##VIDEO ID:TSeduZ2n_Kg## I [Music] think day [Music] right yeah we get started stand commission us pray father father we ask your help now continue father to bless us try to understand what we de with help us is only you can do and you will do we thank you for what you're going to do now you bless your name Lord as we D through this budget let us be mindful that what we got to do we have to make hard choices and it's not personal but it's still that we can survive and will be victorious these blessings and all the blessings that's right now in Jesus name I pray Amen to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation indivisible liy and justice for [Music] all wel Workshop Tuesday January 28 2025 we have a conference line set up number there is 1 1917 91022 access code 32347 P this is not a don't free number and you may be subject to long distance charges according to your long distance plan and the chairperson open the meeting for public comment please follow the below instructions if you wish to speak please dial Star five the moderator will you your turn to speak and notify you by announcing the last four digits of your telephone number please announce your name and address you'll be allowed to speak for 3 minutes any person wishing to address the board regarding an agenda item be giving 3 minutes for comment a comment M May I only speak one time for each agend item with that we will move on to item three the board to discuss the fiscal year 2025 2026 budget uh you want do you want to start yeah yeah I can I can start um so Daniel's got some stuff but I thought we would start with sha she's she's drawn up a estimated um revenue losses from the the me closure and the homes that were lost in the storm so if we can start with her that at least give us an idea of kind of what we're looking at you know from a law standpoint [Music] well good evening thank You' all for having me tonight um we don't always see a babysitter so my husband's here to join us and this is our idea of a date night so um congratulations thank you we're here and um and yes so I uh I do I come during not the greatest news uh following the closure of fully cellular Paper Mill and the devastating impacts of three major hurricanes I'm here to inform you that our County will experience a historic decline in property tax revenue for the 2025 roll um you all should now have a packet and and um page two we're going to first dive into the coastline damage uh estimated revenue losses on the left hand side I I wrote most of this up between County general fund and mstu so that y'all can get an idea of both sides and um get get the whole picture instead of just part of it um the let's see the county general fund uh Helen Coastline damage was around uh assessed value in 2024 was around 414 million for a total revenue of around 3 million and 2025 assess value would be around 362 million equating to a $378,000 loss in a county general fund revenue on the mstu side you see the 2024 total revenues were around $57,000 the 2025 estimated revenue is $443 $443,000 for uh estimated loss of [Applause] $63,000 on the next page I kind of want to get wanted to give an idea an idea of the uh example of a homestead parcel this is an actual Homestead parcel in Keon Beach and what their value and their taxes would look like next year so I've explained to y'all plenty of times before the save our homes value the save our home values and what that savings and protection does for Market values that uh steadily increase year over year and um and how much that really does save an individual and in this case it saved them a lot so their just value was $424,000 70 in 2024 their savear home value is $39,100 making their assessed value $4,997 for a tax bill of $928 181 in 2025 their building is completely gone no longer there their just value is now $220,400 and assess value $ 4,970 in tax bill the exact same so that is part of that save our homes protection and what that looks like for a homestead par so when I show those losses I'm not really talking about these I'm not talking about these Homestead Parcels they had that huge save our homes cap and were very much protected also wanted to kind of give youall a little information about um some of the legislation that's been passed recently L after Lee County had a lot of those had I think it was um what was the hurricane name thank you Ian um they they got a lot of this legislation passed where at the beach you had a homestead or any any home that was catastrophically damaged in our situation we have over 250 you have 5 years to rebuild and can keep your homestead exemption that's a pretty big deal in in this scenario because even if someone did uh decide to wait to rebuild they're still not pay they're not they're still going to be paying this same amount this is a good example they're still going to be paying the same amount they're not their Homestead exemptions not going to be removed that would almost be like penalizing someone for losing their home you know that's just not what the legislature wanted to do so but what that also means is that we're not going to be seeing any revenue or any new constructions on that parcel for that time even further than that if someone does decide to rebuild and it is their homestead exemption if they build at 110% of the square footage of the prior building they get to keep that cap and their assess value gets to stay at that amount and we've had quite a few of those calls you know we've been getting hundreds of these uh the the the catastrophic refund uh people that have come in and applied to that refund and while they're there we ask the questions we say okay are you going to rebuild and if you are let me give you some of the situation how this is going to work because a lot of them say well I'm not going to rebuild a home and usually it's $300 you know dollar a square foot when it's on stills I'm just not going to rebuild this if my taxes are going to go from $1,000 to $110,000 and I say well you're protected if you stay within those parameters of the square footage so just know that your constituents are protected under those property tax laws for catastrophic loss but that also means that for those time set of property inste rebuilding