Agenda 09/24/2024 Item # 2C (September 5, 2024, BCC Minutes)September 5, 2024
TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Naples, Florida, September 5, 2024
LET IT BE REMEMBERED that the Board of County
Commissioners, in and for the County of Collier, and also acting as
the Board of Zoning Appeals and as the governing board( s) of such
special districts as have been createfl according to law and having
conducted business herei~, met on this date at 5:05 p.m. in UDGET
SESSION in Building "F" of the Gove~ent Complex, East Naples,
Florida, with tli e following Board member present:
Chairman :
ALSO PRESE J::
Chris Hall
Rick LoCastro
Dan Kowal
William L. McDaniel, Jr.
Burt L. Saunders
Amy Patterson, County Manager
Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
Troy Miller, Communications & Customer Relations
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NOTICE:
COLLIER COUNTY
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA
Thursday, September 5, 2024, 5:05 p.m.
ALL PERSONS WISHING TO SPEAK ON ANY AGENDA ITEM MUST
REGISTER PRIOR TO SPEAKING.
ANY PERSON WHO DECIDES TO APPEAL A DECISION OF THIS BOARD
WILL NEED A RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS PERTAINING THERETO,
AND THEREFORE MAY NEED TO ENSURE THAT A VERBA TIM
RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS IS MADE, WHICH RECORD INCLUDES
TESTIMONY AND EVIDENCE UPON WHICH THE APPEAL IS TO BE
BASED.
ALL REGISTERED PUBLIC SPEAKERS WILL BE LIMITED TO THREE (3)
MINUTES UNLESS PERMISSION F OR ADDITIONAL TIME IS GRANTED
BY THE CHAIRMAN.
1. ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARING -BCC -F iscal Year 2025 Tentative Budget
A. Discussion of Tentative Millage Rates and Increases Over the Rolled Back M ill age Rates
B. Review and Discussion of Changes to the Tentative Budget
C. Public Comments and Questions
D. Announcement of Tentative Millage Rates and Percentage Changes in Property Tax
Rates
E. Resolution to Adopt the Tentative Mi ll age Rates
F. Resolution to Adop t the Amended Tentative Budget
G. Announcement of Final Public Hearing as Foll ows:
2. ADJOURN
Final Public Hearing on the FY 2024-25 Collier County Budget
Thursday, September 19, 2024
5:05 p.m.
Collier County Government Center
W. Harmon Turner Building (F)
Third Floor, Boardroom
Naples, Florida
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MS. PATTERSON: Chair, you have a live mic.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Good evening, everyone. Welcome to
the public hearing for the budget. We'll get started with the Pledge
of Allegiance.
Mr. Coleman, if you wouldn't mind leading us in that wonderful
pledge.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
(The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.)
CHAIRMAN HALL: Good job.
MS. PATTERSON: Thank you, Commissioners . As you
already stated, this is the first of two pul:i ic budget hearings, and I'm
going to hand it over to Mr. Johnson, you director of Corporate
Finance --and he's going to tell you his real title here --to get started
with our presentation.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, l\fs. Patterson.
Good evening, Commissioners . Christopher Johnson, your
director of Corporate Financial and Management Services. It is a
moutliful, for sure.
Tonight, we're going to review the Pelican Bay Services
Division budget. We're seeking to adopt a resolution approving
levying the special assessment r oll for this distr ict. This will be
followed by fue Board ofl County Commissioners budget hearing
where we'll be discussing the tentative millage rates and changes to
the tentative budget. I will read into the record tentative millage
rates . I know that's everyone's favorite part of the evening.
Then we will adopt a tentative millage rate resolution, a
tentative budget resolution, and, finally , we will announce the time
and place for the final public budget hearing .
Tonight, there will be an opportunity for public comment for
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both the Pelican Bay budget hearing and the BCC budget hearing.
Agenda and speaker slips are available in the hallway. Anyone
interested in addressing the Board regarding the budget must
complete a slip and provide it to Mr. Miller over there across from
me. He will collect the slips, announce the names of the speakers at
the appropriate time during this hearing .
RESOLUTION 2024-157 : SPECLALASSESSMENT ROLL FOR
PELICAN BAY MSTBU
With that said, we'll jump right into Pelican Bay Services
budget, as that's our first item,. on the dock t. Mr. Coleman is in the
room here to present the Pelican Bay budget, and I'll be happy to turn
the floor to you.
MR. COL AN: Good evening, Commissioners. Thank you
for the opportunity to be here . Deputy Director Chad Coleman,
Pelican Bay Services JJivision.
This year's assessment is going to be 995. 77. It's up $60 from
last year.. Twenty dollars o that is from our operating, which is up
3 percent and the rest is on th capital side .
As yo know, the Division's been very intensive about doing
capital projects. I'm happy to say that we've completed 13 miles of
concrete sidewalk in Pelican Bay. The only good thing about that is
when you do a good job, they want you to do a whole lot more. So
we've got some more capital projects out onboard coming up. We'll
do some lake banks and stuff like that, and that's where our capital
assessment is a little bit higher than it was with just the operating.
I can say that this --this budget has been approved
by --unanimously by the services divisions board. There's 11 of
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them, so trying to please 11 people with 11 different opinions and 11
different ideas is a challenge, but we had a unanimous approval of
this board.
And with that, we would recommend the Board of County
Commissioners adopt a resolution approving the special assessment
roll levying the special assessment against the benefit parties within
Pelican Bay for the MSTBU.
Mr. Neil Dorrill is on Zoom as weU if you have any questions,
and I can answer any questions you ma have.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Mr. Dorrill, any comments?
MR. DORRILL: No, sir. Thank you for the opportunity to
participate via Zoom.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I make a motion or approval.
CHAIRMAN HALL: We have a motion for approval. If
you're going to --if you'll keep the-Jlowers p etty and flag flying, I'll
second it.
MR. CO ILE AN: 1:hat's easy. That can be done.
CHAIRMA HALL: All right.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And just as a question, as
discussion, yo sa·d you completed 13 miles of sidewalk. Estimated
cost, plus/minus?
MR. COLEMA : Too much. It's --
COMMISSIONBR McDANIEL: And if you don't have the
answer, you c n share it with me off-line . I just wanted --we're
doing a very large sidewalk project over in Immokalee, and I just
wanted to compare.
MR. COLEMAN: Yep. So for those 13 miles, we are right
around $7. 7 million. So give or take a few , but that was also bids
that were let two years ago. So today's current price may be a little
bit different.
Concrete's pretty stable. What we ran into with the cost was all
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the other stuff, the unintended consequences, irrigation, other things
that were in the right-of-way, and that's where your cost kind of runs
up. You can keep the concrete controlled, but those other things are
what the challenges are that we saw.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you , sir.
MR. COLEMAN: Yes, sir.
CHAIRMAN HALL: It was an amazing job, too. That was a
big feat, and it looks well, and it's a real enha cement to Pelican Bay.
Neil.
We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER S1\UNDERS: Aye .
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye .
CHAIRMAN HALL: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HALL: Do e did it.
MR. COLEMAN: Thank you, gentlemen.
MR. JOHNSO : All right. hank you, Chad. Thank you,
Ou agenda indicates at this time we're going to adj oum the
Pelican Bay meeting a d co mence the public budget hearing for the
Board of C unty Com issioners.
And before we begin the required TRIM process for this
meeting, I'm just going to give the public and you guys a quick
outline of where we've been on the path towards this meeting. And I
know you guys have seen this before, but for --indulge me one or
two more times with this, and then hopefully we'll be done .
Starting in February this year, we had our first ever Strategic
Plan AUIR Budget Policy Workshop. Budget discussions at this
workshop included the utilization of priority-based budgeting,
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leveraging the ResourceX software solution, and discussion on policy
guidelines, including compliance and millage rates.
In March, we adopted the budget policy. This policy provided
the framework for the departments to build their budgets.
At the June 2025 budget workshop in June, on June 20th, the
County Manager presented the Board with her. ecommended budget,
and the Board heard a presentation from ResourceX on the progress
with the priority-based budgeting to date.
On July 1st, we received the certified property values from the
Property Appraiser. On July 9th, tbe Board adopted the tentative
maximum FY '25 millage rates with countywide and unincorporated
rates set at the maximum of millage neutral.
On July 12th, the Board received the tentative FY 2025 budget
document. On August 13th, we had a disc ssion on ResourceX
priority-based budget return on in estment report, and staff presented
a presentation on progress and potential future insight
implementations.
On August 9th, the TRIM was sent from the Property
Appraiser to property o ners wjthin the county. On August 27th,
we had rther discussion witfi ResourceX on next steps and the
revie of the orga izatio al structure along with a refresher on the
tentativ 1J dget in anticipation of today's meeting .
