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Good evening and welcome to the Seol County first budget hearing. Date is September 10th, 2025. If you'd be kind enough to take a moment and silence your cell phones. If you have any other electronic devices with you, uh please
silence those as well. We will start with the uh invocation. This will be given by Mr. Ka uh the president and CEO of the sharing center and associate pastor at Acceleration Church and Mr. David Johnson. Our property appraisal will lead us in the pledge.
Please rise. Thank you. Before I offer tonight's invocation, I'd like to recognize and thank our seminal county commissioners, county manager, and all county staff for their service and commitment to our community. Your leadership impact thousands of lives, and we're grateful.
As we prepare our hearts for prayer, I'm reminded of the words of Proverbs 11:14. Where there is no guidance, a people fall, but in an abundance of counsel, there is safety. Tonight, may this scripture guide our heart as we seek wisdom, unity, and direction for the
good of our county. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day and for the privilege of gathering here in Semino County Commission Chambers. Lord, we are grateful for the commissioners who have answered the call to public service, for the staff who work diligently behind the scenes, and
for every resident who voices and needs are represented in this room. We ask your blessing upon this commission as they deliberate and make decisions for the welfare of our county. Grant them wisdom, discernment, and unity of spirit. May their leadership reflect
integrity, fairness, and compassion for all people. We lift up our community, families, schools, businesses, and first responders. Protect and strengthen them as they contribute to the life and health of our county. As this meeting begins, let our presence, let your
presence guide the conversation and outcomes so that every action taken here tonight honors you first and serve the best interest of Semino County. In your holy name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. If you'll please join me in the pledge.
I pledge algiance 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. Thank you all very much.
I want to recognize a couple elected officials that we have in the presence with us this evening. We have supervisor of elections, Miss Amy Pennock. Thank you for being here. Our property appraiser, Mr. David Johnson. Our fine sheriff, Mr. Dennis Lima. Thank you all
for attending this evening. It's good to see you all. I also want to thank the residents of Semino County who have come out on this evening. Some of you in the rain uh to come out and share your thoughts with us. We sincerely uh appreciate it very much. If
I see Mr. Mallaloy, he's right there. Oh, there you are. You weren't there yesterday. And our clerk, Mr. Grant Malloy. Good to see you. Good to see you, too. Um, we're going to start tonight u in just a moment. I want to remind everyone if you're here to speak on the issues
here tonight, this is about the budget. We're going to ask you to find a speaker form in the lobby. Bring it down here to Miss Dominique with her hand up. Give it to her as soon as possible. If they're not turned in by the time we get the public comments, which will be here in a
little bit, we're not going to take any additional public comment. Please fill those out now so she can get those ready for us and hopped up. We'll get you up here to speak. This is the first public hearing. The purpose of tonight's hearing is to present the tenative millage rates and budget for fiscal year 2526
and to allow for public comment. Before we begin, the public should be reminded that this board of county commissioners does not have control over the tax levies or budgets of the school board, the water management district, the property appraiser, tax collector, or any of the seven cities in Semino
County. Questions regarding assessed property values should be addressed to our property appraiser, Mr. David Johnson. I will now turn it over to the county manager as this is his budget. Mr. Gray. Thank you, uh, Mr. chairman and uh commissioners and members of the public,
thank you for coming this evening. Uh tonight is the first of two public hearings required by the Florida statutes for the adoption of our fiscal year 202526 budget. This these hearings are a critical step in ensuring
transparency, public involvement, and accountability in how we fund services for our residents and business community. The purpose of the meeting is to present the tenative budget for all county funds and to review the proposed millage rates for the countywide
district, the fire MSTU and the roads MSU as well as the roll back rates. The roll back rate is the millage rate that when applied to next year's tax base excluding the new construction generates the same revenue as last year. This
hearing was advertised through the notice of public uh of the proposed property taxes mailed to every property owner in August. So, how did we get here? The tenative budget and millage rates before you tonight are the result of nearly a year
of work. This year's budget process started earlier than usual. In December of 2024, departments were directed to submit budget requests under new guidelines that focused on essential services and discourage discretionary
increases. For the first time, these same guidelines were also shared with our constitutional offices to promote consistency and transparency across all budget participants. In March of this year, 2025, county
leadership held a budget update with the board to review the revenue trends, cost projections, and the structural challengings they were facing. These discussions continued in March when the board of county commissioners held a retreat where staff outlined potential
solutions and emphasized the need for coordinated action. Later in April, all department directors came together for a full-day retreat focused on operational efficiencies. That session produced more than 40 seinal moments.
These initiatives designed to reduce cost, streamline processes, and improve service delivery. All of this groundwork prepared us for the budget work sessions in May and in June where commissioners reviewed every constitutional office,
county department, and service area in detail. Throughout this process, our shared goal has been to balance fiscal responsibility with maintaining essential services while meeting the expectation of our growing community.
So, just a few key highlights that are in our tenative budget. All county departments were directed to submit a 0% increase to their base operating budgets. Positions were reduced and internal services consolidated through attrition
and restructuring. This budget maintains law enforcement services provided by the Semino County Sheriff's Office. Supports our fire department operations and equipment including EMS and dispatch. sustains our
emergency management, disaster response, 911 communications, addressing, and our animal services. Offsets inflationary increases in personnel, fuel, materials, and insurance. It stabilizes the general fund, ensuring healthy reserves to
manage future economic uncertainty. This budget also highlights some investments in the future. We're getting ready to launch our scout microtransit service to improve the mobility and reduce the long-term costs of public transportation
design and early construction of an indoor complex to help with our youth athletics in the county as well as future economic development. Our continued redevelopment of our rolling hills community park and deer run including trails, green space, and
neighborhood amenities. Storm water and drainage improvements in the Midway community to reduce flooding and to protect property. Planning and design for the Rosenwall Community Center project, transforming the former school site into a vibrant park and
community hub in East Altoont. On the revenue side, to sustain the essential services to meet uh state mandates, the budget does include a 0.5 mil increase to the general fund millillage. This adjustment was not made
lightly. And I'd like to repeat that. This adjustment was not made lightly, but it is necessary to main critical services such as public safety, transportation, storm water management for flooding and parks. Our fiscal strength and reserves, our
general fund reserves is projected at 69 million or 18% of the operating expenses and revenues. Our water, sewer, and solid waste enterprise funds remain fiscally sound with resources for ongoing operations and future capital
improvements. This tenative budget represents a balanced plan. It invests in the needs we face today while we are preparing for the challenges of tomorrow. It reflects a shared sacrifice and shared progress
from our staff and from the community we serve. I want to commend our senior leadership team for their collaboration throughout this process as well as the constitutional offices. I also would like to thank all county staff for their dedication in finding efficiencies and
improving services. Your commitment to our residents and our business community is what makes this work. At this time, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to turn the presentation over to our management and budget director, Mr. Tim J. He will provide a detailed overview
of the tenative millillage rates and budget. And once Tim has completed his presentation, chairman will turn it back to you for uh public comment. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Gray. Mr. J. Good evening, commissioners. I'm Timothy Jex with the Office of Management and Budget. In accordance with Florida
statute, truth, and millage requirements, tonight is the first of two public hearings to adopt the millage rates and budget. The FY26 tentative budget is balanced with revenues and expenditures totaling $1.2 2 billion. This includes reduction adjustments from
the proposed budget of 12,990,54. This details our adjustments. On the left, we show primary revenue adjustments which include a $3 million increase in advorum revenues based on the final taxable values from the property appraiser budgeted at 96%. There's a reduction of 3.3 million in
our public service tax and 1.4 4 million in our local option fuel tax revenues to reflect a partial year of collections beginning on January 1st, 2026 as opposed to the start of the fiscal year October 1st, 2025. There's an increase of 3.1 million for the tourism improvement district which
was approved this summer. The revenue contribution from the port authority is updated from 150,000 to 250,000 based on his submitted budget. And finally, there's a reduction in countywide fund balances of $15 million. Majority of this is related to a recent refunding of
water and sewer bonds which released a reserve requirement and allowed us to pay down bond principal. On the right hand, expenditure adjustments include the sheriff who reduced his budget request by $900,000. There's a reduction of $5.6 million related to a partial year change in
fixed route bus services with links which starts next January. There's a related increase of 5.5 million to fund a full year of microtransit services. Water and sewer debt service payments are being reduced by 2.1 million due to the refunding mentioned earlier. We have
net reductions of 243,000 to personnel budgets primarily in the general fund related to the unfunding of positions being eliminated in the budget. There's a countywide increase of 830,000 related to health insurance costs. And finally, we have a reduction of 11.3 million in
countywide reserves. I will now move on to the presentation of the tenative millage rates. The first column shown here is the current FY25 adopted rates. The second column shows the roll back rate which
would generate the same amount of advalorum tax revenues as the current year excluding new construction. The next column shows the FY26 tenative millage rates. And the final column shows the percentage of the tenative millage rate over the roll back rate. As you can see, the FY26 tenative rate for
the countywide millillage is 0.5 mills higher than the FY25 adopted rate. This increase in millillage will be used to maintain public safety services, offset rising cost of transportation, meet statemandated obligations, and remove the existing budget deficit. The fire
and road district mill rates will remain unchanged from FY25. All rates match those approved by the board on July 22nd and were included in the property appraisers notice of proposed taxes. I will now read the rates into the record. The general countywide millage of 5.3751
mills is 16.42% above the roll back rate of 4.6168 mills. The fire rescue MSTU millage of 2.7649 mills is 5.43% above the roll back rate of 2.62. 6226
mills. The unincorporated road MSTU millillage of 0.1107 mills is 5.33% above the roll back rate of 0.1051 mills. And the tentative aggregate millage rate for all BCC taxing
districts is 7.3663 mills which is 12.7% over the current aggregate roll back rate of 6.5363 mills. I will now present the tenative budget.
The total countywide budget is 1 bill215 million87,959 for all governmental funds, special revenue funds, enterprise funds, and internal service funds. This includes a reduction of 12.99 million from the county manager's proposed budget
published in May. The chart on the right shows a breakdown of the county's expenditure budget. That concludes my presentations. Are there any questions from the board before we move to public comments? Any questions of Mr. J at this time? Seeing none, stand by, sir.
Thank you very much. All right, we will go to public comment at this time. I would ask to make sure each and every one of you that desire to speak or want a written comment. Make sure you filled out a form. Bring it right down here to the clerk, Miss Dominique, so she has it.
We will call three at a time. If you'll be kind enough to line up, we'll try to get you through here as quick as possible. I would ask that you act with proper decorum. This is not a place that you yell out and scream from the audience. We want to respect
everybody's time here and make this as efficient as possible for everyone. If there are some questions, uh, we will ask staff to come back afterwards and, uh, have dialogue with the commission and answer any questions we might be able to answer at that time. So, Miss
Dominique, if you would, uh, call up the first three. We'll have three minutes of each participant. I would also ask out a courtesy for everyone attending tonight if you can try not to be repetitive after we've heard the same thing three
times. We we probably have it. Um we want you to have your your your speaking time, but um we know this is an important issue to each and every one of you, but try to be non-repetitive if you can. We sincerely appreciate it. First
three names, please. Leslie Grubal, John Hervati, and Larry Meadow Scrubal. Good evening. I hope you all are doing well. Feel free to pull that microphone down if it if you need to to get it closer.