it's not going to really look like any new construction and new Revenue in the future years so um so the rebuilding and so for the 110% C yes that's for 5 years only if you rebuild it's three build it's 3 years if you're not going to rebuild so say uh so for us uh my mother-in-law so she lost everything she'll probably move to town she has three years to move to a new Homestead and be able to Port that amount Port that uh say our homes amount you can actually take that amount with you to your new home but you only have three years you have to do it from that three year age so yeah so if you're not rebuilding it's 3 years if you're rebuilding it 5 years any questions on that I know a lot at once and it's all on my website um anybody that has uh any questions it's on the main page of my website all that rebuilding information um uh the statutes that go along with them so here is an example of the non-homestead parcels and this is where I got that information regarding the revenue loss so this is an actual building the cedar Island non-homesteaded parcel example you can see the pictures there at the bottom this property had a multiple buildings they are all gone and uh their taxable value in 2024 was 47940 for uh ad taxes of $677 385 and their estimated tax value for 2025 will be $64,900 with a tax bu of around $2300 so that is that is just one example you can see there that there's 1 2 3 four five five six other homes in that picture that are no longer there as well so that's just one small example of a non-homestead of parcel and um that future Revenue loss just based off of that so now for the bigger news that we were not expecting to be so great this year the 2025 fly cellular estimated revenue losses for the county general fund fully cellulose assess value in 2024 was $375 million for a total revenue of $2,759 975 sorry $2,759 75 uh ass value for 2025 and this is a pretty accurate number as far as I can tell early this is obviously January I will not get their tangible personal property return until April but just from opening conversations this is what it will look like and that will make our 2025 estimated revenue from fully cellul tangible personal property account $217,000 278 so uh total loss of Revenue for the county general fund $2,498 th000 um mstu that looks like ESS value for 2024 was 375 million like we said um around $460,000 last year for total revenue and we'll go down to $36,000 this year for a total mscu loss of $422,000 so the totals from those two County general fund Helen damage at 378 and fully cellulose at 2.49 would look like an estimated total revenue loss of 2,876 876 uh that's the percent loss from the prior year is 20% and looking over to the mstu uh Helen damage total 63,000 fully cellular totals 422,000 for a total loss of $486,500 so of of of all the people that have came and sat down before us like I said we did ask these questions and I would say maybe around 20% right now of people that have come and sat down said that they intend to rebuild only 20% mark would you kind of think that estimate is correct I mean I I and and I think it was a little less before the insurance companies started really coming coming around you know we we really actually thought that um most of us didn't have insurance but because it got so high the prior years we all Let It Go but um but of the insurance companies that people did have they've actually started paying out and and so we've actually been thankful for that but but between that uh just the the building and zoning department uh just the the back and forth confusion I think that's really kind of hindered rebuilding but uh but but yeah it it's um I will say just like when I stood here in 2021 that my office is only a part of the equation and as you will know y are the other part of the equation by the millage rates that you set without sustainable revenues there will be an obvious deficit that will only be met by unfortunate raises and Mill rates so I urge you to pursue options that generate sustainable Revenue with a high priority in new construction um that that shows across the board in multiple counties and multiple ways that is where their sustainable revenue is coming from and um of course that's very difficult for you all because there's one land owner here in Taylor County that owns 56% of the county and is not very willing to budge on on moving that land so I I understand the task in front of you I I very much do um um but I implore you to prioritize facilitating a consistent and legally accurate building and zoning department that our Coastal Community can rebuild and that we can start generating some of that sustainable Revenue so that we don't have each year these these sort of percent losses so so yeah that's that's that's my news of the night and um if there's any questions that you have I will be more than glad to dive into them but I really was hoping as as much as I could to try to hold off on that fully cellulous another year but they presented evidence that they brought to that amount that's all I can say question so it's really over $3 million when you add up the uh general fund and the MS over 3 million million yes 33 anyone any question yes sir so Danielle's got a um some information she's she's going to give out to you and go over so what we what we attempted to do and correct me if I'm wrong on this but I'm going try to think I have okay um what we attempted to do here with this next spreadsheet is you know because we have a $100 million budget but as you all know most of that's not funded by the avalor taxes so what we attempted to do here with this spreadsheet is to give you is to pull out everything that's affected by theor taxes so that you guys can get a look at the areas we're really talking about that are going to be in they going to be impacted and affected so um I'll let Daniel go over and then we can we can answer any question um yeah so need sorry so the front page is the general fund um like Gary said everything I've taken out anything that I've taken out all the grants anything that has allocated Revenue that has a specific Department that goes with it that we have to budget no matter what because we get the revenue to cover that um and then on the other side are