As Amy stated earlier, this is our first of two required public
budget hearings. The fimal hearing will be in two weeks , Thursday,
September 19th.
And with that, I'm going to welcome everyone again to the first
of two public hearings on the Collier County Fiscal 2025-year budget
which begins October 1st, 2024, and runs through September 30th,
2025. The public budget hearings in September must follow a
specific format pursuant to State of Florida truth in millage, or TRIM,
guidelines. The presentation is a scripted agenda pursuant to these
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TRIM statutes.
So if you'll indulge me a while, I'll read some things into the
record as we normally do , and then there will be time for public
comment, and then we will move on to the action items on the
agenda.
Okay. Your agenda contains the specific sequence of agenda
items to be covered pursuant to statute. This earing was advertised
as part of the TRIM notice mailed to alLCoUier County property
owners on or about the week of August 19th. The final budget
hearing is two weeks from tonight on eptember 9th, 2024. The
final hearing will be noticed as a ~art of the statutory advertising
requirements contained in the truth ·n millage tatutes .
The final --the final hea ing notice advertisement wil appear in
the Naples Daily News on Se~tember 16th, 2024, and depending on
action tonight, will either contain a~otice of'l)roposed tax increase or
a budget hearing notice. A notice of proposed tax increase is
necessary whe the co nt'y's tentati e adopted aggregate millage is
greater than the eu ent year's aggregate rolled-back rate. A budget
hearing)lotice is necessary when the current year aggregate millage
rate is le s than or equal to the current ear's rolled-back rate. The
final tax rate and budget de~isions will be made at that final hearing
on September 19th, 2024.
As stated earlier, agenda and speaker slips are available in the
hallway. An On@ interested in addressing the Board of County
Commissioners regaroing the county's budget must complete a slip
and give it to Mr. Miller over there in the comer.
Following some introductory remarks regarding tax rates and
changes to the tentative budget released in mid-July, there will be an
opportunity under Agenda Item 1 C for public comment. Speakers
will be called by name. Again, the TRIM notice was mailed to all
property owners --I'm sorry. The TRIM notice was mailed to all
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property owners, and indicated on that notice is September 13th,
2024, is the deadline for property owners to contact the Property
Appraiser and file a petition for market value adjustment with the
Value Adjustment Board.
All right. Then we'll move into the certified taxable value and
millage rate discussion quickly. Taxable value increased
10.33 percent countywide and 10.51 percept in the unincorporated
area to 152.3 billion in 96.5 billion res11ectively; 4.6 billion of the
$14.3 billion increase countywide is et new taxable value used in the
calculation of the rolled-back rate. Likewise, in t €. Unincorporated
Area General Fund, 3 .2 billion of tlie $9 .2 billion increase is
attributed to net new taxable value.
Of note, the Florida Constitution p ovides a 3 percent limit on
annual assessed value increases for homesteaded properties for all
taxing authorities and a 10 percent a ual limit to assessed value for
non-homestead p operty for all authorities with the exception of state
and local school board . As a res It, at the maximum millage, a
typical homestead property owner would see a modest increase in
overall taxes this year and non-homestead property owners would be
limite to a 10 percent increase as it pertains to county taxes.
Item #lA
DISCUSSION OF TENl'ATIVE MILLAGE RATES AND
INCREASES OVER THE ROLLED BACK MILLAGE RATES
And this brings us to Item 1 A, which is discussion of percent
increases in millage over rolled-back rate needed to fund the budget
and the reasons ad valorem revenues above the rolled-back, as
calculated on the state's DR420 forms , are being increased.
Rolled-back rate is defined as the tax necessity to generate prior year
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tax revenues, and this tax is calculated utilizing taxable values
associated with new construction, addition, deletions, and
rehabilitative improvements.
The Board adopted maximum millage rates in July at a
millage-neutral operating levy for all countywide levies.
Millage-neutral rates for these levies are 3.2043, 0.0263, and 0 .2242
for the General Fund, Water Pollution Control Fund, and
Conservation Collier Fund respectivelY,.
Likewise, the Unincorporated Area Genei:_al Fund maximum
millage rate was also set at a millage neutral or 0.7 280.
Levies for the General Fund and Unincorporated Area General
Fund together represent the majority of the otal aggregate taxes
levied across all Collier County taxing a thorities for FY 2025. The
FY '25 tentative General Fund and Unincorporated Area General
Fund operating and capital o dgets resente are based upon
Board-adopted maxim m millage rates. Count¥ ide funds and the
Unincorporated Area General Fund proposed tax rates are higher than
the rolled-back rate.
Collier County taxable value has increased for FY '25 by 10 .33
percent countywide and 0.51 percent within the Unincorporated
Area General Fund.
With the increasing taxable value environmental, the rolled-back
rate will be lower than the mil age-neutral rate. This is the case for
FY '25.
The MST maximum millage rates, per policy these budgets
were established to cover the operational need for FY '25 and any
planned capital alloc---any planned capital allocations. The
proposed maximum millage rates were set to support those budgets.
Of note, Radio Road Beautification MSTU is re-established this
year at .1 mill, and the newly established private road MSTU we've
reduced to zero for today, and that change will be included in your
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budget changes.
All right. Referring to Exhibit IA, Page 1 or Packet Page 38,
millage rates for each Collier County taxable authority have been
established pursuant to Board guidance. The roster of tax rates
adopted by the Board on July 9th, 2024, represents the maximum
property rates that can be levied in FY 2025 .
The cumulative aggregate rolled-back rate for all county taxing
authorities, exclusive of debt service, totals $3 . 7702 per 1,000 of
taxable value. The proposed aggregate rate for all Collier County
taxing authorities, exclusive of debt service, totals $~.0049 per 1,000
of taxable value. This represents an increase of 6 .23 percent over
the aggregate rolled-back rate , and adoption of these rates as the
tentative rates wouldn't necessitate a notice of proposed tax increase
advertisement for TRIM purposes and not simply a budget summary
advertisement. Final millage rates will be adopted by the Board on
September 19th, 2024.
Item #IB
REV EW AND DISCU SION OF CHANGES TO THE
TENTA-TIVE BUD6 ET ~
Now we'r e going to move on to the changes in the tentative
budget, Item IB. For tonight's hearing, changes from the FY 2025
July tentative budget, as noted within Exhibit IB, pertain to
customary adjustments to the Tax Collector and Property Appraisers'
budgets, which were received in August, a reduction, as a stated
earlier, to the private road emergency MSTU down to O mills from 1;
adjustments to certain funds reflecting FY 2024 revenue and expense
changes, which resulted in adjustments to FY 2025 carryforward or
the beginning balance ; adjustments for positions related to the
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workforce prioritization pool; and other customary and routine
revenue and expense adjustments required to support capital or
operations as the FY 2025 fiscal year begins. These fund-level
adjustments occur as a matter of normal operations or are necessary
in accordance with previous Board direction.
Detailed budgetary changes are found w·thin Exhibit lB, Pages
3 to 18, or Packet Pages 43 to 58. A summa of these actions is
described within Exhibit lB, Page 1 and 2 or Packet Page 41. The
total gross budget changes amount to $2.86 million.
As stated earlier, the only pro osed change to the maximum
millage rates set by the Board on July 9th, 2024, included is the
private road emergency repair adjustment.
And with that, Commiss • oners, that ends my required readings
here before we get into the action items.
Item #IC
PUBLIC COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS
Th(1/llext step would be Item 1 C, public comment, followed by
discus ion on millage rates and budget changes.
MR-. M ILLER: Mr. Chai , I have four registered speakers here
in the room, and it's fluctuating between one and two on Zoom.
We'll start with icheie Lenhard, and she'll be followed by Pat
Cogswell.
I should have hall the Jeopardy theme ready.
MS . LENHARD: I know .
Good evening, Commissioners. Michele Lenhard, chair of
Conservation Collier Land Acquisition Advisory Committee. I
thank you for the opportunity to comment on the budget this evening.
As the budget process wraps up this month, I thank you for the
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hard work over the past year to undertake a programmatic analysis
and look for efficiencies and savings.
Your priority-based budgeting approach will reap benefits for
the taxpayer. The ResourceX ROI report recommendations focused
on Conservation Collier management funds , listing programmatic
efficiencies, and does not address the acquisition fund since it is
budget positive.
This information, plus long-standing community support for
Conservation Collier, will provide a fra ework for our budget
discussions and decisions .
I would like to highlight some of the long-term goals of the
program which support a need to ma·ntain 1nancial strength of all
funds .
