Editor

Osceola County commissioners before making any final cuts to the 2010-11 proposed fiscal year budget – which could include a two-week furlough for employees – will digest the latest property value estimates posted July 1 by the county property appraiser.

Commissioners in a budget workshop June 28 shared what was at the time a bit of good news based on June 1 data: the county’s overall estimated property tax value for the coming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, was not going to be low as first estimated, coming in at 18.6 percent below the prior year – a number that would generate about $26.3 million less in revenue for the general fund. Earlier estimates had the drop anywhere from $27 million to $34 million, assuming no change in the millage rate.

The good news coming July 1 from Property Appraiser Katrina Scarborough was that the certified property value is only 15.7 percent lower than the prior year, which will mean $4 million more for the county’s general fund.

Using the June figures, the general fund would have had a total of $210.9 million in revenue to cover expenses of $215.4 million – a shortfall of $4.5 million. With the July 1 figure, the budget would have a shortfall of only about $500,000, according to Donna Renberg, administrator for the county’s Office of Management and Budget.

The projected shortfalls do not include the money that would be saved with an employee furlough (about $2.68 million, excluding unionized personnel with whom reductions would still have to be negotiated), but does reflect about $4 million in savings with a change in health care coverage for county employees (the savings would offset a $4 million increase in costs). The proposed budget also reflects $3.3 million less going into the transportation fund as a subsidy, and a $5.3 million decrease in overall operating expenses.

County Manager Don Fisher said the proposed reductions to the coming fiscal year budget, such as the furlough and less spending in the road and bridge department, “aren’t sustainable.”

Any additional cuts to the transportation fund subsidy, Fisher said, would “wipe out public works,” essentially eliminating the need for employees in the road and bridge department, necessitating further county layoffs.

The employee furloughs, which commissioners tentatively supported at their budget workshop, would be spread throughout the year, with unpaid days off for management and corresponding pay cuts for hourly staff. Commissioners previously had considered an across-the-board pay cut of 5 percent. The two-week furlough would amount to about a 3.8 percent pay cut.

Commissioners still haven’t made a final decision on non-mandated subsidies coming out of the general fund. However, commissioners supported keeping funding for 4C (Community Coordinated Care for Children) and Headstart ($256,587), Park Place Behavioral Health Care ($388,569), the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission ($270,000), the Kissimmee Osceola County Chamber of Commerce ($100,000) and myregion.org ($28,350).

Not high on the commissioners’ priority list was funding for the Osceola County Historical Society ($65,000), Veterans Tribute and Museum ($24,226), Three Kings Festival ($40,000) and the prescription drug/outpatient testing program ($60,000).

“This is the year we have to look at what is necessary, not what we want, ” Commissioner Ken Smith said about the proposed budget.

Commission Chairman Fred Hawkins Jr. called the proposed 2010-11 budget a “get us through” budget and that the county needs to take steps to make sure budgets two or three years down the road are sustainable.

On the July 1 posting of property values, Scarborough said commercial values were hardest hit, with many foreclosures, adding that this sector of the market isn’t expected to improve much in 2010. She also said residential property foreclosures are continuing at high numbers.

County officials also will have to digest the latest estimates coming from the state regarding sales tax revenue, which also will impact the budget.

Meeting schedule

The county manager is set to present a recommended budget to the commission on Monday, July 12, with an official county workshop on that budget set for Tuesday, July 27. A special meeting is set for Wednesday, July 28, to establish preliminary millage rates, to establish proposed assessments rates for the various services provided by the county and to establish the date, time and location for the first public hearing on the next budget.

Property values certified
Osceola County Property Appraiser Katrina Scarborough Thursday, July 1, certified the county’s taxable property values that municipalities and taxing units use to set budgets and millage rates.
According to information provided by Scarborough, Osceola County’s overall property values dropped 15.7 percent. Property values within the city of Kissimmee fell about 22.7 percent while the drop for St. Cloud was about 18 percent. The Osceola County School District’s drop was about 15.6 percent.
Some taxing units saw property value drops of more than 45 percent: Heritage Key Villas, down 58.6 percent; Raintree Park, down 46.9 percent; The Wilderness, down 46 percent; and Underwood Estates, down 45.9 percent.
Only four taxing units were in positive territory: Benitez Estates, up 5.8 percent; Blackstone, up 13.6 percent; Hidden Heights Trail, up 3.3 percent; and Little Creek/ Phase 1, up 50.9 percent.