the Departments that are affected by that Revenue so when you take all the current revenue for the budget that way with the Departments there's only a difference of $565,000 in the Jour fund and we're looking at 2.8 million that we have to come up with so um and then and I interrup for a second so not included in this is reserves or any capital outlay and that's funded by the on set sales tax so none of that's included in this this is just um the avalor taxes and these other miscellaneous revenues that we bring in and the Departments that they that they go to fund and I don't want it to look confusing but like um solid waste recycle for instance Department 0260 you have two separate numbers there the first number of the 229 that's what's actually budgeted but then we get recycle revenues that we budget for the year as well as a small counties Grant so I took that amount from that and so the 13391 is what we actually fund with what's left with the revenue on the side you see what I'm saying so we have a few like that we have mosquito control local the city pays for a portion of the mosquito control um Library fees we get some Library fees and concessions we get some concessions so um we still have to fund the balance of that of what we don't receive in Revenue so this is that's just the general fund and then the second page is the mstu um I took out the building department I put that on the bottom because when we receive all of our building permit fees of what is budgeted it does fund the current building department expenditures that's budgeted um but you will see that what we received and year to dat so what we received through December of 2024 is 32873 based on the budget we should have received 57562 so we are running at a loss of almost $25,000 through December 31st in Revenue um but then the other part of the MSU we're only it's only like $2,300 extra in revenue and we're looking at $486,000 that we have to come up with that will be sure and like Gary said this does not include capital or any or reserves it's just personal services and operations [Applause] I see we haven't mentioned West frasia they was met city um but and and they have uh been consistent with their tangible personal property account that has not it has not decreased that much yeah in other words their equipment still on site as far as uh 2024 they they obviously haven't returned April of 2025 so like if you look at the to kind of put a little bit of it in perspective if you look at as everybody's looking at the second page still in the ab taxes that for 2025 is 2 million 9,000 with the loss that sea reported that's going to go down to 1.5 and I actually be a little less than that cuz we only budget 95% but it's I mean 1.5 so and then for the general fund on the front page the avalor taxes that's budgeted for this year's 14.2 and that's going to go down to 11.3 [Applause] [Applause] question make you know a couple more comments so we you know this county has this board and previous boards have been very conservative with their budgeting and we have for this day you know we we've done about as good job we could to be ready by having um you know some excess you know we you know we have healthy reserves and so and we don't have any debt so you know sure we can't you know we can't operate year after year off reserves that we have we got to make some changes and we got to do some things but you know we do have reserves that you know we can lean on to help us get through a couple years until we can figure out how to get some more Revenue so so um you know we don't want to reason we're bringing this up early is we don't we don't want to just balance with our reserves because that's not going to last very long but you know so we want to go ahead and start be thinking about you know some of the stuff that Shauna mentioned or or you know if we want start looking at you know other things we can do to generate revenues assessment you special assessments if there's areas that we can do that of course you can increase um you know millage rates and and we can also cut expenses so and I know that's not we don't want to really reduce Services you know but sometimes you got to do what you got to do but but um you know I think we could probably get away without hopefully we get away without reducing services at least for a year maybe if we lean on some of our other uh reserves that we've saved up until we can come up with a way to to to generate some more Revenue so just just if you this is just a scenario I just want to give you an idea to think about this I know you guys probably aren't going to entertain this but maybe you would entertain somewhat of a millage increase right now we're at 8.46 4676 Mills if we if we put everything in together the general fund mstu that's um 16,600 if we went to a 10 mil cap it's 19 m600 so that generates $3 million of ab War taxes so that's the difference there uh between what we're doing now and a 10 mil cap so just to give you an idea of of what what that looks like because you can't go over 10 mills so and and also you know there's some areas you know she put the building permit on the back on that back sheet there at the bottom we didn't talk about that but the building department no you know this has been a problem this year and you just we talked about it the meeting before this but just like the building permit fees did not Fund in the current budget did not fund the expenses of the building department they were short and now this year with all with the waivers because of the storms were were're way short and so but but you know if we could get those fees in lines with where they need to be then you know that's an area where we could increase the fees and uh fund that department completely without having to use aor taxes to fund that so you know those are just that's just a small area but there's things I add that we can that we can do because I don't think the building permit fees have been increased since 2008 I think something like that so Mr chairperson and if I could speak to that um 2008 I think is the last time that they were increased but really that department should be an Enterprise fund I don't I don't know that you want the the taxpayers to pay um in general for