First one, there are cu ently 28 A-listed properties in the
pipeline for acquisition. TH" s represents 2,346 acres, an estimated
value of $26. 7 million. Incluoed in this ist is t4e Williams Farm
property, whioli is 2,247 acres , at a cost of $J 1. 9 million.
The Board ecently al o approved target protection area mailing
maps, w ich will di ect our efforts to attract new applications. This
mailing will targe 474 parcels or another total of 4,031 acres. New
to this list is the -v5/Everglades Bo levard area which is 551 acres.
Our multi-parcel project a eas --there are four of them. To
complete them is 772 acres with an outstanding estimated value right
now at $19.9 million.
FY '24 budge tra sfer out of Conservation Collier management
and acquisition funds was $29.6 million. The property management
fund obligations continue to be an area of concern since historically
low interest rates create a challenge meeting the programmatic goals
of preserving our properties in perpetuity.
The passage in November 2020 of the most recent referendum
provides funding sources for 10 years . The timing and costs of
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applications are difficult and hard to predict. Acquisition funds can
be used after our funding sunsets and if funds are available.
So on behalf of the committee, I request that you fully fund our
program as well as replenish the funds transferred in FY '24 , assuring
the long-term financial health of a valuable program.
Thank you very much.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Pat Cogswell. She'll be
followed by Brad Cornell.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Looks like Brad's up.
MR. MILLER: Pat Cogswell, are you int e room?
(No response.)
MR. MILLER: All right. Br d Cornell followed by Andy
Wells-Bean.
MR. CORNELL: Good evening, Conupissioners, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for the opportunity to adaress you tonight. I'm speaking
on behalf of Audubon Western Everglades as their policy director
and also on behalf of Auaubon Rlorida and its conservation --excuse
me --its Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.
I see a C, and I think conserva ion. It's Corkscrew.
also want o express my appreciation for your extended
priori -budget process, the ResourceX process that's been going on
for the ast several months . I've been watching that and commented
when I could. I think this has een a useful efficiency exercise, an
important first st~. There's more , I think, that we all would
recognize to come in that discussion.
Conservation Collier's budget has some important priorities to
consider as well. First, effective ordinance revisions last March
have created a streamline process that has been officially evaluating
and moving highly ranked and environmentally important properties
quickly to Board of Commissioners approval.
Currently, there are over 2,300 acres of top-ranked properties
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ready for final steps by the Board for acquisition. They are valued at
approximately $26.8 million, and 10 already have Board-approved
contracts, including the 1,400 acres of Williams Farm, which is the
Conservation Collier portion of that acquisition.
Estimated annual land management costs in Fiscal Year '25 are
about $2.4 million for about 6,400 acres, including that Williams
Farm acquisition.
On top of that, there are also 930 acres pending acquisition, as I
mentioned, along with the Williams Farm. That would result in over
7,300 acres of managed Conservaf on Collier lands in Fiscal Year
'25, which is a great accomplishment, and it's an im ortant legacy
responsibility. How will this management and land acquisition be
accomplished?
Audubon strongly recom ends restoring funds to the land
management trust fund as quic ly a possib e i order to generate the
annual interest to fund this level of management and more going
forward.
To accomplish both acquisition and management, Audubon also
recommends levying the maximum millage rate. This could
reasonably be adopte with the public's strong support, regardless of
your acf ons in any of the other millage rate areas for your budget.
So thank you very much for considering our comments on this
and in a m tual effort to achieve conservation outcomes for all of
Collier County cijizens. Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Y,our next speaker is Andy Wells-Bean, and he
would be followed by Gary Bromley.
MR. WELLS-BEAN: Good evening. Thanks for being here
and for holding this hearing to understand the public's will about the
budget moving forward.
I want to speak, as you might guess, about Conservation Collier
budgets being replenished . Now, we know that Conservation
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Collier, as an ordinance, is only authorized to raise funds for a limited
period of time. There's a time limit. And so that does not line up to
perpetual maintenance which goes on into the --into the forever.
So while we have the taxing authority with Conservation
Collier, we need to make as best use of it as possible so that we're
setting ourselves up and we're not leaving ab· g budget hole for future
commissioners to have to fill in 10 or 12 qF 15 years to maintain that
property.
But we also know that Conservaf on Collie1' trust funds are there
as a piggy bank that we can smash if we need to, if a hurricane rolls
through or should I say, "When a hurricane rolls through," and we're
waiting on FEMA money.
So to ensure that we nave the money tpat we need for perpetual
maintenance and to have at hana when the e's a natural disaster, we'd
urge you to replenish those trust funo onies.
Thank you Yery much.
MR. MIL ER: Yo r next spea er is Gaey Bromley.
Pat Cogswell, have jYOU returned to the room?
(No response.)
MR. MILLER: She has not, so Gary will be followed on Zoom
by Blanca Lukay (phonetic)
MR. BROMLBY: Gooa evening, Commissioners . I'm here to
speak on the same topic, which is Conservation Collier, and the funds
that were re-purposed from Conservation Collier into an account that
can be used for a umber of programs that have nothing to do with
conservation or preservation.
I was one of the voters, the enthusiastic voters that voted for the
referendum to support Conservation Collier. I found it rather
unsettling that the fund transfer that took place earlier in this year
happened.
My point today is that I think that it would restore a lot of faith
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in people like me who support the program if we knew there was a
plan to replenish those funds. There's lots of ways to do it,
obviously, one fell swoop, little by little, and everything in between.
So I'm here to advocate for a statement of some kind of plan to
replenish those funds and starting it in the 2025 budget.
Thank you very much.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chair, as inconc ivable as this sounds, I've
made a mistake. Blanca Lukay is actually a staff member on Zoom
and doesn't need to speak under public comment.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Y ou'te forgiven.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll be quiet.
MR. MILLER: And that would wrap up our public speakers.
MR. JOHNSON: Thank you, Troy.
All right, Commissioners. And that will bring us on to the
discussion for tonight. Let me just go back to the millage rates here.
Obviously, up in --up for discussion tonight is where we want to land
with our millage rates. As you ~ow, we have identified our
maximum millage rates as the milla e-neutral rates for the
countywide taxing districts and the unincorporated area.
Thi slideJiere, you've seen this one before. This shows you
the prior year ado ted tax dollars ; the current year rolled-back tax
dollars; in the green there , you'll see the difference between last year
and this year based on the rolled-back rate; then you have the
millage-neutral tax dollars followed by the difference between last
year and this yea at millage neutral; and then, finally , the difference
between the rolled-back rate in green and the millage-neutral change
in blue and the yellow on the end.
So with that, I'll open it up for discussion.
CHAIRMAN HALL: So, Mr. Johnson, the yellow, that's the
difference between the millage-neutral rate that was policy and last
year's taxes that were collected?
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MR. JOHNSON: That's the difference between the
millage-neutral rate, which is our maximum millage rate , and last
year's that --
CHAIRMAN HALL: So ifwe adopted the millage rate, we
would be $32 million ahead of rolled-back rate?
MR. JOHNSON: Correct. That's wha was going to say.
It's the difference between the blue and the green is the --
CHAIRMAN HALL: Okay. So how much --how much of
those dollars --we had the taxable values that were new --that were
new taxable values .
MR. JOHNSON: Correct.
CHAIRMAN HALL: How much actual dollars is the new --is
the new growth?
MR. JOHNSON: IfyouJoo at the green there, essentially,
that's the --that's the new growth, t~e number in the green. So your
rolled-back over your last year woulcDbe that amount that's
attributable to n e tro ew taxable value.
CHAIRM~ !lALL: So the rolled-back rate with the new
growth would give us basically $15 million?
MR. JO~SO : Rifteen million countywide and 2.1 in the
unincorporated.
CH IRMAN HALL: And that would less --that would make
the diff erence..in the yellow about half, correct?
MR. JO~ON: No, because the yellow is the difference
between the green and tli e blue.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Okay.
MR. JOHNSON: So you could collect --the blue is what you
would collect over last year at millage neutral. So you would have
46.9 million in the countywide and 6.3 in the unincorporated.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Gotcha. How much was the money
that --you know, we planned for 63 million last year from the
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Conservation Collier fund, but we only actually got to transfer a
portion of that. How much did we not get to transfer?
MR. JOHNSON: Commissioner, if you look at this slide here ,
this shows the changes. So , initially, it was going to be 53 .5 million.
The transfer ended up being 29 .6-. The delta there is 23.9 million.
All the way on the right-hand side.
CHAIRMAN HALL: So we did not --we left, basically, 24
million in the Conservation Collier account?
MR. JOHNSON : Correct.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We borro ed the 23-plus or . minus.
MR. JOHNSON: We borrowed 29 .6-plus or minus .