Suggesting. No, ma'am. Not not not for a minute. Okay. Well, and again, good evening. My name is Lesie Grubble and I live in Longwood. Tonight I am here representing
the League of Women Voters of Seol County. The League is a proud nonpartisan organization that strives to empower voters and defend democracy. Fundamental to our principles is our
belief that efficient and economical government requires not only competent personnel but also adequate funding. While nobody likes to pay taxes, everybody likes the wonderful services we receive from Seino County that make
this a great place to live, work, and play. Our parks and libraries are busy. Our roads are wellmaintained. Our sheriff's department and our fire department respond when needed in a
timely manner. And none of this happens without adequate funding. The millage rate has not been raised in 16 years. While inflation and the cost of living have risen. Along with that,
state and federal dollars that have augmented the county budget in the past have been reduced. There is also continuous salary and bonus competition to keep our very nicely trained officers in this county.
The continued unfunded mandates from Tallahassee cannot be removed to reduce the amount of money needed in the budget to pay for special local needs. The league supports the allocation of tax dollars to fund our libraries, purchase
natural lands, run vibrant parks and recreation programs, provide public transportation, and many other services that we in this county treasure. As a lead member of the observer corps, I have watched the board of county
commissioners budget meetings and witnessed their efforts and results to decrease their expenses and encourage their constitu constitutional officers budgets to do the same as is indicated by the 13 Mer$13 million
decrease in the budget requests in order to reduce Link's mass transportation overtime costs. The BCC is implementing a new innovative microtransit system in our county which will be doortodoor to
replace expensive mostly empty links bus routes. This tax increase will in general average $12 a month funding a wide array of governmental services. This increase to homeowners is minimal
when compared to the average monthly cost of a cable TV or cell phone, which are purely voluntary services. The League of Women Voters of Seol County proudly supports passage of the proposed budget to keep our county the
outstanding community that it is. Thank you. Thank you. Pretty good timing. Mr. Middle, is that correct? Close enough. Yeah. Can I say that? That's great. She's
great. Um, so thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak. Uh, my name is Larry Meadow, Simone County resident, business owner. I employ a little bit over 30 and like many of those here, we've had water cooler talk about property taxes and such. Uh, I'd like to say that I probably will agree with most
people here, and I'm going assume everyone here on the no one really wants to pay more property taxes, right? You didn't start off trying to pay more property taxes. But what I do like, and borrowing from another person just the other day, I like that when you call 911, someone picks up the phone. I like
that. I like that uh we have beautiful parks and recreation. I like that we have an incredible school system. My daughters went to school here in Simino County. Um our commitment to quality roads, water, sewer, infrastructure. They all allow me to feel good about where I live and and I sleep well at
night. I've been a resident here for 30 years and uh God willing, I'll be here for another 30. So, um, you know, I voted in every election and trust that the commission um has done their due diligence with information and understanding and trust that they're serving in our best interest and, um,
I'm in favor of the adoption of the millillage and the budget as proposed. Thank you. Thank you. If I don't spell this one right, is it Gravati or Gravati? Harvati. Harvati. I My apologies. Calling it once. Calling it twice.
Okay, call the next three and set that one aside. Brenda Urius, Richard Glover, and Bob Chabat. What was the last one? Bob Chabat. Chabot. Okay. Good afternoon. If you could state your
name and address for the record, please. Yes. Brenda Urias, 811 South Elm Avenue, Sanford, Florida. 32771. Welcome. Okay. Um, obviously my name is Brenda Yurus. I stand before you today, commissioners, as a homeowner here in
the Semino County, but also as a local business owner and an avid cyclist here who use the trails and parks frequently, almost daily. I also serve as the chair of Semino Countyy's Tourism Development Council. It's been 10 years, maybe 16
years, someone mentioned um that our county has increased its millage rate. And in that time, costs have risen in our community and their needs have grown. Investing in our parks, trails, and recreational opportunity is not just about maintaining what we have, but it's
about ensuring continued health, safety, and vibrancy in our community. As a bike shop owner here in Semino County, I see firsthand how these resources attract visitors, support our small businesses, and create a s stronger sense of place
for our residents. As a homeowner, I know that these investments protect and enhance our property value. And as a cyclist, I know that making Seino County that these trails make Semino County one of the best places to live, work, and play. Um, I do support the increase for
these reasons. I think it's a necessary step to secure the future of the amenities that Semino County has that makes Semino County Florida's natural choice. So, a place where both residents and uh visitors can thrive. Thank you so much, commissioners.
Thank you. Next, please commissioners. I'm Richard Glover. I'm the CEO of the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Sanford and I'd like to speak in support of the proposed adjustment to the millage rate and the
proposed Simol County fiscal budget. As someone who's running a business here, I understand all too well the cost to operate continue to rise quickly and sometimes unpopular steps have to be taken in order to continue to provide needed services the public expects and take care of your business. In this
case, the millage adjustment, if the millage adjustment does not happen, the county would not be able to pay for all the services its residents expect. In that case, the county would have to look for alternative sources of revenue to support some of those services. One option they would likely utilize is
repurposing some or all of the tourism development tax funds, which are derived from the local hotel taxes and are currently used to support tourism in our county. The zoo and other important organizations like historic girls and Sanford Main Street receive funds annually that help us in our efforts to
draw tourists to spend money in Simol County and provide those tourists in our community with top-notch experiences. Zoo currently serves more than 400,000 guests a year partly thanks to that funding. The zoo is a private nonprofit with a 50-year-old infrastructure and
more than 300 animals in our care. So, it's an extremely expensive buzz business to operate. Losing TDT funding from Simino County would negatively impact our ability to market as effectively and continue to make infrastructure improvements that enhance our guests experiences.
The cost of the millage increase equates to $12 a month for someone with a house with a value of 300,000. While none of us want increased taxes, that is a very reasonable number given the important services it would support while also protecting tourism of our county, which
in turn brings millions of dollars into our county every year. Thank you. Thank you. Next, sir. Commissioners, my name is Bob Shabbo and I live in Lake Mary in Semino County. I'm also the chief operating officer at
the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Uh I'm here to speak in favor of the millillage increase on property taxes. um concerned as a both a resident and uh as a somebody who works in the county and is helping to run a a zoo in in this
county uh not just about the reduction of services but about the impact uh that this could have on the zoo. Uh we've benefited in recent years uh by receiving some of the TDT funds uh that have come to the zoo. The zoo is one of
the largest and most beloved cultural attractions in Simol County. Uh and we got we've been able to use these funds to help fund uh educational program for children uh of all ages help helped us to market
and promote the zoo. Um and to help fund accessibility initiatives to help make the zoo more accessible to all. Uh we've been able to do uh make improvements to pathways and walkways, degraded boardwalks, eliminate trip tripping
hazards. We're also hoping to add automatic door openers, adult changing tables, cooling zones for guests, and improving and identifying areas for uh guests with sensory uh issues and disabilities.
So, uh very much would like to express uh my and our support for the millillage increase to help uh continue the the great quality of life that we have in the county. So, thank you. Thank you. Next three, please.
Judy Desier, George Celery, and Tom Holler. Again, Judy Desier, George Celery, and Tom Holler. Okay. Good evening, commissioners. Thank you for having us here tonight. Uh, my name
is Judy D. Roger. I live at 4207 Fox Hollow Circle in Castlebury. Um, I am a Seminal County homeowner, as are both my adult children. um in Deerrun. As a matter of fact, I also serve as the chair of the board for the trustees of the Central Florida Zoo and Botanical
Gardens and as a member of the Seminal County Tourism Development Council. I'm here tonight to speak in support of the proposed millage adjustment. As a resident, I know no one enjoys paying more in taxes, but this increase is modest when compared to what it protects, our public safety, our
infrastructure, and the services that make Seminal County such a strong and vibrant place to live. As chair of the zoo's board, I would want to share how closely this decision ties to tourism and our community assets. The zoo receives money annually in tourism
development tax funds. Those dollars support conservation programs, educations for thousands of children, and an attraction that draws more than 400,000 people each year to Seminal County. If the millillage does not pass, we've been told that the TDT dollars may
need to be redirected, sorry, to cover essential services and jobs. That would very likely mean the zoo and other community partners like historic Goldsburg and Sanford Main Street could lose all tourism support. That would be a devastating blow not only to the zoo but to Seminal County's
tourism economy as a whole. Approving this adjustment keeps essential services funded without undermining the cultural and economic drivers that make our co county competitive. It ensures that public safety, infrastructure, and community attractions are not forced into the comp
competition for the same limited pool of dollars. On behalf of myself, my family, and the Central Florida Zoo's board of trustees, I want to thank you for your leadership, express our strong support for this proposal, and it is the responsible choice and is the right
choice for Seminal County's future. Next, Mr. Cer, do you have copies of that you're going to leave with us? Yes, I do have some. I'm going to give it for every commission. Fantastic, sir. So, my name is George Cery, 5231
Shoreline Circle in Sanford. Um starting out, you know, back in August, um the commissioners raised the gas tax to the max 5 cents and the utility tax from 4 to 10% maximum rate starting January 1st. Now, we're looking at a millage
increase. And I do not believe in the roll back rate. Um I believe in staying at the current rate, which would be a 10.3% increase. However, you also have to add in the 2.9% that everyone's valuations went up under Save Our Homes. If you're
under save our homes that 5.3751 is the highest tax rate since 1991. It is also the largest single half mill increase since prior to 1990. Can't find records going back further. We are Semino County is the only county in
Central Florida, Republican or Democrat, that is proposing a tax rate greater than the current tax rate. So we I looked at this proposed millage. These numbers you can check with the county manager. You can I used to do this. So new revenue 44 million in advorum at the
new rate utility tax for only 9 months 9.9 and 4.1 for the links money that brings in $58 million. Okay. From 251 last year to 296 this year. um from 1920
2019 2020 when we were at 167 to now that is up 128.9 million 77%. Doge and Orange County is at 50% and they're being having an audit. Part of that is the current rate even though you
stay at that current rate and property appraiser can tell you all about that. You got reassessments, you got property valuation changes, you've got people not at the homestead, new development, but inflation has been up for only 25% during this same time period, and social
security increases have only gone up 21%. Staying at the current rate brings in $ 31 million. Um, next one up is reserves. Now, this slide has changed a little bit because you guys just lowered it, but
you still have almost $12 million going into reserves. So, you're raising taxes to put $12 million in reserves. Okay? And I I can tell you right now, that's more, if you look at those stats, that's more than city taxpayers. Only the city of Sanford has a budget that high for
the whole general fund. Um, there's a lot of rumors need it for bond ratings. You need it for, you know, certain amounts. Um, we needed it for the hurricanes. The hurricanes, we had a reserve budget of 8.9 million and 9.5.