for building perit for that department and to Shauna's point something that you may want to consider and I probably doesn't seem like the time to discuss you know increasing staff but in order to have a robust department for example planning that's something that is spread equally among several people and and um as we have people that move into the area they may B buy properties that are not eligible for a building permit that has been a big problem for what shaa the last year at least at least and it takes effort from multiple people to try to determine you know how to resolve those issues if there is a resolution we have to lean on Shauna's staff um you know if you wish to perhaps take into consideration we may actually need to hire a part-time planner to help with that um when we get to that point and have the permit fees support that um ju it's just a consideration it and I I don't know how else to make the that department more robust to um to support new construction um with with the the staff that we have currently you know so just just something you consider I'm not asking for that but I do think that we need to consider that department being self-sufficient yeah so I mean it's I think currently is the the revenue is down 45,000 almost $446,000 this year so um you know we're going to we're going to end up having going to the reserve this year you know to fund it and balance it one of the other one of the other things that you might want to consider and I'm just throwing some out there I mean this you know this is the board's decision on how you want to do these things but you know you may want to consider changing the um coordinates the on sales tax see to see if you can start you can use some of it for operations because right now you're just using it for Capital and and EMS so that that's another area we might want to look at to see if that's where you might want to change that to be able to use that for operations instead of just using it for Capital until we get you know back on our feet so to speak so those are just some you I'm sure you guys got a bunch of ideas too but those are just some some things that's been tossed around so and and don't forget you know there's there's always special I mean I'm not we're just throwing things out so there is the ability for special assessments but if that's something that you wish to consider we you would have to start I think even if you started now it would be an entire year before that could could be adopted just because of the schedule the statutory schedule and we would have to ask Conrad about that but you may not even I believe that would take a study to be to determine what amount they may that may be if you wanted a fire assessment or an EMS assessment I know that some counties have a permit fee for RVs but I haven't I haven't been able to determine how that's you know what the process is even Implement something like that but I know that's been floated by different people as well just considerations what the study [Music] comes I believe probably between well it depends I want to say between 0 and $40,000 is what we expended for the solid waste study does that sound right typically what we spend somewhere there yeah right we need to advertise that or could we use existing well um I believe what we did with solid waste is I believe we piggybacked off an a joint another County we Pig it back off Dixie County because they were going through the same process is that an option in this possibly um we had a a fire assessment study completed what five years ago maybe okay um so it's been longer than that it I don't know if that could be updated um for a lesser cost or I would I mean I haven't really explored that I know that there's been discussion of impact fees but that's and then we we actually looked at that just to do some research and that is a onetime fee to fund Capital so that would not help us with operational cost every year and Gary what what was the amount of our 1 cent sales tax what's it budgeted is it 2 Point Reserve as as the revenue at 2.5 2.5 and we have over $2 million in res we have 1.7 in reserve 1.7 in reserve for 1 cent sales tax so if you want to consider using the on that sales tax either the reserves or the the revenue for operations that would be you know that would just be an option to do so resol earlier but it's a resolution I think that changes the ordinance right I believe probably I think that's what we did the last time I think so when we started using for EMS it wasn't that hard of a process just couple public hearings I think refering to assessment assment stud well I mean I wouldn't limit it to just that but certainly I mean we're looking at these kind of shortfalls find ways to fund these areas so that would be consideration but as far as the number of RVs or things of that to I think that was mentioned in t study to determine what those fees would be I I wouldn't well I I I wouldn't know how else to um forecast what the any type of fee should be without having some professional interaction I mean I don't know what the cost to provide services is or how to spread that out fairly and even um with our citizens yeah um I don't think any of the options presented are are to my satisfaction I think it would be irresponsible to start using up reserves increasing the millage rates and adding special assessments until we have cut SP spending and we've cut somewhere I I can't imagine that any successful business would look at options such as this without first saying where can we cut and I know in any organization there's room to cut if you're talking about the 1 C sales ta that right there cuts the sheriff's budget big time but you know for me I will never vote for any of this stuff until we have gone through and we have made cuts and we have cut some of the fluff and there is fluff in every organization to spend our reserves oh my God we don't know what else is going to happen so that's my suggestion as y'all come up with what we can cut that that was I was just talk I think that was one of the options that was presented by the clerk was to unless I'm mistaken I mean that's the opt obvious but if you want to consider it may take multiple um a multifaceted approach to make up this kind of