COMMISSIONER McQANIEL: Oka , 29 .6-.
CHAIRMAN HALL: WJiat is the actual dollar amount for the
proposed --the proposed millage rate on Co servation Collier based
on values?
MR. JOIIJ"JSON : ased on values?
CHAIRMA llALL : Yes.
MR. JOHNSO : j\t the proposed millage rate of millage
neutr 1, Comm· ssioner?
AIRMAN HAL : olled-back.
M . JOHNSON: At rolled-back. Let me go back to that other
slide I was at.
COMM!~~ ONER McDANIEL: 31 .9.
MR. JOHNSON : 31.9.
CHAIRMAN HALL: That's additional dollars that would go
back at the rolled-back rate?
MR. JOHNSON: Oh, additional would be 822-over last year;
822 ,000 over last year. But if we levied the rolled-back rate next
year, the tax rate would be 31.9 million. So that would be next
year's tax levy going into those accounts .
P age 18
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September 5, 2024
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And do you have
the --excuse me, Mr. Chair. I don't mean to jump. Can I ask a
question?
CHAIRMAN HALL: Sure.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Do you have the amount of
reserve accounts in Conservation Collier rig t now?
MR. JOHNSON: I sure do. All right. I'll give you the
current amount, and I'll give you the budget for next year, if that
works for you, so ...
COMMISSIONER McDANI L: The budget will be added to
the --
MR. JOHNSON: Depending on where the millage is.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Depending where we end up
on the rolled-back rate.
MR. JOHNSON: Correct.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: But the current reserves that
are in the fund today.
MR. JOHNSON: The current reserves within your Collier
County maintenance fund, the amended budget is that 23.5 million,
and the amended budget for the land acquisitions is at 22. 7 million
currently .
CO MISSIONE McDANIEL: And the division in the --I'm
going to use the rolled-back rate because that's what we've all been
talking about. But the new revenue added would then be another
31.9 --
MR. JOHNSON: 31.9.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: --million. It's divided --if I
recall , we adjusted the percentage of hold from the original
15 percent up to 25 percent of the new money to be appropriated to
reserves for maintenance.
MR. JOHNSON: And I believe --I believe in the new
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September 5, 2024
ordinance, that is --that is --and I'm going to look over at Ed and Jeff
here. I believe that that had changed to --we have a lot more
flexibility in that allocation.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
MR. JOHNSON: Based on what you guys adopt in the budget.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Beca se I
remember --originally when it was established, there was only a
15 percent allocation for reserves for maintenance. And I know we
raised that up at one time, and there's even more flexibility because,
as was brought up , this theory of perpetual maintenance isn't
perpetual. We have to budget as we continue to acquire new lands.
We watched --I think last year when we were talking, e were
running about a million and~ half a year in ongoing maintenance,
and that next year it's estimated to be 2.5.
And --now that's going to come and go with new properties and
the expenses associated with bringing hose properties up to par, but
that's --I really want u to focus a lot 0n the reserves side for
maintenance as we're going along just because as we add properties
to it, we're --that reserve, that maintenance is going to increase as
well.
R . JOHNSON: And if I maf , Commissioner, your current
proposed budget would increase that reserve in '25 to --the
maintenance reserve to 45 .6 million, and your land acquisition would
be around 42 million for FY '25, sitting at the current proposed rate.
Obviously, that wo ld be adjusted if you moved back to the
rolled-back rate by approximately $2 million.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Commissioner Saunders .
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: A lot of numbers floating
around in terms of Conservation Collier. Can you just tell me what
the total amount of funds are in Conservation Collier? Just
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maintenance and acquisition, just the total amount right now.
MR. JOHNSON: The current budget right now is --set for next
year is about $100 million. So if you took out the 30-, you'd have
70-.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: All right. What I'm trying
to find out --I just want to simplify this a little bit. How much
money is in Conservation Collier right now? I'm not talking about
the future. I'm talking about what exists there right now.
MR. JOHNSON: The current amended budget is $110 million.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Not budget. The actual balance of
Conservation Collier.
MR. JOHNSON: I don't have the casn balance wi llme at the
moment. I could have somebody loo it up.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: ell, you have --I mean, I
don't want to be argumentative, but thought.you had the acquisition
fund and the maintenance fund.
MR. JOH~-SON: T~at's a budget, yes. So the
acquisition --the aeguisition reserve is 23 .5 million. The --I'm
sorry. The mainte ance reserve is 23 .5 million. The money set
aside for. cquisition i 22.7 int e amended budget currently.
OMMISSIONER SAUNDERS : So right now in that fund
there is 46.2 million?
MR. JOHNSON: In the combination of the two for those two
identified items, yes.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That's in the bank right now?
MR. JOHNSON: In the bank.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So if you go to the
rolled-back millage rate , how much money would be added? Again ,
just total. I'm not trying to break it down.
MR. JOHNSON: The addition would be $31.9 million.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: 31 .9 . So you'd have a total
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of --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Seventy.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS : --78 --
September 5, 2024
CHAIRMAN HALL: Thirty-two and 42, about 75 million.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: It's 31 million versus 34
million if we stayed with the millage neutral.
MR. JOHNSON: Correct, correct.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: hat's at --that's at
rolled-back?
MR. JOHNSON: That's at ro1led-back. ft will be 31.9. At
millage neutral , the new addition would be 34.1.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: That's $3 illion dif~rence.
COMMISSIONER S1\UNDERS : Al1 right. I wanted to get an
idea what the total maximum were.
And then one other question --his has not been a unanimous
decision of the Boara, but the Board Bas indicated a willingness to at
least look at replenishing tpe 30 mil ion that was taken out. It wasn't
53-; it was the 30 million. Has s aff looked at some kind of a plan to
do that in the even that the Board does proceed in that direction?
MR. JO~SO : es, sir. On the slide here, you'll see some
of the Conservatio Collier refunding options. I'll just go through
them real quick, if you guys want.
Optio~ 1, no repayment. No action needed.
Option 2, the Board could create a resolution to extend the
millage to an 11th year for the repayment of the $29 million.
Option 3 wou d.be annual repayments . That could be done
through increases in the General Fund millage to repay for the
remaining seven years or cutting budgets in another area to repay.
And, finally , a lump sum repayment. If you noticed , the
variance between the General Fund rolled-back and the General Fund
millage neutral is approximately $29 million, so ...
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September 5, 2024
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So give us a timeline on
when Conservation Collier started and when that 10th year occurs so
we'll know when that 11th year is.
MR. JOHNSON: The first year of this addition of
Conservation Collier was FY '22. It will be over after FY '31.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So e would be talking
about extending it to 2032?
MR. JOHNSON: Correct.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS : Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
That's all my questions for right now .
CHAIRMAN HALL: Commissioner Kowal.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you , Chairman.
My questions are kind o on the same line. I was looking for
those numbers also, what actual y was left i the --in the account.
This might be another question you might not be able to answer, but
do you know ho much of that 20 --was it 22.7 million in the
acquisition, around there, is in there now that's already earmarked to
go out, or is that ex:act --is that a drop-dead number where we're
probably going to be at?
MR. JO~SO : That's the budget for this year depending on
how the ~operties Hne up . Their forecast was to spend about
11 million of that 22. 7-by t e end of the year, so that will leave you
with 11 million in acquisition. But, again, the budget for next year
where we current sit is set to put $42 million in acquisition,
$45 million into thevmaintenance reserve.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Which is more than what we
started with last year, right?
MR. JOHNSON: Correct.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: And we did a lot of work last
year in purchasing properties with what we had left in there.
MR. JOHNSON: And keep in mind there are a few --I know at
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September 5, 2024
least the Williams property's a large acquisition that --if that goes
through, it will be next year. That's 21 million of that. So give or
take .
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: But we won't need that money
till next year.
MR. JOHNSON: Correct, correct.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Where )n going with this
is --because I think everybody agrees that theJnaintenance fund is
probably the most important part of thi ~ beca se that stays into
perpetuity even beyond the collection period of this, unless it doesn't
get voted back in. And I know we worked on a new ordinance on
how to , you know, move the money around a needed. You know,
my thing is that we look at what we have in there left over.
I would think that, you ~w, it wouldn't make sense to take
money from the acquisition fund, mo e a few million over to keep
the maintenance fund rolling in the right di ection, and then start over
with the new amount for purchases for F 2025 because we're
already going to be~atten than what we were last year, and we did a
lot with the money that was in there, and keep that going all the way
up until 2031. And we will have probably reached that magic
number that we'll be able to operate off the interest of what's in that
main ten nee fund into perpetuity.