And the last slide I wanted to show before my time is up. Is this is where the constitutionals are at. They're over, if you go up a little higher on that, you'll see that they're not up that high. Sheriff Leman's budget at $15
million is less than Orange County, less than Valuchia County, less than Bard County. and th of those don't even have the jail included. So, um, thank you. They've always been very conservative. Thank you. Thank you. Next, please.
[Applause] Hi, my name is Tom Heler, 1731 Beacon Drive. So, we're here tonight talking about millage rates. So, let's do a comparison between our different counties and look at uh look at um the other counties in our neighborhood. As
far as land size, we are the smallest. Um 303 square miles compared to all the other ones. We're much smaller than the other counties. The second chart, population growth. We have grown less than the counties around
us. And yet, if you look at the third chart, we're the only ones proposing a millage rate increase. So, what is a millage rate? Um basically it's a number when you multiply it by the value of the assessed value of the home you get your tax bill. So when the
value of homes are going up your tax bill is going up even with the uh millage rate exactly the same. So in the last four years in seminal county property values have gone up around 40%. While inflation has only gone up around 20%.
U so I looked at example of uh property value increase on my old home. So when I moved out of my house in Longwood, the tax bill in 2014 was $2,200. In 2024, the tax bill was $6600. In 10
years, that's a 300% increase or annually 11.6%. That's way more than inflation. Anytime somebody moves, the house gets reassessed and now their property taxes go up at that new valuation. Any new construction gets assessed at that top
value as well. So with the new home tax, So with the new home taxes and the assessed value from people moving, the the valuations are are far outpacing inflation. Even if you have a homestead exemption, your taxes are going up, even with the
millage rate staying the same. For myself, it's going up 2 and a half% every year, even though I've done nothing to the house. So the bottom line is with the increase in the gas tax, the utilities tax, the penny sales tax, the county does not need an increase in the
millage rate. Beyond these new taxes, the county does not have a revenue problem. They have a spending problem. And before we talk about raising the millage rates, we need folks, we're going to ask you not to balance sheet. Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you.
Next three, please. [Applause] Yeah. Next three, please. Joseph Humphre, Nancy Harmon, and Cindy Holler. I want to remind everybody, we're going
to insist on proper decorum. I don't want to continue to warn about yelling out. If you agree with what's being said, a simple thumbs up would be great. If you don't agree, a thumbs down will be great. We can all see that. We want to try to give the respect to the speakers and efficiently get everybody
through here as quick as we possibly can. So, thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Joe Humphre, 883 Cardinal Point Cove, Sanford, Florida. Uh, it's a sad day that we're here today. A young gentleman was murdered today who was a great
spokesperson for civic responsibility. And I would like everybody to realize that Charlie Kirk was indeed a a great American and a sad loss for our country today. Um I don't envy the job that you all have today. I'm definitely glad that
I'm not in your seats. Uh this is not an easy job, but obviously one that has to be done. Uh we've heard a lot of good things. Bottom line is we have to look at the entire package. Obviously, you're looking at very specific the the
millages, but as homeowners, all of us, we have a lot of things to pay to maintain these great homes that we live in in this county that goes just above that. I've had lots of conversations with our friends in Tallahassee
um and just recently with the Florida Policy Institute talking about Florida's affordable housing crisis. This is not news obviously to any of us. But as I said in recent years, Florida has become one of the least affordable places to
live in the nation. So that's a major major problem. So why is that? Well, the interesting thing in looking again at the big picture u from tax rates from 2024, the interesting
thing is it states Semino County has one of the highest median property taxes in the United States and is ranked 483rd out of 3,143 counties in order of medium property
taxes. So, it is a big issue, but again, as a as a homeowner, I have to pay HOA fees, utility taxes, as George brought up, the gas tax, the penny sales tax. So, everything that we're paying is all
everything is going up. So again, my concern is let's make sure that we are indeed I know staff has put in tremendous tremendous amount of hours. Uh but again, let's make sure that we're getting as much bang for every penny
that we're putting into this thing. So again, good luck with this process. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next, Nancy Harmon, 752 Pioneer Way, Geneva, Florida. What he said about all of you. Um, I want to put out a special thank
you to Tim and to Darren for taking time to hold my hand, walk me through a lot of this. Um, and there's other people on this staff, I'm sure. I I want to thank everybody because I know this is difficult. I also want to say I'm a member of the legal boomman voters and I
do not stand with their position. Um I pointing out and uh Tom started to point out this but you know Simol County we know this is the smallest county in Florida yet today we're asking to raise our rates on ourselves when we're the
smallest county. So we can look and we could say well we're getting all these great benefits and and we are and we're maintaining them with the money that we have. So, I just like to keep that in your mind. We also have all these nice home developments that have HOAs that don't pay for roads. They don't pay for
um specific uh improvements to sidewalks and things like that because it's covered in their HOA uh accounts. But yet, in our business model here for our for the basis of our um budget, we're talking about maintaining
unincorporated roads and ditches and things of that that nature. I have to tell you as a Geneva citizens, there was a meeting to be held Monday because with your roads people because our roads aren't being taken care of. Our county roads, our ditches, our culverts are not
being taken care of and we continue to get flood. I don't see anything on the budget that with this passing it'll change anything in Geneva because that's what your staff said. We're not in the budget. So, I'm concerned. We're we're saying we want to maintain a quality of
life. Okay, we'll maintain the quality of life with ditches being full in Geneva. Fine. That's that's where we'll stand. But the other thing that I have to talk about is the fact that we also have the Jews who and these other tourist groups who are benefiting from
our tax dollar and they're depending on our tax dollar. I have to ask, have you all looked at their budget and have you looked to see that they are reducing their budgets? Have you looked to see that they're doing the most efficient things that this county has been doing?
The other question that I have, I'm for parks. You know that. You know that. Why do we not set up MSBUs for rolling hills and for um increase it or change it the MSBUs for these parks? We're talking right now $2 million total for
Rolling Hills and Wakiva Springs to upgrade their parks. Why? Let the people who are in that area that get to use those parks pay the price. I would recommend that for Geneva. If you were to put a park out there and our people said they wanted amenities for the kids, then we should all pay for it. It's our
community. It's our responsibility. The other thing I have a real problem with the sports complex. We have so many ball fields. Why today can we not kick that can down the road just a little bit farther and make a better plan? Thank you very much for your time.
Thank you. Next. I appcate that. Okay. [Music] How does Can I Can I be heard? Yes. Yes. Okay. Very good. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Cindy
Holler, 1731 Beacon Drive, Sanford, 31-year resident in Semino County, and I must say I'm also a fan of the zoo and of seminal county. So I a lot of what I heard, you know, I I feel it. I love the
zoo. Um 2022, I want to start there, kind of skip to that second paragraph. Land acquisition ballot item was proposed by residents and conservation groups to let the public vote and decide on a very small millillage increase for
land preservation. This chamber said citizens could not afford a tax increase. Residents in five counties approved land preservation in November of 2022 and votes in both Oyola and Lake
counties passed by 80% or more in 2024. Bottom line is we couldn't vote for that. So anyway, jumping up. Sorry about that. 2023 residential garbage pickup fee increase from $240 to $300 per year,
which was a 25% increase. November 2024, the penny sales tax approved by the public with no mention about future tax increases being required the following year. If these increases had been known
for years, as stated by Sher Zumbau, why was this not put out to the public before the vote? August 2025, the uh George had mentioned it. The gas tax 5 cent per gallon for 50 years was
approved. Maximum allowed by state law raise the gas tax to 11 cents per gallon. That's an 83.3% increase expected to generate $5.5 million in the first full year of the tax. Also on that date, public service
utilities tax increased 6% to the current rate of 10% which is maximum allowed by state law. 150% increase expected to generate $13.3 million in the first year of the tax.
And here we are today, September 10th. Proposed millage 5.375 increase of 10.3 over the current rate of 4.87 uh 4.8751. That's an addition that was mentioned
before of the 2.9 increase with the save our homes. This increase will generate over $44 million in new property tax revenue for the county compared to adopted fiscal year 2024 2025. In closing,
the millage rate should not be raised th and I personally feel those on a fixed income will be most adversely affected and um so I hope it does not happen. Um and I appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dominique. How many how
many forms do you have remaining? Approximately 15, Mr. Chair. Okay. So, go ahead and call the next three. If there's anybody else here to speak on this matter, please fill out a form in the lobby and get it up to the clerk immediately, please. Next three.
Richard Ceden, Virginia Ceden, and Al Lier. Lightner. Lier. Lier. Creed. Creed and lighter. Virginia Cedon 1172. Miss Ceden, if you'll come up to the other podium and feel free to move that
microphone. Virginia Ceden, 1172 Apache Drive, Geneva, Florida. Seanol County is one of the smaller counties in this area in land mass and in population, but we have one of the highest taxes.
Lucy and Orange County don't have rates as hard as as high as ours. We can look at statistics. We can look at the number of people there. We can also consider that we have a large rural area which doesn't require the services that are given to the other other parts of town.
We don't have bus service. We don't have water and sewer, but we have the higher taxes because property values are high. Uh, and and new people buying new houses don't realize that their taxes are going up. I had a young lady just recently say
she was leaving an exercise class that we did because she was getting a job. They had gotten a tax bill. Their income just doesn't stretch now to cover. So she is putting her child in daycare and going to pay her taxes that she has in
all different directions not only real estate but utilities and everything else that are going up in this area. Meanwhile we have five points with that with debt that has to be met and we have all the empty build empty offices in
those buildings. So we are paying debt for buildings we are not really utilizing and then we're saying we want to put money in reserves. Now why are we putting the money in reserves? Do we want to build more buildings? Do we want to build more sports complexes that
maybe the voters wouldn't support? So we put the money into reserves and then the county commission can vote to have these things without the people having to actually support them. will only have to pay for them but not have to be in favor of them. So therefore, I'm not in favor
of the millage rate raise. I'm hoping it will go back to what it was, the way it is in the other counties around us. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up, please. Good evening. I am Richard Creed and I live at 1172 Apache Drive in Geneva,
Florida. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a serious credibility problem with Semino County taxpayers. In order to restore some trust, you must first stop rubbing salt into the wounds you created by raising the utility tax
by 150% and the gasoline tax by a nickel. Step number one would be to have absolutely no increase in the millage rate. that should remain identical to the current millage rates. We have been told that the sheriff is the bad guy and causing the tax increases. It is true
that their budget is increased by 15 million, but you are proposing to increase reserves by almost the same amount. Why? Reserves are rainy day piggy bank to be used in difficult financial times such as now. Instead,
you are choosing to add millions to that pity bank piggy bank and increase our taxes to do it. This goes against common sense and logic. In addition, without any millage tax increase, the existing millage rate plus the other new taxes
would bring in 31 million in new money. This is double the increase the sheriff is requesting. So, we see that the sheriff is not the problem. Rather, you have used him as the excuse. The county does not have a revenue problem. Rather,
it has a spending problem or an addiction. A year ago, we were exhorted to vote for the 1% local sales tax or other taxes would have to be raised. We listened to you and voted yes on the 1% and then were rewarded with a barrage of
new taxes anyway. Do you really think that we would have voted for the sales tax if we knew what you had planned for us in 2025? If so, you're living in a dream world. Lastly, we re recent been told that you knew about a structural budget imbalance for several years, but
kicking the can down the road happened each year. Why did you not share this information with us earlier? Rather, in the 2223 budget on page 8, it says that the budget is structurally balanced.