shortfall let's start with cutting spending first and then see where we are because you know have everybody cut their budget by 20% ours has been cut by 20% so everybody cut their budget by 20% let's see if we're we that out there and if I'm not mistaken I don't believe the on sales tax is is included in the sheriff's budget is that correct that's that's separate right so the total of the sheriff's budget does not include the 1 cent sales tax I understand that okay still that's going to cut into his Department let me put it that way then and that may be what we have to do I'm I'm not I'm just saying that I'm not for raising the taxes our people are struggling enough and then you want to talk about giving special assessments and uh increasing the tax increasing fees no no people are struggling we can't do that it's our responsibility to make cuts when it's necessary then see where we are and it's and I'm not saying it's that it's not going to be painful it will be painful to cut budgets but I feel like that's where we need to start that's what we do at home we don't go into our savings account we start cutting and some things we cut out we don't want to cut out but that's the way life is and that's the way we need to operate this County yeah you know I feel like that that you know there's not one thing you can do I don't think I think it's going to take a lot of different things to attack it so you know I mean whatever those things are but those we've talked about some different options to attack it so that's it's going to take a little bit of everything probably well let me ask you this then if if everybody cut their budget by 20% or you take the difference between 20 and 24% 22% would that not work well not without cutting services and a lot of people losing jobs yeah well there's some things that that I I feel sure we could cut back home there may be some things that's certainly to you guys in your and your um departments and wherever you asked to be cut the cut to be made but that's a lot yeah people are not going to be happy but you know I'm not happy where we are either with with the numbers that's been presented to us and I think by now most people understand there's got to be changes we can continue to keep on the way we've been been operating for all these years and and and especially to uh to use reserves and and increase rates I I I can't do that we have a lot of stuff I think that things that we would like to have things that we don't necessarily have to have because we've been able to do that for all these years times are different now times are drastically different now was that all the presentation yeah yeah so that was it you know we just wanted to kind of get get things rolling and get conversations going and getting you know wheels turning and thinking about you know where we're headed and what we're going to do and I don't know if you guys want to you know if you want to try to talk about it again something you kind of schedule something and kind of do a little bit more after it all kind of stinks in or you know you know if you want to wait till whenever you want to wait to but that's up you guys but I just we just wanted to get that information out there and get the ball rolling so you know because we if we start at our normal budget time you know it's going to be a lot of work and you know it's going to be difficult so if there's anything we can start working on ahead of time we you know I would suggest that we that we start out by asking people to cut their budgets and then let's see what that looks like what does that entail what does that mean let's just at least look at it it doesn't mean we have to stick to that but let's we got to start somewhere and we sure Cas sit here and say well let's let's go ahead and decide we're going to raise the Mage rate no let's look at cut cutting first and and see what take a look at it I would disagree there I think look at maybe 10% in each budget 20% see what it looks like look at 20% to with let's just see what that would and we may have to back off of that but let's just see what that looks like I mean budgets if you look back over the years that I've been here and you look at how the budgets have increased every year most everybody have increased not not everyone there's there's there's one that has a but most people increase their budget pretty every year we've gone along with it now here we are and a lot of it was things that needed to be done and I know a lot of it was nice to have it's nice to have a lot of people in your office working for you or it's nice to have this new this and that and the other but we need to at least look at it any anything you know when I think about it and I've been thinking about this a lot you know I don't want to cut services but we may have to we may not be able to grade your road every 3 weeks or we may not be able to keep the road loss open S days a week or three days a week I get I get garbage service two times a week we live with that so I'm not saying that's what we do I'm just saying that's some of the things we need to consider and look at that that's nice to have that service 7 days a week but we may not be able to afford to have that service 7even days a anyone else have anything I'm not for cut Services right off the bat we do some research on what what we can do you know I'm not into cutting services right now I mean far as I'm concerned we are pretty um spased out now what all we get done I mean U some people um want to have to D Bing seven days a week they can probably get by four you know they can just get bigger bags and P it out there and then you um but I remember when the dumpsters were sit inside the County Road in Camp and services back then itd be piled all outside the dumpsters on the ground cuz it was being picked up you know so we'd have a lot more stuff throw out in the woods if we didn't have d f in seven days a week I can tell you them tires and and uh Lumber I remember when it was throw out all down on 98 on every side road going into the club down there was tires and lumber and 10 old 55 Gall drums everything out down there because they couldn't care they done you know so I'm not in Cut Services right off the bat you cut something ma'am I said