So, you know, It ink that's something we should take a strong
look at, not raising taxes or moving from the General Fund, but
moving their mone around a little bit to make it work better for them
in the long run within their two accounts, because there's going to be
money left over from this year's acquisitions.
MR. JOHNSON: And I believe with that new ordinance, you
guys have the flexibility to do that.
And just to answer the other question --I know I've been talking
budget numbers --my staff just provided me with the actual cash
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September 5, 2024
balances in those funds , and the total's 93.5 million.
CHAIRMAN HALL: That's what I thought.
MR. JOHNSON: In the acquisition fund , there's currently
50 million. In the maintenance fund , there's currently 42 .6-.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: That's double what --
MR. JOHNSON: So, again, there's kind of a bunch of stuff
they're doing in there. So that doesn't take in -when we're talking
reserves, we're talking just the reserves in that fund. They're also
doing maintenance daily out of that fund, and then in the acquisition
fund, they're paying people and <loin other things as well.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: But I think, yo know, as a
Board of County Commissioners, this bod)l p here, that we could
manage those accounts between each other and make it move in the
right direction in the future a: d ave that magic number without
taxing or without putting a ourden n the other accounts to repay it.
I think we have the ability to do that and still ke~ moving the project
in the right direction. I think that~ just something we could chew on
and think about.
CHAIRMA MAL : Commiss. oner Klucik.
e OMMISS ONER LoCASTRO. Thank you, Chairman.
r. Klatzkow , I just wanted to ask you a few questions. I was
looking at some of my old notes when we first started talking about
the Conservat • on Collier budget --or not budget, but the fund and
how there was guite a bit of money in there that was sitting dusty,
and that started our wnole conversation of moving money around.
And correct me if I'm wrong, at that very first meeting, we thought
we moved about 50 million, right? And then a second --a meeting
after that we were corrected that we could only move 29-, right? I
mean, that was --
MR. JOHNSON: Correct.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I'm just sort of summarizing.
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September 5, 2024
In my notes there was some ambiguity at the very first meeting
on replenishment. And at least I had it in my notes. And maybe we
got an answer, and maybe I just didn't write it down, but I want to get
it into the record.
There was some ambiguity as to , legally, do we have to replace
that money that we borrowed or we --or the fine print says we can
move it at our discretion, and we don't have to replace it? I had that
specifically written in my notes on that very first meeting, and I think
we were a little bit unsure. I think thererwas a --or at least maybe I
just didn't write down the answer. But I want to get it into the record
now, and I would expect all that research has been done . Because
your first slide says no replenishme t.
So I guess my quest· on is is that an option that we have at our
discretion? I want to get that ·nto the record, yes or no, legally.
MR. KLATZKOW: Ye5'.
COMMISS ONER LoC~TRO: Okay. 'Plat was the only
question I had. I just wanted to get certaincy on that.
CHAIRMA HALL: Com111-issioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Go back to that other slide,
please. So we don't have to repay th funds that were utilized. I
think we should repay th funds tha were borrowed from
Conse ation Collier. I think some kind of mechanism for us to do
that shoul oe discussed at some stage how we got there. And of
these four suggestions really, the only two in the middle are , in my
mind, something that halfway is viable. I have no interest in
drawing 29 million out of other revenues in order to replace it all
back at once.
I think we need to give consideration to the fact that when we all
walked in here at that last budget hearing last year, there was a
general consensus to move to rolled-back. There wasn't a plan to
fund the budget at rolled-back with that 62-, 59-, whatever the
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September 5, 2024
number was. In my brain, it was a $62 million deficit, and that plan
was devised by this board by borrowing from Conservation Collier.
It turned out that we weren't able --we were able to manage the
deficit, 29-from Conservation Collier and the balance from other
funds, and we still did not delay --and this is an important key. We
did not delay capital projects, which has been the case that this
county has done over a long period of time fs they would refer capital
projects in order to fund budgetary item .
So for discussion purposes, I'd like for us to draw down the
choices here from four to two and utilize those two in the middle,
having some discussion --I don' think we're going to dive in at this
stage, gentlemen, to the ResourceX suggestions of reallocation and
appropriate compensation for services that are provided. don't
think we're going to have the eapacity to do that in this budget cycle,
but we are certainly going to be abl to have that discussion ongoing
for our next budget cycle.
And so I think giving our staff direction that we borrowed the
money from Conservatio Collier, the number was 29 million or so,
whatever --whatever Cliris has deci ed that it was, and a mechanism
to repay those fi}nds is a proper way.
I, myself, suggested that when I was talking to Brad and
Meredith last year. We we t on break after a very long budget
hearing, an I felt certain that that was the proper way. I mean,
whenever you borrow )lloney, you're supposed to pay it back.
And so I would li e to see us move in that direction to eliminate
1 and 4 of this list and focus on 2 and 3 and have this discussion
ongoing with --with available funds.
We have --we have --we have new allocations/reallocations
coming forth . We have new compensation for services that are
rendered that is, in fact , going to be coming forth, and utilizing a
portion of those revenues, either reallocation and/or compensation, I
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September 5, 2024
think, is a path for us to travel and begin that process of the
repayment.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Commissioner Saunders .
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS : Thank you.
I agree with you, Commissioner McDaniel, that we should
eliminate No. 1 and No. 4 and take a look at he other two options .
The extension for an 11th year, or the --I doubt that we're going to
increase the millage rates anywhere to do t~at, and I don't think we're
going to cut projects. But I would agree that we should at least limit
it to those two things so at least we're letting the public know that the
intent is to replace those funds one way or other.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: At some stage.
COMMISSIONER S1\UNDERS: At some point, if there's a
motion, then I would support that
Mr. Chairman, I was going to ask a question that's totally
unrelated to Conservation Colier, and I don't want to do that until
we're finish w· Conservation Gollie .
CHAIRMA ijALL: Sure. I'll come back to you, then.
Commissioner Kowal.
e OMMISS ONER KOWAL: Thank you, Chairman.
¥ ou know , the two 012tif>ns you re looking at, one's increasing
the GF millage rate . You know, I'm crunching the numbers over
here for out ublic safety. And, you know, we're looking at about
$16.2 million difference from last year's budget for the Sheriff to this
year's budget. At the rolled-back, quote [sic] me if I'm wrong, I
think we gain 14.9 million, and that's a --the increase is 16.2. So as
a governing body, we have a responsibility to public safety.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Number one.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Number one. Number one.
So when you're talking about taking these funds and possibly
increasing them to pay something back we never said we were going
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September 5, 2024
to pay back or we are required to pay back --if I want to have a
discussion, an educated discussion on how we make up the delta of
the 1.2 million, or whatever it is , to cover the Sheriffs budget, I'd
rather have that conversation than raising millage rates to refund
Conservation Collier. That's kind of my position right now.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Agre d.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Because I know as a governing
body, that is our primary duty is public safety first.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL : So I like the o led-back rate , but
I see , just in that one particular part of the budget, it's ot jiving.
You know , so that's a discussion I think we eally need to have .
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: But --
CHAIRMAN HALL: So we --we did not talk about borrowing
funds last year. We never said the ord "borrow." We said we're
going to take those funds and balance the deficit in our budget.
And the public --you know,. you can't get me wrong. Brad, you
can't get mad at me. I love Conservation Collier. I was proud of
everything that we did this year with that program. Making it easier.
The fund is healt y. It's robust. There's money in there to --there's
more money than w can use.
I also wanted to roll the rate back last year so that we didn't
increase the taxes on the people. And in doing so, there was a
$63 million difference, so we grabbed $63 million, we thought --
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Tried.
CHAIRMAN HALL: --or SO-something, a large chunk, from
the Conservation Collier fund that was not being used. It just sat
there. It was just money in the bank. And so we used that to fund
our budget, and then we are short --we were shorted $23 million
because we couldn't take the whole amount.
There's $93 million in the acquisition fund right now, or
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September 5, 2024
50 million, and there's 50 million more going to come if we even
fund it at the rolled-back rate, which is .20 something.
I still don't want to --we are into this --my brain is about five
steps ahead of my mouth, so let me slow down.
The expenses that we operate with have not come down yet.
We are into the ResourceX program, the ResourceX
recommendations. We have a solid game plan to reallocate funds to
do private/public partnerships, to charge extra fees. We have a solid
plan to do that. That was first. It was --it was my hope that we
would be twice the amount down the road with ResourceX, but we're
not. So I'm going to have to exercise patience there.
Commissioner McDaniel said , you know we're in t e process
with being more efficient, with looking at redundancies , streamlining
processes. We have a good exam.R.le of doing the labor pool thing.
So we have hope that's on the end ot t~ horizon that we're going to
be able to reduc expenses so we're not just talking about revenue to
balance our budge .