Ditto for 2324 budget on page 7. In the 2425 budget, it says that the budget is balanced with no tax increase or use of federal rescue plan funds. Not one word of any structural imbalance was included
in the three budgets. Now, do you understand why you have a serious credibility problem? We feel like you were lying to us in treating us like mushrooms. We give you an A for your efforts to turn the Souia of an ill-conceived millage tax increase into
a silk purse filled with milk and honey, but we give you an F for the results. You have failed. Please stop these totally unnecessary tax increases now so that we might have some positive thoughts about our board of county
commissioners before the 2026 elections. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Next, next three, please. Waffa Espazito, Deanna Houston, and
David Levit. This was my first. second. While this speaker is getting ready, does one of the Okay. Hello. Wafa Esposito5040 Hawk Hammock Way. Pull the microphone down closer to you,
dear. So, everybody can hear you. Do you hear me? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Waffa Espazito5040 Hawks Hammockway Sanford. I am in opposing of this increase and
this is my tax bill would be $471. As I said last time I spoke here, I don't see the need for this new tax increase which would cost me $471. Especially knowing that the general fund is sitting on 56 million and a half, I
think keeping the 875 nose is going to generate the expected 17 million and that will satisfy the needed 15 million requested by the sheriff department which I sincerely
hope they can also deal for us with the postcoid intersection beggars for everyone while being here. Seminal county being the smallest. You have heard that with roads maintained by by
HOA and its healthy general fund. I am afraid asking to increase taxes by 4.7 compared to Orange County. Three times the population and twice the size I guess and those have been investigated.
I don't think this will be looking good for us. I think we need to follow the healthy fiscal trend. Second page set by the state who claims to have paid uh 50% of their debt. I don't think we have
one. I don't know if we have one. I hope we don't have one as a county. However, following their trend in putting a constitutional amendment for November 2026 to eliminate property tax or reduce
it, especially for first home owner. So that's what I would call communicating with the community or with the citizens. This should prompt the county to follow suit where we can list the needs of the upcoming election and get a vote on
them. I am sure you heard about counties like St. John slashing their budget uh by 3.6 million. Sanford city the other day opposing fire assessment. I really hope for good reason. I don't know. Anyhow, they're trying. Everybody is
trying to reduce. That's the point. Checking upon the various area media which I suggested the county can get a college intern to scour citizens. The last page are post to see the trend and the concerns and the focus. I gathered
that the focus should be for impact fees from builders and investors to cover necessities. As I said last time, I checked with the various members of the advocacy group. The penny sales tax along the road tax we were told would
lighten the tax base burden. So I wasn't wrong. Mr. We also have try to wrap it up for us. Okay, remember we always we also have the gas tax and the utility tax to honor
on top of this increase. Conclusion here, let's keep the current tax. Let's plan for the future increases with future plans. And um yes, I am glad to hear about the boosting of the tourism. We really feel
I really feel like we could make a lot of money as a county by better uh publicizing our uh county and thank you so much. Thank you. Next, please.
Good evening. Good evening. Deanna Houston, 750 Sagana Point, Lake Mary, Florida. going to take a little different approach, but first wanted to start out saying how much we do appreciate what y'all do. We do know,
I mean, when you hear the news today about the shooting and the 911, one person said, think, well, glad we're safe. But things are changing here. Things are changing here economically. We're seeing
changes in tourism, even in Orange County. We are seeing jobs being reduced. AI we just saw the jobs numbers be changed drastically by what 900
something thousand or mill 900 something thousand for the whole country. We've got increased utilities. Duke for the last is going to be giving me $40 extra charge a month for a year so they can recoup hurricane cost in addition to
our increased utilities AI. I don't know if that's happening in Florida yet, but it's affecting the utility cost in so many states already. All the data centers that AI is using. You can see around the vacant buildings
that we have, all the different buildings for lease, some boarded up buildings that we saw in 1792. All of these are indications of a bad economy. And a couple of years ago, I don't remember who on this um commission said, "I can't approve that tax. Our
people can't do that." And that was for the to keep us natural. We also have many older people. We can see a lot of us are older here. We're on more fixed incomes and you hear stories of people losing their homes because they can't pay their
taxes. We also have less children. The US News last year said we had 66,680 schools school children in Simino County in the Simino County public school. This
year, according to the Simino County website, we have 59,000. That's a drop of seven, excuse me, 10%. So, do we need new parks? Do we need new complexes? I don't think so. People aren't having
children like they were. people aren't moving to Florida like they were. So, we really need to rethink what we the people can handle. So, just reconsider and I thank you for what y'all do, but please do not put
this increase in. Thank you. Thank you. Next, please. [Applause] Well, hello David Levit, longtime resident and business owner in Semino County. Address, please
is Se Longwood. Street address. I don't need to give that. Thank you. So, in his opening monologue, the county manager used the term more than once concerning the county being responsible for essential services.
So the question is, what is essential services? And I think that's what you got to take a deeper look at here before you go into another increase in our property taxes. Speaking of essential services, is the $100,000 a year for the last two and a half years that the
county manager spent for a consultant essential? I don't think so. We didn't pay that before. We only paid that since he's been here. So this trifecta of taxes on top of a
billion dollar penny tax. So the two largest taxpayers in Simol County, Duke Energy and Florida Power. You probably already know that when you increase our property taxes, guess what? You're increasing their property taxes, too. I think you should already know
that as well. Guess what else utility companies are allowed to do in the state of Florida? increase our electric rates when their operating costs go up. And yes, their property taxes are part of their operating costs and they get to include that. So this we're getting a
double hit from the utility companies because we have to cover their operating costs because your property taxes are going up. Plus you raise our utility taxes on top of that. So that's craziness. So, speaking of essential services,
again, what in the world is the county doing in the business of sports and sports complexes? It it it doesn't make any sense to me. Is that essential services to the
residents? I don't think so. $7 million for Rolling Hills on the backs of all the residents is how much the county has spent since the Rolling Hills takeover or buyout from a company that went belly
up. So, Seino County is also second place in $100,000 and up salaries in more than one category. And compared to surrounding counties, by the way, you're
number two behind Orange County per 10,000 residents. You're also number two behind Orange County for $100,000 jobs and hire per square mile. all the other counties around us, beat
your socks off when it comes to high paying salaries in the counties. So, I have I do have an ask. I don't mind sitting with somebody in your budget office and going I do have a background in finance and business finance. Been a very successful business
owner for many years. Thank you. Thank you. Next three, please. [Applause] Pete Buis, Ron Lightheart, and Unice Brown. What was the first one? Pete Buis. Buis. Yes, sir.
Come on down, sir. Okay. Poss. I'm not afraid to give my address. 5376 Ohio Avenue. I live up in northwest Semino County. I'm here to, I guess, to represent the elderly that are on fixed incomes. I'm retired.
I voted for every one of you up there. Tax and spend. Tax and spend. Why do you think everybody's left the north? Because they've been pushed out. I can't afford. I can't afford. And you keep we What? You built a bicycle uh trail from
one end of the county to the other. When was the last time you saw a bike on that bicycle trail? You want to see bicycles, come on up to my my my corner of the county on any Saturday or Sunday morning. They're in groups of 50 to 75 riding in single file. Oh, no. 50 in a
in a mob, four breasts. I have a cycle. I drive my cycle on that on those roads. It's called a Harley. I have to pay tax. I have to have license and registration. I pay a fuel tax. What tax do those guys? You want to generate
some income? There you go. Leaded. We really need that that driverless cart thing around the mall. I mean, if your kid says he wants those $250 pair of of Nike shoes and you can't afford it. You can't afford it. You don't You know what? Your college students say, "Dad,
I'm you giving me this budget, but oh, I need some more money. Send me some more money." And they they brought up and I will say this ladies and gentlemen, we are blessed by God to have that man, Sheriff Leman, to be our sheriff. He's outstanding. But if the budget is
getting bad, do we really need, excuse me, do we really need a flight department? I spent 45 years of my professional career in the aviation industry. I know what it costs to run that. And if we need to cut, need to semol county is one of the smallest
counties in in the state. You can't have all this stuff, folks. said, "You can't afford it. It's that simple." So, Margaret Thatcher, former former uh prime minister of Great Britain, I'll paraphrase. Eventually, you run out of
other people's money to spend. I voted for every one of you, but if you you agree to increase this tax, you've lost my vote. Thank you. Thank you. Next, please. Uh Ron Law, 1036 Winding Water Circle,
Winter Springs. I am against the mill rate increase. As you probably are aware, today is September 10th and that's peak of hurricane season and apparently in Semino County, it's also peak of tax season. So, uh you had a a a
gas tax as you know. Um and if you do on a percentage basis, uh compared to Orange County, it's 100% higher. 100%. Uh, okay. I know we're talking about, you know, five cents, but let's keep in mind, it was already a penny higher in
the first place. Now, in my case, I live in Winter Springs, but I go to Winter Park a lot, and there's a Costco there. I'm going to continue to buy all my gas at Costco, and I'll make sure I will not buy any gas in Seville County because I'm a man of principle, right? So, I was
thinking about joining BJ's here, that's opening up in Castlebury, but you know what? if you're going to tax me because I'm thinking about the the the gas pump concept. Well, well then why should I, right? But for me, I'm again a man of principle. I don't believe in it. Uh for
me, uh you're acting like a copy and paste principle. You know, you have to compete with cities. That's really what's all about really. Don't do a copy and paste. I'm sick and tired of copy and paste. So anyway, on the gas, we had a 4 to one uh vote, right? Um, uh, Bob
Delari was the only one against it, right? And the rest of you were for it. And I believe you also had a vote, of course, on the property tax, but it's not final. It's also four to one. Well, you know what? I to me, you know what the four represents? That means a cate category 4 hurricane. That's what it
means to me, right? So, well, we have to name these storms, right? It's a category 4 hurricane. So, we have to use the alphabet. So, I'm afraid Amy, you got the first one and then Andrew, you got the second one because when you do the the alphabet, that's what you get. So, uh but anyway, the going back to
Winter Springs, um you know, we have of course have our own police department and you know, seeing a seminal county police car in my city is almost as bad as seeing a Lamborghini in Winter Springs. It doesn't happen very
often. Okay, I see them once in a while, but if you told me we're going to cut your services in Winter Springs, I'm going to say, "No, you're not cutting my services. I don't need you. The ratio of Winter Springs Police to Semino County in my city is at least 20 20 to1." Okay,
you go out the city limits, then you see more of you, but but the bottom line is that's a a big problem. So, uh, but yet you you have a millage rate of that's twice as high as the Winter Springs, uh, millage rate, right? So, where's all
this money go? Okay. So, I'm not going to repeat because like you said, many people have already talked about it. So, but, uh, looks like I'm running out of time. Uh, uh, I wanted to mention one thing. I, I feed the whole United States in manufacturing,
and you just see how many tariffs are on our quotes. There's thousands of quotes with full-blown tariffs and I bet you there are more than a half a million quotes and bottom line is it's going to end up in inflation when they start buying, right? Thank you very much for your time.
Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. My name is Ununice Brown. My address is 4520 Douglas Street, Sanford, Florida 32771. As I reflect, I reflect on as we did the
um the flag um we stand up and we did our allegiance of the flag. And one of the two of the things that really stuck out with me is under God and the second is liberty for all.
And I am going to go with a different spin and it won't be repetitious. Oh, sorry. Shoot. Okay. Okay. Trying to get my thing. Okay. I'm coming. Sorry. uh 20
scriptures against unjust and excessive tax burdens. Do not be opposed of o overburden the people. Do not take advantage of the widows of the fatherless. That's Exodus 22:22.
Raising tax that hit that hit fixed income residents, widows and seniors goes against God's heart for protecting the vulnerable. Fair weight weight and measure financial integrity. The Lord
detests dishonest scale but accurate weight find favor with him. Proverbs 11:1 transparent and fairness in how money is collected and spent is a biblical principle. Broken promises like the
point sale tax violates the standard. Do not burden people beyond what they can bear. They tied up heavy heaviness comes on loath and put them on other people's shoulder. But they themselves are not
willing to lift a finger to move them. Matthew 23:4. Leaders should not place unnecessary financial loans to citizens without sharing in the sacrifice of finding alternatives.
Leaders should serve not export. Woe to those who unjust law to those who issue oppose decree. Isaiah 10:1. A millet increase coupled with utilities and gas hype can feel like oppressed decree
among struggling families. Justice for the poor and the needy. Speak up for those who cannot speak for themsel, for the righteous of all who are dis dist destitute. Speak up for judge fairly. Defend the right of the poorly and the
needy. Proverbs 3189. Raising taxes during a time of financial hardship violates this principle in instead leaders should protect and defend the vulnerability. God heart is not stewardship. God heart is for
stewardship not waste. So then each of us will give a an account account of ourselves to God. Romans 14:12 ma'am before demanding more from the people leaders are accountable to steward stewards well what already has been
entrusted us and as we as people of faith we believe that I oppose the mill taxes thank you okay folks I'm going to I know we don't have a whole lot of speakers left but I'm going to insist that you hold your comments to three minutes as close as
possible I've given many speakers a lot of latitude so far we're not likely to continue that course of action. I would also again urge you if you're wanting to speak on this matter, fill out a form now because we're getting ready to close off. No more forms coming in so
everybody can have a good evening tonight. Go ahead. Next three, please. Eric Feedler, Fred Pering, and Dedra Barncott. Good evening, commissioners, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for this time this evening. My name is Eric Feedler. I live
in Altimont Springs. Uh live I've lived there for 10 years. Your address, if you would please. 801 Lake Drive. Thank you. Um I'm a property manager by by real estate fix it up. Have a lot of tenants here in Simol County also in Orange County. And so I was kind of surprised
when I got my trim notices from Orange County, Siml County this year. Um I have two here from Orange County. Their general county fund trim rate miller rate is 4.4347. Seminal county's proposed is over 21%
higher than Orange County. That caught me by surprise. My uh tax bills for Orange County, these are for apartment complexes are for the just the county are increase of 4%. And 2.4%.
And then I just wanted to address a few things. I saw kind of on the website for Simol County. Um they said that the the millillage hasn't been increased for 16 years. Um, it's been touched on just slightly, but uh, property assessors that how I've learned is they increase
assessments every year and oftentimes it's paired with a a millage increase. Um, this year obviously we're getting an increase in what the assessed value is of our properties and this proposed increase in the millillage. So, it's a it's like a double taxation and it hits it hits
especially hard. Um, so I just brought I just brought my trim notices for a few properties. I have one in district two. Um, the county taxes are increasing 20% if this proposed rate
comes through. I have one in district 4. The county taxes are increasing 21.1% if if this military is approved. Um, I have one in district five and the county taxes would increase 20
over 21% year-over-year. Um, and then and then my own house, I have homestead exemption obviously, but it's increasing uh 13.9% year-over-year and I've lived there for 10 years. Um, I'm fortunate I don't have a fixed
income, but I just bring these to illustrate that like our tenants who are small businesses, their auto repair shops, their restaurants, um, they're having a difficulty. I know my neighbors are having difficulties with rising costs and uh, I just
encourage you guys to be responsible. This is money that is can be taken from you at the force of losing your home or your property is a huge a huge responsibility you guys need to take seriously. And so I would encourage you guys to not increase the military this
year. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Fred Piering, 2585 Tuscaloosa Trail, Matland, Florida. I live in unincorporated Seino County. I'm an Amy orphan.
And I saw on television uh some time ago used car salesman say we haven't raised taxes in 20 years. Well, you know the millillage has been fixed for 14 years. But thanks to the property assessor
who's your best friend. We've had a 3% increase in real property value in 2023, 3% in 2024, 3% in 2022. So we got 9% raised for all you folks without changing the
millillage. And with the new proposed, you've got 2.9% for the assessment. And then uh with the increase in millillage of 10.26, we're going to be at 13.6% more
this year in taxes. And unfortunately for us in unincorporated Semino County, the tax rates going up on electricity, telephone, all of our utilities. So that we're going to end up paying another5 or
$600 a year in taxes uh just for that particular part. Prudent planning. Um I don't know, you know, the that mess over at Oxford that you guys are having fun with yet. you allocated more than
$22 million just to get the property in front the frontage property for those businesses there. And you know, if you look over there, all this all of the sewer, water, electricity that we're
paying for, the developers contribution is, you know, insignificant. He needs to pay for all of that rather than the taxpayers. And then you've got another 65 million you're planning on spending, you know, for the new sports complex.
So, you know, I just I just wonder, you know, how prudent you are in in thinking about where you spend your money and what you spend it on. The last page, you can't read. It's a an eye chart. It's just the data that produces
all it's the last 30 years of taxes that I've paid. and and the millillage. And I think you probably have a hard copy so you can see it. Um I just wish that I could send Trump an email and say, you know, I've
got a budget shortfall so I would like you to increase my social security by 20%. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Call the next next three.
Miguel Pico, Michelle Smith, and Takcoa Puri. Pico Smith and Puri. Good evening everyone. Uh, Miguel Pico, 205 Alpine Street, Alam uh, Springs. And
uh um so a month ago I took my kids to uh Disney. Very very expensive. But my kids make some friends around there. Everything Disney is pretty much expensive. You go there, you buy. I usually don't drink, but I was like, "Hey, I'm on vacation. Let me grab a
drink." $15. I say, "Never mind. I'm not an alcoholic, so I don't need it." So I'll pass on that. So, but my kids were so make little friends in there and then I realized they're really generous with my money. I
said, "Well, I love them. You guys are not my kids. I do love you because I'm a man of God, but uh stop being generous with the people's money." It's cuz like somebody here said before, at one point you're going to run out. So, I'm not going to
repeat anything that everybody else said. We live in a a great nation. We live in Florida, beautiful state. I left New York 12 years ago. I left uh Ecuador where I'm from, third world country. And
I'm so happy that I'm in Florida. I get to carry my gun. I get to protect my family. I get to exercise my First Amendment. I'm so happy that I can say a lot of things, whatever I want to say it. Uh but um we are struggling. This this is real. We like somebody said
right here, we don't have a good economy right now. I'm a blue collar worker. I do make a good money for what I do. I do uh air conditioning and I know you guys cannot leave without AC. So yeah, I'm your guy. I should be sitting up there actually.
So but uh I also know that it's not easy doing your job and I'm a soccer lover. I love soccer and we going to have the World Cup next year and usually when I watch a game I was like looking at the guy and he doesn't score and I start criticizing the guy and I people say hey
what you know it's easy to be on your side but go over there and I was like yeah but I don't I don't get paid what they get paid to do that I don't practice every single day to perform. So I do have a higher expectation. So I get to say that do it. Why you didn't score
that goal? The same thing here. I you guys are here for a reason. I mean I I I read about each one of you before. You guys are really really smart people. So just use it please. The economy is
not that good right now. And I mean it. It's it's it's stressful. There's a lot of nights I don't sleep. And once again, I I make good money, but my tax keep increasing. Everything just keep increasing. And uh uh if you were to get a vote today for whoever agrees and
oppose this, you guys know you're not going to pass that cuz everybody's opposing so far by the numbers. Numbers don't lie, right? But anyway, guys, uh God bless you. And uh I was going to be really nice. Uh the lady read a scripture says Matthew 12:34 and then
what it mean what it says is you brut of vipers how can you are evil say any good anything good for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of it in essence is what's inside of your heart is what comes out of your mouth so please be generous for our taxes don't spend it
crazily thank you good evening Michelle Smith board chairman for the sharing center 600 north highway Highway 1792, Longwood 32750. Good evening and I wanted to begin by saying that we appreciate each and every
single one of you what you do for the county and how well you serve in doing your due diligence. I'm here today as an ambassador and an advocate for the Sharing Center as you move through this final budgeting process. And as you know, the sharing center is the largest
provider for comprehensive critical services for our most vulnerable and the homeless in our in our community. We do that through we do that through our free pantry and emergency financial assistance. We do that through the Oasis
for showers and laundry project rise for the life skills education and employment preparation. free mental health with a licensed medical professional and soon our soon to come our workforce attainable housing initiative. All
lifech changing programs. So as the sharing center embarks on our 40th anniversary next month, I wanted to just briefly highlight our strong and effective efforts to be a good partner serving with you in Semino County. And
as a good steward of our responsibilities, we continue to develop strong relationships in the private sector to help financially support our efforts to continue providing services for those facing catastrophic life
situations. In fact, we have a track record of requesting funds only from the uh federal and state monies. And uh we share that simply to say that your investment and your return on investment
is one that you can take great pride in for the voters and the community. The sharing center looks to continue to offer an even broader range of services for those vulnerable and homeless. And moving forward, we look forward to a
continued strong relationship with the county as we continue to pursue our mission and to do that with the private sector uh helping us. Thank you so much. Next, good evening again. I am honored to
serve as the president and CEO of the Sharing Center. And while we're having this valuable conversation, I wanted to share a few updates. Um, as we close out our fiscal year at the Sharing Center, our mission is simple but urgent. To prevent hunger and homelessness while
restoring hope, dignity, and stability for our neighbors here in Semino County. We come alongside families and individuals to ensure no one in Semino County has to choose between paying rent or putting food on the table. This past year has been marked by both challenge
and impact. But I'm proud to share with you that together with our community partners, over 51,000 neighbors received services through our programs. We distributed 2.5 million pounds of food to families facing food insecurity. And
through our project rise workforce development program, 163 individuals graduated, 74 of them secured employment and are now on the path to financial stability. Additionally, at the Oasis, this fiscal year alone, we've housed 27 unhoused
individuals. These are not just numbers. They represent lives restored, children sleeping in their own beds, and parents retaining hope. None of this work happens in isolation. It is only possible because of the partnership we have with Semino County government, our business leaders, faith community
leaders and residents who believe as we do that compassion must be paired with action. As we prepare for this new fiscal year ahead, we remain steadfast in our vision that every neighbor in Semino County has the opportunity not just to strive but thrive. Thank you,
commissioners. Thank you for your leadership and for the ways that you continue to invest in the well-being of our neighbors. God bless you. Thank you. Next three, Diedra Barnikott, John Hervardi, and Al Laker.