you got to cut something and I sure don't want to cut staff if we don't have to I'd rather I'd rather cut back on some of these other things before we start looking at at you know staff or anything like drastic like that but you know you got to you got to start thinking what can we do without we can't keep on the way we've been going that's for sure I mean you all all the Constitutional officers they could you know get a plan together what they could do without and present that you know did y'all do without stuff did y' and us too plac yall could cut corers joh is there some places that could be cut oh yes I've already uh decided I would let um one of my positions go um he's he's retiring so I'm just not going to uh fulfill it so I have one I have not filled and if you want 20% that'll be one and a half people that would that's I have one that's retired that I don't plan on replacing anyway so all services would come to the courthouse for my office it's the only way to do it I do think that and I'm sorry I'll stand up sorry I'm in workout gear um I do think that we need to we do need to look at all the option that Gary has presented sha and and and leanda um if everybody pays a little bit it helps maybe maybe Sean and I need to look at who's paying and who's not you know what I'm saying um 20 years ago I think it was you had 51% of Americans paying taxes and 49 not I think it's flipped and I think that's the one of the issues we're having um it was said but we need to really focus on it shaa said it we got to figure out how to get industry in here whatever it takes I've talked to Duke they're supposed to have their best people on there I hope they're on the phone listening um I said it after Helen in a meeting well you know these things take time but you said you had your best five on it Florida commerce has their best 10 on it we got nothing and I understand you have to keep things quiet and stuff but we we really and I'm I'm the tcda I'm not sure what they're doing but I know they're working hard to get things done I mean I I've passed Bob Kade on a airplane so I know he's out doing things um but I think that if everybody paid something in taxes we would be better off my dad always maintained that the 25,000 exemption should come in after you paid on your first 25 if everybody's paying something it does help and I think it helps with Community morale I think it helps with maybe they don't the face that sign at the beach because they know they're paying for it there's just you know there certain thing and I and I see the people and I and there are people who are struggling just like you said I've got one on my desk right now I'm trying to figure out Sean and I talked about it and we're going to bring it before the legislature to do something about it just like she talked about keeping your homestead sobody get a ship house built for them now they got a $2,000 tax bill that they never had before they're on a fixed income their value should stay the same in my opinion so that they can afford to live there um but Personnel is our largest all of us Personnel is our largest it so cutting anything is going to affect people and people are already hurting like you said commissioner V they're already hurting bad and we'll we'll have to let people go when you cut Personnel you going to end up cut the services absolutely that's where that's the bottom line absolutely and then I wanted to grab it before I left and and I actually didn't but I wanted a transaction report just for today in the driver's license office um at anytime I can look on that camera after 1:00 to 5: we are breaking the fire code for the amount of people that should be in that building and now you don't have to tell the fire chief that but but we but we are apparently I do no well my employees have offered to leave so they can make make it up there's a lot of there's a lot of people I mean and we do a lot and and my budget's different I mean get 413,000 from you the rest of my $1.4 million budget is generated through revenue from the tax roll and services that I do and I turn around and give you 96,000 to 50,000 each year of exit so I mean mine's a little different but it's still going to require that people percent people tayor County do not pay any adval tax that's what I was saying earlier that Sean and I probably need to look at that and see we can come up with a number we figure what the homestead exemption is is not determined by us oh absolutely not no no no no no that' be that'd be a legislative thing if they were to move it but I was just saying that was something but for the next year you know we've got to figure out something until and you know I don't know you don't know what the legisl is going to do oh Heaven's not I I do know that they have given us a lot of money with its debris cleanup and I'm afraid that they're going to say hey we're winning you off yeah and they may do that but you know I wish everybody could pay but what happens you raise avor on taxes and the people that that pay taxes are going to foot the bill for the ones that pay nothing and there's many people in this County don't pay a dime but they get the same Services that's what I'm saying yeah that's what that's exactly what I'm saying and and so I mean we need to look at things I mean RVs were mentioned I that's punish the people that are paying to you I just can't do that Mark I can't I can't make the people pay more no no no no that's not what I'm saying else I can't do that that's not what I said isn't that what an assessment would do is to spread that cost so everybody's paying everybody's paying something something and not to add something on to the people who are already paying because that's what yes that's what I said it would lessen the load if everybody's paying something it lessens the load for those who are now paying for everything I mean if you had 2,000 RVs and you assessed them $1,500 for poorn and RV my math comes out to 3 million just saying I mean and and and I'll be the worst guy in the room for saying that because I know we have a lot of that down there but I do know that I've talked to people who are not rebuilding that are willing to pay the same tax that they are paying on that property with a pole barn