We need to make u~ $32 million from the rolled-back rate to the
millage-eutral rate, basically, this year in this budget?
MR. JOHNSO : The 32--is the difference between the two.
AIRMAN HAL : That's the yellow.
M . JOHNSON: Yep, t e yellow.
CHAI~AN HALL: I'm getting better.
MR. JO SON: If you recall, the millage-neutral rate was
what was adopted in Ju y as your maximum millage rate.
CHAIRMAN HALL: That was the max. We couldn't go past
that, but that didn't tie us to it.
MR. JOHNSON: So that's where your budget sits now. The
budget that was brought to you earlier was at rolled-back, so the
difference between those has been put in reserves and/ or the
corresponding TIFs where the money went.
Page 30
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September 5, 2024
CHAIRMAN HALL: Okay. So basically, I'm still going to be
a fan of the rolled-back --we can't do rolled-back forever, but while
we can, I want to . And to get there , we're going to have to balance
our budget, and we're going to have to find some money, at the same
time last year, we wanted to do the deep dive and do the hard work,
and we put ourselves out there on the line to cut the spending and to
cut --and to shrink the machine. That didn't happen.
It's --we're working on it. Things,:i ust don't happen in
government like they happen in business, and it's frustrating for me.
But I can see the plan --I can see tli e method to the madness , as I
mentioned earlier.
Conservation Collier is as hea thy a no as we have. One of
the things that we can look at as a board is to change the rules of the
maintenance. One of those --you know , one of those things is to
remove the exotics, which is ike peeing in t~ wind. You r emove
them; they grow back. You remove the ; they grow back.
So if we would look at the maintenance to where we could
remove the exotics that are on the tr ils or that are in the way, but not
in gener 1, I think we would reduce our expenses within that Collier
County --ithin that Conservation Collier maintenance fund
dramatically.
An ~ommissioner ~cDaniel and Commissioner Kowal
mentioned, this is not going to --you know, this is a perpetual thing.
This is going to go on.
But while we're looking at rolled-back and while we hav e some
monies that we can -we can maneuver --we can't take from
Conservation Collier unless we declare an emergency. That was one
of the things that we did earlier this year, but what we do have a
chance to do is not to fund it fully for this year so that we can --we
can move the difference .
If we were going to do .25 , we can do .1 for Conservation
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September 5, 2024
Collier. We'll move the .15 to the general budget, to --so that the
tax stays the same for the people, balance our budget. It allows us
one more year --I hate to say that because I was really wanting to do
this and be clean with it. But we could do one more year that would
allow us not to just look at reallocations , not just to look at private
partnerships, but we could --that would give us a year to actually do
the deep dive , cut the internal things, find the redundancies , become
more efficient, get the processes that are --that are cumbersome out
of the way so that it doesn't cost us a much to operate.
Whatever those dollar figure are , I need you-all's help to do
that. I just hypothetically said t at. I wasn't pushing for that, but
that's the rationale that I'm thinking of.
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Hke your rationale, by the
way.
Just to --and this is just a thougfi t. I'm the one that's thrown in
the "borrow," with the language of the borrow. Words matter, as
Commissioner Saunders re.minds us on a regular basis.
Had we not done what we did in order to fund last year's budget,
public safety being our number-one,.duty --the Sheriff consumes, on
a round 1tumber, how much of our --
CFI IRMAN HALL: Half, half.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: About half. So that
$62 million would hav:e been drawn out of the --50 percent of that
would have been dra n out of the Sheriffs budget last year, and there
was no plan. There was no plan over there --and I'm pointing at Ed
and Amy right now --on how to fund that budget at anything less
than rate neutral. There was no --that wasn't --well, Amy's making
a face. There wasn't a discussion .
The promotion of the budget at rate neutral was what was
brought to us all the way until that last budget hearing.
Page 32
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September 5, 2024
We developed the plan that night to --I'm going to say "borrow"
again --borrow the money from Conservation Collier, which
was --which is healthy. We only borrowed or used 29 million.
We're not required to pay it back. I feel obligated to pay it back,
irrespect---And I don't disagree with you at all about a management
plan for the maintenance, savings associated with it. I don't disagree
with you at all --and I'm not pointing at you, sir. I don't disagree at
all with regard to manipulating the avai able funds to pile as much
into the maintenance reserves so tha tlie/2.nterest can then start to
carry and offset those ongoing ann al expenses associated with it.
But I've said it before, and I'm going to say it again. I think we
can fund this year's budget, do what we need to do at the rolled-back
rate that's been proposed. I think we can --that's going to --that's
going to take Conservation Co lie nion to 100 million --$99 million
or so that's going to be available bet een the maintenance and the
purchases.
The one correction, Commissioner ~owal, is the Williams
property contrac comes u.11 in December, and we may be able to
extend it.depending on what we're doing with appraisals and
environmental studies and so on. And also remember that once we
acquire that piece of prope[ty, we're going to do some zoning with
regard t0 the RLSA and move that slough area that's across the north
into the RJ~SA, and then do the credit generation for the restoration
and the eff o s for water quality going into Lake Trafford, and with
the disposition o those generated credits, we're going to be able to
bring back a large portion --a large portion of the acquisition monies
that we utilized for that acquisition.
So those are just things to keep in mind as we go along . Those
are revenues that can be --that can be utilized over --I don't have any
interest, by the way, in those two choices that --of the four that we've
now theoretically whittled down to two, I don't have any interest in
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September 5, 2024
raising millage to be able to do this. I just --I think it's --it's
something that we can talk about as we're going forward when we
start with the theoretical savings that may come through adjustments
and how we're conducting our business, the recommendations of
ResourceX, the compensation for services rendered.
And if we start to pinpoint those numbe s --I mean, I'm going to
use an example. You know, our Tax Collector comes in here every
year quite proudly and hands us a chec~ for 4, 5, or $6 million of
excess revenue that was budgeted thatJle didn't expend. And so
when those --when those roll-back --or rollover monies start to
come in, maybe we can --maybe we can start to allocate some of
those for a reduction in that exposure fl om the used --don't want to
say "borrowed." That borrowed money might be a trigger for you,
Commissioner Hall, but it's --
CHAIRMAN HALL: That's t itching.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. ee you twitching.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: ou caq check the transcript --
COMMIS~IQ~ER cDANIE : That was --it was a
wonderful plan. W e didn't hurt Conservation Collier at all. I feel
obligated that--we make every effort possible to replace those monies ,
even if it is extending the I?rogram for an additional year. At the
current rate , that's $31 million this year at the current rate that we
have going on, so ...
CHAIRMAN HALIL : You know, you said you felt obligated,
and I just --I never have said this publicly, but --it's the way I think,
but I never have said.,·t. So my wife's always saying to me, "Use
your words."
If we had taken that money from Conservation Collier and it had
left that account in a bad way, I would definitely feel obligated to
replenish that money, but that money was not --we didn't leave that
account --we didn't even budge it. I mean "budge it," not "budget."
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September 5, 2024
But that account is robust, and it will be robust again . And we
haven't whittled anything down to two . There's four options out
there. I still like the first one. We haven't whittled anything down.
Two of you have mentioned it, but we haven't whittled anything
down.
So, Commissioner Locastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Tha ryou, Chairman.
I'm just going to tell you where m J minoJ s so that we start
marching towards some decisions and --you know, less speeches,
more decisions. And I don't meap that in a derogatory way, but, you
know , we could sit here and, you know, pontificate on all the
different things. But I'll just talk about so , e facts.
We did take quite a bit out of Conservation Collier. We
thought we took 50 million. I t~ end, we took 29-. We got
chastised for it by a lot of people, and they were all worried. My
recollection is we bought more propefty since we did that than we
probably have clone fo ¥ears. ~ha 's a fact. So, you know, I'm
proud of that.
People that are concerned that we took money out of the
Conservation Collier budget --and I've said this before on the
recor --I'm shocked that they weren't more concerned that
60 milli0n was sitting in the bank dusty and nothing was being
purchased while everybody was continuing to be taxed. That
concerned me..more as a commissioner than the 29 million that we
took, and then we simultaneously actually bought more properties
during that time perio fl.
I'm only supportive of going to the rolled-back rate, and the
reason I'm comfortable with that is because I think the term's been
used, you know , where we're going to "find" money. I feel really
confident in our top-down review and what ResourceX and then what
our own homework assignments are going to produce to find money
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September 5, 2024
that's being wasted in certain places and then re-purposing it to areas
that could be a little thin if we go to the rolled-back rate, or if they
are --but I think the rolled-back rate still gives us plenty of cash
flow.