Are those the final three you have? Yes, sir. Okay, that'll conclude it. Good evening. Um, thank you for your time. My name is Dri Barnacott. I live in um Longwood, 2371 Westwood Drive, Longwood. And um I just um I'm wearing
my Turning Point USA hat today because um such a tragedy happened with the killing of Charlie Kirk. And um after I got home from work, I really just wanted to be home. But then I remember hearing him speak about how we need to be involved in our community and um get our
voices heard. So, I know most things have been covered this evening, but I'm here to um emphatically oppose um any additional taxes for Seminal County. I do feel like um there have been with the penny tax being
added, um the gas tax, utilities tax, everything that's been covered, um we don't need anymore. Uh we've got leadership at the federal level doing what they can to try to um get our taxes down. Seems to be happening at the state
level. Um you know, I respectfully request the county level um do the same. And um just on a side note, my husband and I um fairly recently canled Netflix and so our entertainment is watching the
commissioners meetings. Um, and so and it's it's fun. I highly recommend it. Um, so you have a goals issue. My my Yeah. So maybe we're not the most exciting people, but you know, it's been
very fun and informative and um you know, we're trying to learn and understand and do our part. And you know, I do appreciate all you do and um you know, watching you a couple times a month, but um you know, I do respectfully request to please do not um
increase this tax. Thank you. Thank you. Before the next speaker g gets gets going, I just want to remind I'm not sure if the county manager has been advised yet. Uh the president has stated that we will
fly the flags at half mass uh until Monday. So just make sure our staff gets that this afternoon or this evening before we all go home. Thank you very much. Okay, sir. Good evening, chairman, commissioners. John Horvath,4 Bradford Drive, Winter
Park, Florida. That's the Winter Park mail address with the semol county homeowners association as you may many you know. Uh listen a couple of prior speakers talking about the homestead and save our homes. I think that's been part of the problem over the years as we've
changed the tax stuff. You I've lived in my house for 50 years. If I go to sell my house in a couple of years, whoever buys it, their taxes are going to more than triple. Is that fair to them or to me? and the gentleman that was a property owner, those are not homestead exemption and he has to pay the full
value on the property for the taxes. So that's part of the problems that we have here, not only semol county but elsewhere when you have an any inadequate property tax situation for everybody. Now talk about the budget. I've been this is my close to my 50th budget
hearing I've been to in the last 50 years and I think it's one of the most crowded ones I've seen. Usually I'm one of only two or three speakers in past, but uh I've watched the budget go from $250 million to over a billion dollars. And I've been in the county my whole
life almost 80 years. And my family's in the grove business. So a lot of the property these people live in now I probably either owned or serviced them as orange groves or cow pastures. So you don't have the grove tractors on the road, but you got people on the road.
So, and I was involved with the fire department talking to the chief earlier tonight. Go back to station 23, the oldest station in the county that hasn't been updated and rebuilt. And I think it's about time that's done. But just to give give an example, one of those fire
trucks we see going down the road to a fire, they're right at a million dollars. That's just for the truck, not the equipment that goes in it, the hoses, the the air packs of the all that other equipment. Plus, the last two years when I've talked, Sheriff Lima has
not requested any deputies. In those last couple years, he said he was properly staffed. Well, my concern was that if in two years or three years, all of a sudden, he realizes he's deputy short. All of a sudden, he's going to come and say he wants a a millage increase like he did this year. But it
wasn't for that. It was because law enforcement officer salaries in this county and everywhere else were escalating. I was at a meeting where one of the Castlebury commissioners said they just had their salaries of their policemen go to XXX and Sanford went to
XXX. So we getting this escalation of of salaries and we don't want to lose our deputies and they don't want to lose their patrolman but we we ain't up paying for it. So we've got to think about that and talk to our neighboring cities and see how we can control some of this. you don't have that technical
problem with the school system because it's a countywide school district and the teacher whether they're teaching in in Sanford or Winter Springs, they're getting the same salaries as everybody else and they're not maybe they don't feel they have enough salary but that's it. But uh that's what I'm looking at
that we need to maintain this budget cuz nothing costs less today than it did 5 years ago. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other speakers? No, sir. Seeing none, we'll close public comment and go to board discussion.
Um, I'll kick it off and and just say for the benefit of any of you that weren't here at the last hearing, um, and I know many of you in the audience, I will assure you this county staff and
this county commission have spent a lot of time, a great deal of time, more time than they've ever spent since I arrived here in 2018, going through this budget process, looking for efficiencies. Uh, I want to thank staff. I want to thank our
constitutionals who have gone and scrubbed their budgets as close and as trim as they possibly could. Um, it truly has been a mission. You know, typically these counties start their budget process, you know, somewhere in in the June time frame. Uh, we ask our
staff to endeavor upon this at the end of last year to kick it off at the beginning of this year at least 120 days in advance. Prior to that, they were looking at things two and three years ago. I heard some comments tonight about we didn't know this day was coming. Well, if you attended the budget
hearings for the last several years, you would heard Mr. J and his counterparts talk about the concern of where we were going to land in the next two to three years. And thus, here we are. I will assure you that nobody up here
wants to see any increase whatsoever, including myself as a business owner with non-homesteaded commercial property. Uh like one of the individuals indicated here earlier tonight, I have commercial property that's going to increase 21 to 22%. Do I like it?
Absolutely not. Not as a businessman. However, I realize there's a price to pay to live in a community that's safe, high quality of life, and enjoying the things that we all enjoy. So, with that, I'll pass it on to my fellow
commissioners for any further comments or inquiries from staff. There may be some that you want from staff at this point. So, I'll start with Commissioner Lockhart and we'll work our way down. Commissioner Constantine already has his microphone. Oh, close your I don't want I don't want to. That's okay. Absolutely.
Go ahead, Commissioner Constantine. I've been in office in many different positions in my life. I've been a city commissioner. I've been a mayor. I've been a state representative. I've been a state senator. And I've been proud also to serve each
and every one of you for the last 13 years here at the county. I will promise you that I have been working and I'm I'm not going to speak for my fellow commissioners but I know that they are also been looking at this budget you
know very closely for months and months but I have been working with our budget manager here for lack of a better term so you all understand what Tim does Tim J and our county manager
manager to find each and every savings. I know you don't understand because no one including myself understands all the intricacies of of the county budget uh or the state budget which I will tell
you they never lowered their t their their touches. They always lower our taxes. Just want you to think about that. I was in the state legislature. I know that they lower our taxes, not theirs,
and they pass it along for us to do. But right now, let's talk about the present. The present, I am looking at every single possible savings. I have used the word that our county manager stole from me this
evening, shared sacrifice, constantly. I'm going to add and I I'm I'm telling that to our county to our our all of our constitutionals and to all of our general budget.
You probably don't know, and if you do, good for you, but our budget is about 33% of the entire budget of the county. The constitutionals are 66%
of the budget. That's not a condemnation of them. That's the facts. And what we have to deal with was is reality. And I have not, you know, I I am still working and I have told this, like I
said to you tonight, and I pledged to you tonight and I've told this to Mr. JS and I've told this to the county manager. I'm still looking for every penny of savings that we can get in every one of the budgets.
Every one of the budgets. And we still have time and we're still working. Tonight, what we're doing is the maximum. We have two more weeks. We're looking at it. I'm not suggesting that we're going
to go down to what was the millillage before. I don't know if we will go if there's any cuts to be had, but I'm telling you that I know I for one am still looking for them. Mr. JS, what is the total increase of
the budget of the county com that the county commission controls directly this year as of the tentative budget? 1.1 1.3% ladies and gentlemen 1.3 or 1.1 is it 1.1 now
it's 1.1 now okay it was 1 point it's 1.1 one just please understand this for a second 1.1% 1 I've heard a lot of things oh we had 60 billion million more here and
1.1% increase the budget that these five folks control. It was it was um last year
it was less than other budgets. Also the cumulative rate even with any increase because I heard a lot of things about Orange County, Lake County, Valuchia County, blah blah blah blah blah increase the total millage in Seol
County is less than any of them even with the increase. Is that a fact, Mr. JS? Say yes or no. Say it loudly. Yes or no. Say it loudly. Yes or no? Visual.
Yes, it is. Somebody can say no. You can I mean you can say it. It's not true. Can we pull up a visual on that so that there's not a We did this in the first budget meeting where we went through the neighboring counties. I think it's worth that.
All Yes. And that's great. All I'm trying to say is folks, we are work we are trying. We will continue to try. As I said, I've been in a lot of positions. This is making me sick to my stomach. County comparison.
Do you have the county comparison? Yeah. Go ahead. But comparison, excuse me. Like that's what the question I asked you and you said yes and that fine. Okay. That commissioner Blake might be the only one. I think Blake is the only one. But
am I is it still my turn, guys? Okay. Um, we're just trying to I know you are and I appreciate it, but I mean we're all going Okay. I I don't want to lose my train of thought. In the years that I've been in office, this would be the highest increase that
I ever voted for. I don't like it. I don't want to do it. And if there's any chance that I don't have to, if there's any chance that our that the that the ensuring that this county is
making sure that it's paying for itself for not only today's needs, but the future needs. Um, I will find every way I can to not to lower whatever tax increase we have right now. That's a that's a pledge. I will make that
pledge. I'm not saying I don't think The others I'm sure that will would say the same thing, but I'm not speaking for them. I'm speaking for myself. I would do that. Is that Did you bring it up? Okay, good. So, I want you to see that.
