Now that August approaches, governments are looking toward the next budgets for the 2021-22 fiscal year.
Osceola County and the cities of Kissimmee and St. Cloud have met within the last week to talk about preliminary budgets that are smaller than 2020-21.
That’s to account for capital or building projects that were postponed due to the pandemic and aren’t included, or for spending that came from state or federal recovery dollars rather than general funds.
Osceola County
Per the County Manager’s recommended budget, officials said Monday the countywide millage rate will stay at 6.7 mills, the same rate it’s been at for over a decade. The overall tax rate, factoring in EMS, library and environmental lands, is projected to drop very subtly from 8.2317 to 8.2308 mills.
The overall projected budget of $1.49 billion is slightly less than the $1.625 billion from 2020-21. The biggest line-item decreases are $152 million in capital outlay to reflect ongoing projects, and $37 million less in operations due to spending CARES money.
“It was quite the challenging year, with things we didn’t expect,” County Manager Don Fisher said of 2020-21. “It tuned out okay considering the changes that were forced to be made.
“Through the leadership of the Board and efforts of our partners, I believe we were able to submit a budget for Fiscal Year 2022 that still provides services to the citizens with minimal impact to taxes.”
Using a total of $72 million received through American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), the county supported housing and utilities assistance, affordable housing, education and career training, local food pantries, the health department, local businesses, and tourism.
County staffing would remain at exactly 1555.49 full-time positions with a 2 percent cost of living adjustment. Fisher noted a proposal to offer county employees most affected by COVID-19 closures and business adjustments a $1,000 bonus paid from $2 million in uncommitted Recovery Act funds.
Through it all, county staff said the budget also accounts for keeping reserves on hand for an Osceola County Jail expansion and a county courthouse annex.
Staff will continue to make adjustments to the budget, based on direction from the Board, in preparation for the first public hearing. The first public hearing on the tax rates proposed for the budget will be held Sept. 9 at 5:30 p.m.
St. Cloud
During a City Council workshop Monday afternoon, council members were briefed on a proposed $171.27 million 2021-22 budget, which also keeps its millage rate steady at 5.1128 mills for the eighth year in a row and is 25 percent lower than the current year’s budget.
City Manager Bill Sturgeon said a focus on prioritizing completed projects in 2020-21 would limit the funds tied up in those projects going forward.
“Existing funded projects can be reallocated, prioritized and aligned realistically with the master plan of the City,” he said.
The budget approved by the city’s Finance department includes $59 million in the general fund and $123.3 million in reserves, both slight increases from the current budget, and $15.7 million coming in from Ad valorem taxes, the city’s largest single revenue source. That’s up 15 percent thanks to another year of double-digit property value increases; more than half of that is attributable to new construction, Sturgeon said.