When I look at Conservation Collier, the thing that --and I
guess this is maybe less position and more just sort of making a
statement. If we're collecting more money than is actually needed to
buy the properties that are a priority, that's something we really
should take a look at. I mean, I'm not one for patting myself on the
back saying, you know , "We're collecting money for Conservation
Collier just like the voters wanted, "<but then there's ~ we're collecting
way more than is required. So I thi$ • t was stated by a couple of
you-all --and I want to agree with that --that that's something we
might want to take a look at. I mean, I'm not proud of taxing people
and then not using the money for anything of value or just sitting in
the bank "in case."
And I do think a lot of changes could be made to the
maintenance, and we could save a J ot of money and still conserve and
preserve a lot of par els , a ot of land.
f replenishment is somet ing that we start gravitating towards,
the only one that jumps out at me, if we replenishment --that's why I
wanted to see if, youJrnow, egally No . 1 was an option, because I
remember couple meetings where we were concerned that we
couldn't just ake the 1310 ey and then just forget about it, and now
that that's been confirmea, that actually Option No. 1, even if we all
don't like it, is still a legal option.
But the only one that really resonates with me is extending it for
a year if, in fact, we think some sort of replenishment is needed. I
still think there's plenty of funds in the --in Conservation Collier if
we go to the rolled-back rate and do nothing for replenishment. I'm
not saying that's my position and that's --I want to sort of generate a
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September 5, 2024
little discussion here.
But I've already heard from --I think Commissioner McDaniel
probably echoed similar to what I was saying is, you know, extend it
for a year, and that seems to be, maybe the most prudent way if you
felt replenishment was needed. But I'm not for increasing any kind
of millage rate to get the money back or just digging 29 million out
of --you know, out of the other funds and just throwing it back for
the sake of doing it.
So at least that gives you a little tlionght process as to what's in
my brain, and that's about --that's lfind of where I' leaning after
doing all the math.
CHAIRMAN HALL: I mean, if it's needed, the ext a year
could be a good ace in theilole, the hold. ou don't have to exercise
it now.
COMMISSIONER LoCSAST 0: Absol ely.
CHAIRMANtIALL: It's a gooo possibili .
Commissioner Saunders .
COMMIS~IONER AUNDE S : Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I think there are ~couple givens here that we can perhaps all
agree o and take hose is-sues off the table.
In erms of the Sheriffs budget, no one up here's going to reduce
the Sherif~s budget, so that exti;a two million , if we go to rolled-back
millage rate, staffs just going o have to figure that one out.
We don't need to 1gure that out here tonight, but I think it's
important to let staff know we're not going to cut the Sheriffs budget.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Agreed.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And that's number one.
And, number two, I think we've all --I think we're all agreeing at this
point that we're going to go to the rolled-back millage rate , and I
think we ought to make that decision tonight so that it will relieve
some of the effort that staff has to do , but it will also reduce some of
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September 5, 2024
the cost that staff has to incur in terms of advertising and that sort of
thing. So if we're going to go to --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Make that motion.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. Okay. So those are
two givens that --and then the issue of reimbursement to
Conservation Collier. Whether the majority wants to do that or not,
it's not really an issue for tonight because e're not going to raise the
millage rate tonight to do that. We're not going to extend the
program tonight.
So I would suggest that we kind off ocus back on the budget,
recognizing a rolled-back millage rate, recognizing the Sheriffs
budget's not going to be touched.
And then --but I do have a couple of uestions in addition to
that, but I want to throw tHat ou just to see i that's where the Board
is, and if it is, then --
CHAIRMANtIALL: We like you.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Okay. So --
COMMIS8'IONER cDANIE : Do you want to make the
motion, or do xou ant me to?
e OMMISS ONER SAUNDERS: I'll make the motion to do
that --
MR. IvtILLER: Mr. Cha·r --
CHAI~MAN HALL: --those two items.
MR. MfLLER: --] hate to interject, but I had a gentleman
registered on Zoom who was on early, dropped off while we were
doing public commen. He's back on now. For safety sake, should
I try to call him before we do any voting?
CHAIRMAN HALL: If he wants --if he wants to --we're
going to finish our discussion. If he wants to chime in, I'll let him
chime in.
MR. MILLER: Thank you, sir. My apologies for interrupting.
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September 5, 2024
CHAIRMAN HALL: No worries.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So I'll make that motion on
those two items just to take that discussion off the table.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And the motion is to do the
rolled-back rate?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: To do the rolled-back rate,
and we're not going to touch the Sheriffs budget.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Leave the Sheriffs budget as
presented.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS . Yes .
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll second that.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Motion and second to go to rolled-back
rate and to keep the Sheriffs budget funaed . All in favor , say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCSAST 0: Aye.
CHAIRMAN HALL: N.. e.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS : Aye.
COMMIS~IONER OW AL: Aye .
CHAIRMA MA ~ All opposed?
response.)
IRMAN H That part's done.
MR. JOHNSON : So , Commissioners, with that, what we'll
have to do, at some point --obviously, the discussion can go on to
other items , 6 t we'll haVJe to take a break at some point just to adjust
our millage tables. I have to read those into the record then.
I just want to --one point is if we go to the rolled-back rate
today , which it sounds like we're going, that creates our new
maximum millage.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: It doesn't "sound like." We
just did it.
CHAIRMAN HALL: We done did it.
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September 5, 2024
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We voted.
MR. JOHNSON: That creates our maximum millage going
into the next meeting. So we'll advertise it next week, and the
following week, Monday, and that will be what we bring back to you
at the --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Final budget.
MR. JOHNSON: --meeting on the 19th .
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: hen, Mr. Chairman, the
only other question I was going to raise --and 't's not something
we've talked about --but just looking at the budget by fund
summary --and I don't know what page number this i because it's
not numbered, but it's in reference tot e tourist developll\ent taxes .
And we've all been talking a Httle bit about;noving some of those
funds around. And I know that hatever decision we make tonight
is not going to impact our flexibi ity in doing that.
But I wanted to ask staff a question and I'd li ke an analysis of
this before our next budget hearing. But the tourism promotion
budget, Fund 1101, is pr@posed to go from 25.7 million to
34.1 million, which • almost a 33 percent increase. And the
question becomes, in my mind --ther&s some other tourism capital
projects that's about a milli n-dollar increase, which is fine. But that
particular line item, that may be the area where we can make some
adjustment going forward so that we can peel off some money for
some projects.
And the tourism folks are going to kind of raise holy heck, if
you will, about us doing that, but I think the argument I would make
is simply that we imposed a fifth cent tourist tax so we could develop
the Paradise Coast facility . About 71 percent of that fifth penny is
going to that facility. So about 29 percent of that fifth penny would
not even be considered for tourism promotion or anything if we
hadn't done that.
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September 5, 2024
And so I think that we have a good argument that we have,
perhaps, more money in that fund. And I would just like some
analysis . Obviously, someone from the tourism industry, our
tourism folks are going to have to weigh in on that, but that just
s eems like --that's $9 million for additional advertising, and I just
don't know if that's necessary in that amount.
MR. JOHNSON: And if I may, quickly, Commissioner, that
fund, the increas e there is based on the current allocation, as you
were --you were alluding to of those 1ve pennies that currently, by
ordinance , go into that find .
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS : That's true.
MR. JOHNSON: And the ro 1 forward of monies
not --projected not to be pent this year so ...
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS : nd I know we're
not --when we approve this b dget, e're not tying our hands to
these numbers here, a d so at some point inJ he ture , we can move
that money around a little bit.
But I would j s t --I'm just curious as to , you know, how much
is really needed in that particular line item.
MR. JO~SON: We can bring that back.
OMMISSIONER SAUNDERS : All right.
CFI IRMAN HALL : Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONBR McDANIEL: Thank you , sir.
I ab solutely agree, and maybe --it's really not a discus sion for us
to have during these budget hearings , but we've all had discussions
with regard to the utilization of the TDT funds for offset of ex penses
and upkeep and maintenance of our park. When we passed that
extra penny tax when you and I came into office, the increase in the
tourist development tax, it was appropriated at 75 /25 , 75 --72 percent
or so for the park, and then 25 into beach re-nourishment.
So --but I think we --within the latitude of the statute --because
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September 5, 2024
you know each one of those pennies is regulated by statute as to what
you can and can't do with it. We actually have an opportunity to
maybe make some adjustment in the statute to be able to have a little
more flexibility which, if we can free up maintenance and capital
funds coming out of the TDT, which promotes tourism , it also frees
up other ad valorem money that we have available. So I totally
support moving forward on that.
CHAIRMAN HALL: I learned these t ree words, "make a
finding." You make a finding that it promotes tourism.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: There you go.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Commissioner Kowal.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Thank you , Chairman.