I want you to remember 1.1% this year. our we have been living off of reserves for a while but I I just
I don't think any one of you have not had a increase in your salary in the last 17 years. If you haven't, I'm sorry for you. I really am. You're in the wrong
profession. I we right have not had an increase in the advorum in seminal county in 17 years. I don't like this. I believe we still
hopefully we can still find cuts that will be able to reduce the increase of our advorum. And I agree with every one of them that, you know, our constitutionals are doing the same thing and might have to
continue to do the same thing as we go over the next two weeks because again, this has to be shared sacrifice. So, I'm not I'm going to vote for this tonight to move on, but I am pledging to you that I will look for
every single cost cut that I possibly can over the next thing. Mr. Mr. Celery, how many times have you and I talked over the last couple of days? Three, four, five times. Yes, I'm working with the people that have come up here um
that that feel that they have legitimate cuts. Not just throwing numbers out, but legitimate cuts. I will look at them and I will talk to them. One of my former aids, everybody knows who American First Prosperity is. One of my former aids was president
American for for Prosperity. I'm talking and working with him and trying to find cuts in this budget as I said with Mr. J and Mr. um Gray. But please understand there is not one
person here, not one person here that is not feeling ill about having to look at these increases. But I will also tell you this. You live in a county who cares very much about
the quality of life of their children, of their adults, and consistently gets gets um ranked as the number one place to live, the number one place to work, the number one place to raise a family.
And by the way, I just want to say the reason that it's not that we have less children. We have less children going to public school. They're going to private schools and they're going to charter schools. We don't have less children in Semino
County. We have a lot more children in Semino County, but we have a great school system both in the charter schools, private schools, and public schools. Just wanted to state that for a fact. I I I I I I I'm thankful that each and
every one of you came here today. I am thankful. I am thankful that I heard your concerns and I will take them back. I believe these other commissioners will take it back. I think our staff that is working on this budget will take it back
and and try to work this. And I think our constitutionals will take it back and try to work their budget a little bit leaner also. So, thank you very much for being here. And I promise you that in two weeks, over the next two weeks, I
will do everything I can to reduce this millillage. But I'm not telling you we can. I'm telling you I will look and I will try. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. The chair has passed the gavl to me. He's using the
restroom. I don't know why I felt compelled to tell you that, but I thought it would give you a little break in the news. And here he comes. I talked long enough that you can come back. Okay, there you go. We were concerned I might actually govern a meeting. Please. I'll pass it back to you.
Mr. Constantine has completed. He's completed. You're back. All right. Who Who else has it? Any Mr. Lockart? [Applause] [Music] Um, sick to your stomach is a good word for it. And it's not because I'm afraid
of the decision that has to be made because philosophically, fundamentally, um, I'm committed to keeping the taxes in Semino County as low as they can possibly be and delivering the best services we can possibly deliver. But this isn't a philosophical decision. And this is a
practical decision and it's based on facts and it's also based on unknown and um we are operating in a very different environment than we were operating in even a year or two ago. Um
I um you know somebody made a comment that we were blaming the sheriff and or blaming someone and or using him as a scapegoat and I and I want to say the sheriff is here tonight and and he's here tonight as a partner with us. Um, we rely heavily on the services that he
and the men and women of his operation provide and and fundamentally local government exists to provide public safety. Not just the sheriff, but fire, EMS, emergency management, roads and storm water. If you've ever been in a
situation with our storms recently, roads and storm water is a part of our public safety operation. So everyone can have a difference of opinion to a degree about what an essential service is and and we can debate
other types of economic development projects. I suppose those are definitely worthy discussions and people can can have varying degrees of opinions about that. But that's not what this budget decision is being based on this year. um we are talking about the meat and
potatoes of delivering public safety and keeping public safety alive and well in this community. And so let me tell you about the unknown. So the unknown became very very clear in no uncertain terms at our border county commissioners meeting
yesterday when we had a conversation about Senate Bill 180 which has been um just enacted from Tallahassee. It's supposed to be a public safety bill, an emergency management bill. And through the discussion, what our emergency
manager shared with us is that we still in local government, in the entire state of Florida, and likely in the entire country, do not have a firm understanding of what support mechanisms our local communities will have in case of a hurricane or some other disaster.
And I had asked Tim if he would be willing to pull together some numbers of what we have spent from our reserves over the years on natural disasters in this community. If you were here in 2004, if you've been were here for Irma, if you were here even just last year,
FEMA doesn't run in and remove stuff. FEMA doesn't repair stuff. this local government and our employees do it along with contractors and then we hope to get reimbursed from FEMA sometimes years years later.
So just for purposes of reflection because none of us has a crystal ball, those are the gift funds that this county spent from reserves for hurricanes for those events. 2017 Irma
over $30 million in today's inflation environment in today's economy it was 23 million at the time adjusted inflation would be 30 million $15 million former dollars for hurricane Ian today's adjusted inflation 16 million Milton
Milton was practically a non-event for this county practically although I was without power for five days but that's a whole different conversation it'd be it's an $8 million event Now, how do you know? How do any of us know when we are tasked with the
responsibility of keeping this community safe and making good decisions for the future that we don't know that we are going to have an active hurricane season or one of those events? And those reserves are not just for a rainy day. They are for an
oh holy crap day. And we've seen those days here in this county. And so as a conservative, my own family, my own finances, my own philosophy is we are self-sufficient in my family. We have done all the things
that we need to do so that I don't have to necessarily rely on the sheriff to get there within 3 days in case something happens. I've got my supplies. I've got my food. I've got my guns. Right? Because we need to be self-sufficient. We should not be relying on government to immediately
fulfill those needs for us. Well, guess what? We are in the position in semol county government right now where we do not know that the federal government is going to come in and fulfill these needs for us even on a reimbursement basis. So I wanted to only focus on that because
all of the other things I think are have been talked about and the sheriff of course is welcome to talk tonight about his budget and his needs and I the other constitutionals that are here I'm sure will give them the opportunity to do that as well. But I think it is so incredibly important that our citizens
understand that this is not something we are taking lightly. We have we have kept our budget at a 1% increase for everything we could possibly do because we are not spending frivolously because we do understand what it's like to raise
a family. We're all going to be paying these same taxes. We are not exempt. So, please understand that the decisions that we make are because we care about this community being resilient and self-sufficient and not reliant on the
federal government regardless of who is in control, regardless of the party, regardless of the administration. These are the facts of the things that happen in local government when the unthinkable happens. And those are the things that we have to plan for. That's our responsibility. Now, you can threaten to
vote me out of office for taking that responsibility. I'm okay with that because I can sleep at night knowing that we are equipped to take care of our community without having to rely on the federal government. That's what I have to say for tonight. Anyone else?
Sure. Mr. Her. So, I have not been in government for years and years and years and lived through all of this in the in in the past. But what I will tell you is that
my view of this universe is that we need to make this community the safest, the most effective, meaning I can get from point A to point B to work, play,
be educated, etc. Um, reasonably, and I can actually raise a family here with kids that get a great education. I don't have to pay for priv private schools, etc., etc. That's the American dream that that I ran to protect.
And a short five years into this or so, for the first time in 16 years, we're faced with this raising the millage rate. And as I told you years ago, I kept my day job because I never want to be
threatened with I'm going to vote you out of office and have that mean something. I will vote my mind. I will do the right thing. The reality of this, so I I'm I am a notetaker. I took copious notes. I have names written down
to it. There were a lot of misstatements made today. I Tim, I really do want you to put the slide back up of the millage rates in the other counties because we heard it over and over and over again. Ours is the highest. Ours is the highest. Ours is the highest. And if you only compare the one line,
I probably should tell you I run data analytics for health care. So I can make numbers say anything we want them to say and we all can do that. If you only look across the top line, we look pretty far out of whack out outside of Oyola. But
if you go down and look, they have other millage rates that they're assessing. Law enforcement is separate, animal services is separate, mosquito control is separate. We have all zeros. So you have to look at the bottom, the general
fund millig equivalent. And then, hey, look at that. We look pretty good. Lakes beaten us. Lakes beaten us. That's not good. We want to be competitive with the other counties. So that like that bugs me that Lakes's beaten us. So, to Commissioner Constantine's point, if we're going to
work over the next two weeks to to rectify this, we can't fix this in two weeks. My comment in the first budget session was our time to vote no was when we were spending the money, not now that we have
to pay for the things that we have. So, uh, we need to remember that as we go forward and we need to continue to manage the budget under the property value increases that come in without a millillage adjustment so that we can get
this potentially back. This county has raised millages and lowered millages in its in its past. So, that possibility does exist. But, if you look all the way down to the bottom, we we're not the highest. And so I have 14 other notes
here. A lot of them were not accurate. This is one example of it. The the thing that rides around with no driver is a city program. It's not a county program. Kids are moving out. We didn't chart we didn't run a referendum for land
preservation. You know what we did? We took it out of the general fund there. We took it out of the general fund. It's roughly 5% of the general fund every year that we're putting aside for land preservation. So, a lot of the things that you've
asked for, we've done. Make sure that we can get to work. Make sure that the roads aren't congested. Make sure that we bring jobs into the market. Make sure that we have economic development so we can work here and play here. We are doing all of that. Do we
love the increase? No. Do I want higher taxes? No. Do I understand the need for it? Yes. Do I think the county manager and his team have done an amazing job? Yes. Do I think the constitutionals have done an amazing job? Yes. Do I think we all have more work to do? Yes. And I
think we need to do that in collaboration with citizens that are willing to dig in with us and help us do that. So, I will be voting yes tonight. I hate that I have to do that. I hate that I have to do that, but I will do it because I will vote from my heart and my
mind what I think is the best possible thing for this community to keep us safe, healthy, happy. We didn't even talk about clean water. We didn't talk about that. So, but I will say this, I do reserve the right that when a lot of you guys
that come and talk at the three minutes, a lot of you I recognize from my first meeting here that lasted until midnight. And often there are lots of asks. I'm going to remind you of tonight and you should remind me of tonight, too. And we should hold each other accountable to
keeping this budget managed. Commissioner Glory. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, this is the time of year that is very sensitive to all of us. And I want to take a different approach if I may, Commissioners. I want to thank and I
know some of you hinted about it some a little more than others. Uh our staff has done a phenomenal job on so many different levels and it's not just the county manager and Tim J. It's the people in public works. It's the all the directors. It's the people in the rank
and file. It's the fire department. Uh things don't happen in a vacuum here. It takes more than a village. It literally takes an army or an entire county. I also want to thank the entire uh constitutional officers, all five of
them. Uh we talk to them in great detail. Uh if you get a chance, please look at the sheriff's presentation. I will tell you, I've seen presentations over the years that is by far the most detailed, the most
uh to say the word detailed doesn't even go far enough. Uh the sheriff did a phenomenal job showing us why he needs the amount of money that he needs to run the uh sheriff's department. And then I'm also want to give the sheriff some kudos again because when
he told us exactly how much money he needed, we asked him to go back and he actually cut another was it $900,000, Tim? Yes. And so he actually sharpened his pencil again. So sheriff, thank you much for doing that. Uh, and it's not just you as well because it's also your staff that
does that. Your entire staff is phenomenal and we all work with your staff as well as the other constitutionals. Uh, I know I see the property appraiser here as well, supervisor election. All your staffs are phenomenal on so many different levels and you care about this county uh, in
great great detail. Uh I've seen many of not just our staff but the constitutional staff's work nights, weekends, and it just goes in great detail. Uh it's not an easy decision. If we vote for or against uh please don't
look negative on any one of us that vote for and if you're for against the budget, please don't look any of us for a against the budget because this is a good budget as a whole. Can there be more work to be done? I'm sure Commissioner Constine is very passionate about. He spent about at least 105
minutes discussing it. I know the other commissioners as well. Uh and I know our staff, that's one of our topic that we've been discussing on a regular basis almost hourly when we see everybody. Uh I'm sure Tim is tired of seeing all five of us on a regular basis and making
those phone calls. I would also tell you that uh one of our biggest issues as was talked about is our uh unfunded mandates for the state of Florida. And I'll also tell you another thing, one of our biggest issues is uh we have
to keep continue to work with our seven cities. I'll give you a great example. A number of years ago, we wanted to consolidate and do something with the seven cities. And the one thing we did come up with and I believe it was in 09 I think it was Tim we talked about
mosquito control. So we took over mosquito control over from the seven cities. It was supposed to be a pilot program. Everybody thought it was great because the county was going to pay for it out of our general fund. And it was a great idea because the county was paying for it and the seven cities weren't.
