at all the budgets and ask the uh other not your budget but also the sheriff's department budget. I found it interesting that he returned uh $900,000 to you but yet is
asking for an increase in his budget for this year. The that doesn't seem to make sense to me. There's something going on that needs to be >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next strong post office box 5:30 body.
It doesn't make any sense that you guys put this um presentation together and it continues to be the same thing over and over and over. You put the numbers together, but you still don't get to the root of the problem. And the root of the
problem is you do the same thing without looking at real cuts. The real cut is the employees of this county need to pay their own health insurance. It is
what is one of the biggest expenses That is a 3 point approximately $4 million expense to the taxpayers. If the employees pay their insurance, that will
be something that is off the table. If they paid half of their insurance, that will take an expense off the taxpayers. That will will save us a lot of money. You want to put another fee on top of
what? A lot of seniors. You're going to cut the senior center out and put another fee. You said for the uh solid waste up to $180. Well, most seniors are on social security. They pay their own health
insurance. That's $189 a month. Where are they going to get more money to pay for their solid waste? They don't have that money. Where are they going to get more money to pay FPL or Clay Electric? They don't have that money. Where are they going to get money to pay for a
fire assessment? But yet and still, you have employees that are making, let's say, minimum of $15 an hour. They're working every day. They make a minimum of $32,000. There's probably more people that make
more than that working for the county. Seniors make an average of $10,000 a year on social security. They can't afford this. They cannot afford for you to pile on top of them more fees. They can't afford it. They can't afford that
and their medication, but yet and still they pay their health insurance every month and they pay for their medication and they pay their deductibles. But we the taxpayers continue to pay 100% of their health insurance and we pay
deductibles. You just gave them another cost of living raise. We can't afford to keep paying this stuff. You have employees that are sitting here one working just for the health insurance.
If you would pay them off and bring people to make less money, >> you would save money. >> Thank you. >> Next. >> Good evening, commissioners. >> My name is Bo Hasten. I live in Bradford County, Florida. Um, well, I'm glad to
see y'all didn't play the commercials tonight that we've been seeing at the commissioner meetings of the doomsday of everything we're going to lose because God forbid y'all have to work with less money. And uh, Miss Strong, I will just let you know that the insurance is actually $3,824,77
that we're paying. And then we're paying because I got it right here because they lied at this last meeting when that lady said that everything's capped at 800. No, that's outpatient. That's capped at $800. Uh reimbursement, we actually reimburse
the board. Yes, ma'am. We actually reimburse anywhere from 3500 to $7,000 and we got people that's making over $100,000 and we got to pay their insurance and then here we go. God forbid y'all lose money when y'all could cut your budgets. You stated, Miss
Spooner yourself to me and Mr. Nielson last September the 10th outside the courthouse that you were going to look at professional services and see what you could cut. Those professional services were not in the budgets for years and then all of a sudden they're back. Okay, y'all's PDM has went from
like a few thousand to $30,000. There are several things that you can cut. You choose not to. You choose to put it on the taxpayers's back. And I'm telling you right now, the taxpayers are waking up and they're getting real tired of this. uh you could cut some of this
pay that you give some of these people because you know that lady with the insurance company stated that uh there's a lot of people that's got a lot of health problems and blah blah blah. Well, it ain't our backs that should be paying it. If they're that bad off with working, then maybe they need to quit
working and retire and for us not to have to pay their insurance. It's not right and it's not fair. And then if you go to close something, you want to close everything that the taxpayer actually deserves. We deserve it. 67 counties in
Florida, we are number 17th highest on the taxes. Y'all need to do something. You need to cut your spending. You need You call it a budget workshop when you had them. Nobody brought the budget out. Nobody worked on it. Nobody talked together. That's how you work on a
budget. You bring the budgets out, get in front of all of y'all, get the community, go through these budgets, and cut some of these budgets. There are ways to cut it. I live on disability. I have to cut my budget when prices go up. Do I like to? Absolutely not. But I have
to. And y'all just keep spending. We're so physically constrained. Then how the hell can we afford $3.8 million in insurance benefits for people plus co-pays? I'm sorry. It's wrong. You can doomsday all you want. You can play any commercial, but there is stuff you can
cut and you need to do it. >> Thank you. Next. Um any other u comments from the board at this time? I wish to um express my appreciation to each and every one of you all for coming out and the whole purpose was to share
with you the information that we know and the potential impact. We have not made any decision about anything that's going to be cut. just to let give you an idea, a picture of the potential impact. Um, but no decision has been made on
anything that will be cut. Um, anything further, Mr. Cara? >> Okay. And as we and as we receive information, we want to try to get that information out to the community and those who may be listening on online, we want to continue to keep you informed.
And this information is posted on our county website. So that information is available to you. Okay. Uh and if you if you didn't get, we have flyers and information at the at the door that you may take with you and
share it with others that you may know of. Okay. If nothing more, uh, we will close our our town hall meeting and thank you all again. >> Thank you. I think Becky Take it.