and an RV me yeah yeah I mean so there's there's options out there and Gary said it it's not a migrate I mean there's I think we just need to come at at a different angles and I mean we just got to we just got to figure out where we want to be in the future I guess yeah and there's not going to be a a one fix for every no absolutely not I I understand that I I do but you know you have to admit that we've become very spoiled in Taylor County you know very spoed you can go if you live out out of the city you can go any day and dump your trash somewhere where in the city we get it two times a week two times a week and that's and we don't take stuff out and dump it in the woods because we only get service two times a week you don't a lot of people would some people will and they'll always do that if you got if you don't ever close the roll off there they're still going to do that cuz that's the caliber of person that they are but I mean you know we're we're very spoiled very spoiled in a lot of ways why about dump stuff in the wood every I lock on the gate a gate cross where you dumping in the woods at right but I think we need to be open minded I have something actually um and I meant to mention this earlier um I kind of did some research too CU sometimes you don't have to reinvent the wheel so um hurricane Michael hit and of course we are nothing like Bay County they have sales tax revenue they have tourism tax revenue lots of different things that continue to come into their County even after Michael but one thing that they did mention was that um they investigated other ways to further offset the property tax losses uh they participated with sunrust Bank in a federal program called the new market tax credit operated by the US Treasury Department the program encourages lenders to invest in economically distressed communities so and that's been a couple of uh people have reached out and said you know what about what about us going to Banks and maybe talking about lower interest rates for new construction in the in the damage zones so that's just something I'm throwing out there but um but yeah I mean we're not the only ones in m city the actual City themselves they had over 85% of their homes were damaged their buildings were completely damaged and and that's that actually went on to the next tax role and they ended up having to up their millage rates but eventually they got to come back down because the new construction hit and finally hit the the tax rols um uh Mexico Beach is a perfect example of that but but that was just a couple ideas just kind of taging on a mark there just of things that y'all can think of in the future well you know if you think about it pan City versus exactly big difference here that's exactly what I said M exactly right said Jo was about the same yes is beautiful bunch camp trailer show back up over say again they don't play camper trailers over there at all exactly they don't they don't have a poor on over well we do we do but but they don't over there my da work in P she wanted to get a camper trailer move close her job she could not find a place to even put a camper trailer over there in P Co without getting way out of town there in the trailer park yeah that's a difference in those bigger communities and our small rural communities too big difference in a many ways so so me you guys want to plan another meeting in next month or in March or try to discuss some more things or or probably good to digest what we've got here but I don't think we need to wait until like you said the last hour because when we get to the last hour we're not going to do anything we're just going to increase everything just to make it up I send out budget instructions May the 1st budgets are due to me June the 1st so if we could do something for at least have an idea before budget instructions go out I mean March sounds like a good time frame to kind of revisit it you guys like first part of March yeah just another meeting another budget discussion meeting just to kind of after it's all kind of sunk in and maybe everybody had a chance to take things just I just you know I mean to me it just feels like it's going to take a lot it's going to I mean it's going to take more than just just cuts me Cuts can happen but it's not I don't think you going to be able to cut enough we have a regular meeting on the third of March then next the 18 well there's a workshop in February yeah I know we just admed March but I mean I me the end of February would be a month from now that's right we're out that week what's going on we're talking about the next meeting and maybe the next meeting to meet on this whether the end of February at next at the workshop or the first part of March well we just have special meetings let's don't wait until the end of February then what's wrong with us coming back and having more meeting saying took a couple of weeks and ask everybody to cut their cut their budgets by whatever amount yall want to ask them see what that looks like and let's start looking start the process I think that's where we tied this meeting into another meeting so I would just presume that's probably what we would do with the next one is tied into one of our other meetings I guess that's kind of what the feel of the board was it's the time that's that's what the feel of the board was when everybody wanted to beet was tonight after the regular meeting I'm just going along with what we already did and if it's Workshop February it's important enough to me that I don't mind to come back Daniel and I are going to be out that week we have a a meeting out of town so we won't be here for February's Workshop so we have to do it a different but we can do it a special time you know or after our meeting it doesn't matter March the end of the second meeting in February time sure what that what day is that second meeting this is going to give us enough time to have have a meeting a month and with everything that we've got to accomplish you think that we're going to be able to do it the way we're going now at this right talking about meeting in February 18 then what about after that by we get what we get that meeting okay February 18 after another budget after the reg meeting yeah so anything else