Well, it's we're still paying for it. We're still paying for it. Maybe it's not such a great idea. And if you look at the uh county as a whole and you do a heat map of where all those calls are coming from, it's because there's an increase
in development in those seven cities, but yet they don't want that responsibility back right now. Uh I know as we move forward, I'm hoping that we can bring the seven cities to the table to figure out how we can all coexist
in the next coming years. And that's an issue because we hear and again our sheriff does a phenomenal job. He sets the rate for the deputies at a certain rate and then the cities increase their rate and it's just what
comes first. The cities or the counties and it's just an everunning cycle. I think uh Commissioner Rock discussed that a little bit at some point if not today at a past meeting. You discussed that. That's a big issue. So, we need to bring the seven cities to
the table. Will they come to the table? I don't know. Uh we've discussed it. Even when it comes to transportation, you know, there's a lot of things we can discuss. Uh and I'll also tell you that some of the comments I've heard today and I know Commissioner her talked about
uh the driverless vehicles. That's not ours. Well, tourism, the tourism tax is paid by the hotel bed tax. That's not property tax. Mhm. The tourism development district, the property owners of those hotels. And is Gee in the room? Gee, Ra, there he is
right there. Gee, he was in charge of I can't tell you how many months it was at least 7, eight months, maybe a year, uh, of getting the hotel owners to sign a pledge to tax themselves a $1.75 per
room if it's occupied or not. That's where that money is coming from. So there's a lot of things that are happening that are not from the general fund. Uh but I'll also tell you I want to thank the citizens that are here tonight as well as the ones that are not here
tonight. uh you're being very civil to us and I want to thank you for that because there's some locations they're not and you know especially when we see you out in public uh thank you for being you know we may disagree and I think it's
healthy to disagree respectfully so I want to thank you for that but at the same token all five of us as well as all five constitutional officers as well as the entire staff of everyone I know this is front and center continuously ly on
so many different levels uh that I want to thank you all for your hard work. I don't want to be uh going on and no repeating myself as the chairman didn't want you to repeat yourself. I'm not going to repeat myself. uh a lot of hard work and I can tell you
no matter what we decide there's even more hard work in the next coming years to continue to cut this budget and to do what a wonderful job that people want us to do. Mr. Chairman, I stand in my comments. Thank you. And I'll I'll try to wrap
this up and get to the board action. Um I think I said in the first budget hearing, what is it to be fiscally conservative? Is it to only increase taxes when it's necessary or increase it before it's
necessary? And again, I think what has not been said here tonight, uh, and I'll go ahead and say it, this county received almost $80 million of federal money during the COVID pandemic. And I think it was Commissioner
Lockheart and I at the time when they when our staff brought this to us said the federal government sent us 79 so many millions of dollars being fiscally conservative. We said can we refuse it? Why would you want to refuse it? Because
my grandchildren will be paying for it. So we we directed staff as as a body to go talk to the feds and let us return it. see if that was a possibility. And sadly, the answer we received was sure,
send it on back. There's places in Colorado and California and others that would be happy to use it. That $79 million has been offsetting the tax burden for the last four years in this county.
That's been in the general fund. Had that money not been there, this tax increase would have been necessary four years ago before this county manager was ever here. We didn't like it at the time being
conservatives, but our feeling was, well, if you're going to send it to California and we got to end up paying for it, my grandchildren are going to pay for it anyway. Well, then I guess we might as well use it for our own citizens. And that's exactly what this board did.
That's been a huge help. Our staff has been telling us for two or three years that this day was coming. We knew it was coming. And like I said, if you've been at these budget hearings over the last several years, you would have heard Mr. J and his people talk about that. So here we are making these tough
decisions and I for one who took an oath to make sure that our community remains safe and receives everything from a public service standpoint that's necessary is why I will support this. I will tell
you, we've had our conversations uh when I requested the county manager uh asked my fellow commissioners to attend a board retreat in March of this year, which the one of the main and sole purposes was to
dig into this budget uh and get into that. That's not something that happens on a regular basis. And so I want to thank each one of my commissioners uh for taking the time uh and putting the time forth to
really dig into this and and try to come up with ideas and so forth and make the burden as as minimal as possible on our community. And I think you all have done that. So thank you very much. I know there's and staff I know I've worn staff
out. I'm sure every one of these commissioners has worn staff out asking this question, that question, communicating with our uh our constitutional officers and trying to figure out is there anything else there we can cut. Um and I would tell you we
continue to look uh you know, as Commissioner Lockhart mentioned, one of the biggest concerns that I personally have for this community is the FEMA scenario. DC's talking about tax cuts.
Tallahassee is talking about tax cuts. Who do we pass it on to? Who do I send the t when I want to cut taxes? Who do I send that bill to? I've got nobody to send it to. DC and Tallahassee has pushed those costs down to the local
level. to the point where we have a governor of Arkansas, which is a sweetheart of the current administration in DC, who's had monumental floods and can't get a penny of FEMA money.
We're in the heart of hurricane. We're told it'll come through the state. The state has not been told how it's going to come from the federal government. We're in the middle of hurricane season. Those are the kinds of decisions and and things we have to make
determinations on to to how and where we go. And I'll tell you how how close we've cut to the point of trying to trim as much as we can that one of our own constitutional officers
is actually litigating us because we're not funding it apparently enough. and that'll be sorted out. So, I will assure you this county commission has has spent a lot of time. We've heard a lot
of comments and I I welcome those comments, but there has been a lot of things misstated tonight and I thank my fellow commissioners for for trying to correct that. But you can't do it all one. It's it's a long process that we've been going through uh for months, years, and
and being here for a period of time. So, command I have two more things I have to say. Sure, please. Okay. So, we got a lot of information from you all. Um, I'd like to ask our staff to go through it all and report back to us and so we can understand all
this information that's presented to us. I think that's appropriate. And then I also want to talk about, you know, people uh a little bit history. We actually reduced the fire millillage. Was that
2013 or 12? 10? I'm I'm not sure. I think it was 13. Then we increased it. Then we reduce it. So we do raise millages up and down. And so, you know, we may be raising the millage rate this year and hopefully we
reduce it next year. But we've done that with the fire millillage uh once or twice that I know of. And so just wanted to make sure that was out there as well, Mr. Chairman. But I wanted to make sure that we've instructed staff to look at all the comments that have been made
here today and give us uh a re not a reckoning but information about it. Appreciate that's in my comments. Yeah. Um just one more thing and and I you know I I don't think that anyone intentionally stood at the podium and
shared misinformation. I I do not believe that. I I do think that sometimes folks are very confident. I think it was Ronald Reagan said, "It's not that they're lying, it's just so much they say just isn't." So, um, sometimes
things get misinterpreted. They get spread incorrectly. Social media is a gift and a curse at the same time. Um, our team has absolutely nothing to hide. we will share with you every bit of information, every data bit of data down
to the line item of every budget. And um there were just some things that were said that if they were true, I would be mad about them too. Um and and one of the thing one of the things that I I think you know there was an implication that uh you know was
somehow we passed the sales tax and and now this is it was a like it was a gotcha. But the reality is sales tax, just so we're super clear, sales tax cannot be used to pay sheriff's deputies. Sales tax cannot be used for that type
of operating, which is where so much of, and I'm not blaming the sheriff. It's the reality. The sales tax is for infrastructure. It is not for salaries. Um, so I don't know where that has come from,
but I I want to make sure that um this board never ever stated that if a sales tax was passed that future things would not have to be considered. So I I do want to make sure that that's clear as well. Would it be worthy of of maybe
taking down some of the most commonly stated things and maybe doing a a myth versus fact or a an FAQ that we can put on our website or so it can be shared on social media because while I don't want to continue to spread misinformation,
the lack of correction makes it seem, you know, silences consent. And so I if I was someone who was here tonight and I said something that was misstated and no one corrected me, I would assume that that meant it was true. And so I and there's also a danger when you're
sitting up here that if you were one of those people that said something and then we corrected it, then you feel like it's this combative like us versus you thing. And that's not what it is. We just want to make sure everyone has all of the facts. We can have mis we can
have disagreements all day long, but facts are important. So I I'd like you to consider that as well if possible if the board's amanable. Thank you, Commissioner. All right. If there's nothing else, I will look for direction. The first direction I'm looking for is
uh adoption of 2526 10 of millage rates as presented. Mr. Chairman, I move the adopt the fiscal year 2526 tentative millage rate as presented. Second. Motion second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I
opposed. I. Next, I'm looking for direction on adoption of the 252610 of budget as adjusted of 1 bill215, million87 959.00.
Chairman, I'll move motion number two on the budget. Second motion second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? I opposed. Carries unanimously. Okay. I want to remind the public that we do have a second and final public
hearing uh to adopt the millillage and the budget. It'll be scheduled for Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025 at 5:30 right here in these chambers. Before we adjourn, I want to make sure that again we thank each and every one of you for
showing up tonight. It's very important to us that we hear from the public whether you were in favor or not in favor. Uh as Commissioner Lockheart put it, we don't there's no adversarial scenario here. If if you need information, ask any of us for it. We'll
make sure that you get it and we'll make sure you get the proper information and and hopefully our PIO department will dig into uh putting the myth versus truth thing together. So that that'd be wonderful. With that said, anything else
for the good of the order? Seeing none, we'll be adjourned. Thank you all very much.
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