Commissioners Set Maximum Millage Rate, Final Millage to be Decided Next Month

On July 30, the Hernando Board of County Commissioners met for a regular meeting that touched on a plethora of topics. Toward the end of the nearly 11-and-a-half-hour-long meeting, the commissioners submitted the proposed maximum millage rate for Fiscal Year 2024-2025.
The county commissioners ultimately voted for a 0.25 reduction in the maximum recommended millage rate. The .25 reduction brings the county-wide millage rate to 7.369, the General Fund millage rate to 6.4497 and the proposed total millage rate to 8.3929. The rates resulting from the .25 reduction are still above the rolled-back rates of 7.125, 6.2653 and 8.0825, respectively. A rolled-back millage rate is “the amount of property taxes needed to collect the exact same amount of tax revenue as the previous year.” Four million dollars will be taken from the reserves to provide for the .25 reduction, and the reserves will still be above the 18.5 percent minimum threshold required by policy.

Leading up to this meeting, Commissioner Beth Narverud had fielded many conversations with citizens “over the past couple weeks over what’s been going on in our county” and in “their pocketbooks.” In these discussions, she has noted that people have been understandably wary of the sales tax that the board wants to pass.

Though Narverud and company see this tax as the “solution to many of the problems we have in this county,” as it will alleviate the burden from senior citizens and other homeowners, many county residents are dubious of whether the board will lower taxes. In today’s economy, that issue is more pressing than ever.

In response, the chairwoman is looking to build trust by doing more than just making a promise that citizens “don’t believe we’ll follow through on.” Commissioner Narverud proposes the board puts “our promise first” by going to a rollback rate and keeping the taxes “flat.” She then hopes that this will strengthen the people’s support of the sales tax referendum by demonstrating the board’s desire to keep costs down.

Though Commissioner Steve Champion supported and appreciated her bold proposal to display good faith to the public, further conversation revealed that was not going to be feasible at Tuesday’s meeting. Despite this, the other board members acknowledged the difficult economic climate and the need to keep taxes lower.

After much deliberation, it was Commissioner Champion who proposed the .25 millage rate reduction of the recommended millage. He felt that goal was a more attainable compromise than the rollback rate at this time. How will this reduction be achieved? According to staff such as County Attorney Jon Jouben, specific items need to be cut. “My proposal is to cut the line items. I’ve given you line items: every line item. Every single line item, 3.6 percent,” said Champion.

Commissioner Jerry Campbell proposed cutting a handful of items to allow the board to get closer to the desired millage rate. The list of expenses in the General Fund noted are listed in order of priority as listed by the budget: Delta Woods Pickleball Conversion ($175,000), the Freshwater Boat Ramp Masterplan ($100,000), the Canal Maintenance Study ($200,000), and the Kass Circle Wayfinding Signage ($150,000).

While the board did not end up recommending the above items to be cut on Tuesday, these appear to be ripe for pruning from the budget when the various departments go back to the drawing board.

Deputy County Administrator Toni Brady helped to coax out a consensus from the commissioners when she proposed that the county reduce the budget to $887 million, which is $4 million less than what it was. This $4 million will be taken from the reserves now, but it is not permanent. The county’s staff will comb through their plans to find items to cut that will then allow them to bring the reserves back up while staying within budget.

Fortunately, a decision was reached as the deadline for the determinatio aof millage, which governs Truth in Millage (TRIM) Compliance, was August 4. The first public hearing to discuss this further will be held at 5:01 p.m. on Thursday, September 12, 2024 and the final budget hearing will be held Tuesday, September 24, 2024, beginning at 5:01pm.