and what do we need to bring back at that meeting our did you my proposal is that we ask everyone to cut their budget let's look at that and see what it looks like and because you know just like some of y'all have said it's going to take more than one thing it's going to take budget cuts it's going to probably take it may take some of this other stuff one it's not going to be one f maybe even if we reach out to some of the surrounding counties and some of these RV I think we talked about RV assessments and see what I know couple two or three years back we talked about some of the folks talked about they had places in different counties that had an RV assessment just see what that looks like pay in gilr County every year you pay what 409 yeah how much we pay 409 every year for our but you I mean even that you need to see how yeah just a fe but I mean how do they manage that you know I me that's something that yeah I'm not sure how they manage it we think they just it's not on the tax bill we get a separate bill yeah it's a separate bill from in theirs and then Dixie County does something Dixie is I understand Dixie is that Commission approve every yes one of them that they don't annual thing they don't have to approve it but they unless there I think that gets back to Whata was saying about the study so you have Solid Ground to stand on so I mean Conrad can answer that better so that you don't have the opportunity to be sued I believe that's a permit fee now I haven't talked to them in some years years but the last discussion that I recall it is an annual permit fee it's not tied to an ordinance um and at that time uh the understanding was if the if the fee was not paid that the electricity would be cut off but that can't I don't I I wouldn't know how to accomplish that here I mean I just talking about different options absolutely we got to put everything on the table I think that's right everything you and Miss Beach going to meet about the number of those Parcels or units to get idea towards the data as to what would be generated talk about the number that that are in the county as far as what would would generate potential future Revenue yes oh yeah yeah I I pull that I can pull that for you very quickly something current I mean reasonably current yeah yeah yeah I I can pull that for you real quick I see Y and if we can understand who may do a potential study of that magnitude what the cost would be please we need to come back in February with 20% cut of our budget I mean constitutional officers also that's what I'm saying okay see what it look yeah I got I got a plan people are going to like it but I got a plan so you know when we're talking about that you know we gave you the list of the Departments that affected by that so I mean you're not asking everybody just ones that are St here by the taxes ones kind on these sheets we gave you because like we talked a lot about solid was tonight solid was isn't included in this because it's a special assessment it's not paid for by taxes so I don't know and I can tell you right now I know I ain't cting 20% I ain't got it to cut so um I'm not saying I can't cut but it won't be 20% um so you know and and you know what's fair you know I mean I I don't know if there's number that's 20% might be just for me it might be excessive I might look at 10% before I did 20% but I know guess what commission wish based on losses looking at 20% that I might look at myself we can look at what we can do yeah well and also now correct me if I'm wrong Gary but every department on this list we can't necessarily cut like Social Services we can't we cannot reduce that medical examiner I just look County attorney you know I don't know he's will to take 20% cut when I was talking about each departmenta I I was looking at our side as a whole okay you've got the five constitutional officers then you've got our side I wasn't saying go down this list and cut 20% % out of and you know if you come back let's look at 20% or whatever it is and see what it looks like and you know if it's or whatever number y'all choose we just have to look at it when it comes back maybe we don't cut nothing all get they can all get them you know give us a recommendation what they could cut and you know well don't want to cut anything I tell you that they're going to tell you I can't cut anything the same thing on our side we're not going to want to cut either side you know we may have to just spend up all our reserves I hope not but on our side I would not include solid waste Public Works Grant funded departments it would only be those that are funded by mstu or general fund and Department you can't cut anything like animal control you couldn't cut nothing speak of there you know right I'm not talking about each individual Department within the I was looking at whatever the magic number is for our whole sign that includes all those departments anything else anyone there is one caller [Music] 2858 2858 if you will state your name and address J Coro 364 Drive I think I got late to the main meeting I was waiting for the comment on the degree but it went right into this workshop and they announced that there be open calls so I stay on the line at this the wrong time I apologize um I wanted to thank the uh Council especially commissioner Moody for the first two hurricanes here on South wooden Drive which is not a county maintained Road there were all the issues with the Florida DOT and FEA and they finally got to R Street then moved to degree but this most recent storm 5 months ago all I've seen two months ago was next stuff is on the road side and we all have our trees out there for 5 months now and there's no news or information about whether they're coming together the bre this time so I thought I would call and ask what the status is please is this a non-count maintain Road it will be removed it was always covered and then with the took over they didn't want to do it so they had to be special arrangements and this last storm they don't seem to have taken care of it like the first two they will you hear that so we should just wait we should just wait be patient I'll be happy to do that I know there's a lot of things going on yes sir please sir what we waiting on yes sir evening