I just have a questio in eference to Option 4, that screen we
had up for the --
MR. JOHNSON: Pull it bac up.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: --for your borrowing of the
money. It's talking about the 1 th year --oi:, no, Option 2, I guess it
is , taking an 11th y€ar. his is --I oon't know if this is a County
Attorney question or no . That's a ballot referendum , right, the
10-year increments?
R . KLATZ OW: It's not a referendum, okay. It was a
straw ba lot.
COMMISSIONBR KOWAL: Straw ballot, okay.
MR. KLATZKOW: It was a straw ballot, which is nonbinding
on the Board.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: So the one year wouldn't have to
come up for the vote or anything?
MR. KLATZKOW: No.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We could do that ourselves.
MR. KLATZKOW: You could do that yourselves.
Conservation Collier is more like an MSTU than anything else .
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September 5, 2024
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Gotcha. All right.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Commissioner Locastro.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you , Mr. Chairman.
On the tourism dollars, I mean, as the chair of the TDC, I want
to make sure that, you know, they get a voice. So it's a great
discussion to say, "Hey, maybe they're getting plussed up a little bit
too much or whatnot." And as Commissioner Saunders said, we
don't necessarily have to decide it, you know, tonight, but I want to
make sure we don't make some decisions in a vacuum.
A question I have for our County Manager --because we've
traded some e-mails about this very thing --when we're talking about
those marketing dollars that Commissioner Saunders ta ked about,
what was --what was really importan to the --at the last TDC
meeting and that the Board voted on unan~mously was that
grant --that grant money for all t e aifferent agencies who applied
for things. That's sepa ate from wha we're talking about here. This
is those marketin dollars And there's --e even had some healthy
discussion at the DC meeting. But the grant money that we
approved unanimousl at the last TDC meeting that does need to
come o the commissioners for a final greenlight is --that's not what
we're talking abo t here , correct? Right?
MS. PATTERSON: No. We're talking about the promotion
dollars. There is some grant money set aside, but it's a fraction of
what we're talking about here.
COMMISSIONE~ LoCASTRO: Absolutely.
MS. PATTERSON: And that --that is going to be coming
forward for further guidance from the Board.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Yeah. Because as I said in
some e-mails to the County Manager, I think the commissioners
here --you'll be pleased. You remember a year ago we looked at
Paul, and we said, "Look, when it comes to these organizations
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September 5, 2024
applying for grants, just because they got $100 ,000 last year, don't let
them ask for a 100 ,000 on the back of a cocktail napkin, and then
they just automatically get it."
Across the board on the spreadsheet, everybody got pretty much
a little bit less , and the difference didn't just go in somebody's back
pocket. There was a whole list of new organizations that had been
reached out to that got a little bit of --sot e oney got spread a little
bit more throughout the county, so that as great, but also the
message that was sent by Jay, our new tlirector t at replaced Paul,
obviously , to the organizations, was, you know, we're not --we're not
trimming --we're not giving you less. We're expecting you to step
forward a bit more and make up the dif ere ce .
And he said at the TDC meeting, across the board they were
ready for that. You know, they've had a year to prepare for that, and
that it was --it was positively, you lmow, received; that they
understood and were grateful for what tne did get and that they were
reminded that it's not an automatic. Eve year, you're basically
reapplying and starting from zero.
So --but--if we have --on the marketing dollars , to be able to
bring tbe tourism leadership tea back in here to give us their
position, I guess --won't say rebuttal , their position --we'd be able
to do that, r'ght? We don't have to decide tonight.
MS. P TTERSON: Yes, sir. I don't think anybody's talking
about deciding tonight, and it's also --we're not talking about
everything or nothing.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Right.
MS. PATTERSON: So this is really looking at some of these
increments and also the allocations.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Okay. Got it. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Mr. Johnson, how much time are you-all
going to need?
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September 5, 2024
MR. JOHNSON: I would say, just to be safe, a half hour.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Okay. Good.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Don't go on a break. I just
want to --and I just wanted to clarify one thing , Mr. Chairman , of the
TDC. You might not have been listening, but when Commissioner
Saunders was talking, he was tasking the TDC to actually review
these numbers and then come to us.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Oh, absolutely .
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So ju t so you know, we
weren't bypassing the TDC. That as a task for you.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: No, I was listening. I was
just reiterating.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS : I thought those words didn't
matter.
COMMISSIONER McDA IE:t: Oh, that's right.
CHAIRMANtIALL: A 1 right. Should we take a half-hour
break so we c n get things done and c0me back and read it --
Slf.
MR. JOHNSON : hat will work.
CHAIRMAN MA ~ : --and live happily ever after?
All right. We'll see you at 7 o'clock.
(A recess was had from 6:22 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.)
MS. PATTERSON: hair, you have a live mic .
CHAI~AN H L : Al1 right. Mr. Johnson, proceed, please,
Item #ID
ANNOUNCEMENT OF TENTATIVE MILLAGE RATES AND
PERCENTAGE CHANGES IN PROPERTY TAX RATES
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All right. So that takes u s to Item 11D, the announcement of
the tentative millage rates. As I'm sure you are all aware by now,
Florida TRIM statutes requires that tentative millage rates ,
rolled-back millage rates , and percent change from rolled-back
millage rate s be read into the record prior to the adoption of the
tentative millage rates under Agenda Item 1 l E, Packet Page 59.
So without further ado , if it pleases the Board, I'll begin.
All right. We'll start with General Fund 0001 , the propos ed
millage rate is 3 .0107; the rolled-bac mi lagw ate is 3.0107. The
percent change from the rolled-back rate is 0 percent.
Water Pollution Control Fun4 017 , the propos d millage rate is
0 .0246 ; the rolled-back millage rate is 0 .0246. The percent change
from the rolled-back rate is 0 percent.
Conservation Collier Fund 1061, the prqposed millage rate is
0 .2096 ; the rolled-back millage rate i 0.2096. The percent change
from the rolled-back rate is 0 percent.
Unincorporated General Fund 1011, he proposed millage rate is
0.6844; the rolle -back millage rate is 0.6844. The percent change
from the rolled-back rate is 0 percent.
Golden Gate Community Center Fund 1605 , the proposed
millage ate is 0 .1862; the rolled-badk millage rate is 0 .1756. The
percent cfiange from the rolled-back rate is 6.04 percent.
Victoria Park Drainage Fund 1608, the propo sed millage rate is
0.3814; the rolled-bac1l millage rate is 0.3567 . The percent change
from the rolled-back rate is 6.92 percent.
Naples Park drainage Fund 1613, the proposed millage rate is
0 .0041; the rolled-back millage rate is 0.0038. The percent change
from the rolled-back rate is 7 .89 percent.
Vanderbilt Beach MSTU Fund 1617 , the proposed millage rate
is 0.4650 ; the rolled-back millage rate is 0.4650. The percent
change from the rolled-back rate is 0 percent.
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September 5, 2024
Ochopee Fire Control Fund 1040, the proposed millage rate is
4.0000; the rolled-back millage rate is 3.7079. The percent change
from the rolled-back rate is 7 .88 percent.
Goodland/Horr's Island Fire MSTU Fund 1041 , the proposed
millage rate is 1.2760 ; the rolled-back millage rate i s 1.1955. The
percent change from the rolled-back rate is 6. 73 percent.
Sabal Palm Road MSTU Fund 1619, the proposed millage rate
is 0.0000; the r olled-back millage r ate i 0 .0000. The percent
change from the rolled-back rate is O percent.
Lely Golf Estates Beautification MSTU Fund 1620, the
proposed millage rate is 2 .0000; thw olled-back millage rate is
1.8994. The percent change from the rolled-back rate • s
5 .30 percent.
Golden Gate Parkway Beautification MSTU Fund 1621 , the
proposed millage rate is 0.5000; th roijed-bac millage r ate is
0.4644. The pe cent change ft:om the rolled-bacJ : rate is
7 .67 percent.
Hawksridge Stormwater Pumping MSTU Fund 1622, the
proposed millage rate is 0 .0318; the rolled-back millage rate is
0 .0298. The percent change from the rolled-back rate is
6 . 71 percent.
Radio Road Beautification MSTU Fund 1625 , the proposed
millage rate is 0 .1000; the rolled-back millage rate is 0 .0000. This is
a reinstated m • lage rate, so there is no percent change ov er
rolled-back.
Forest Lakes Roadway and Drainage MSTU Fund 1626, the
proposed millage rate is 4 .0000; the rolled-back millage rate is
3 .7201 . The percent change from the rolled-back rate is
7 .52 percent.
Immokalee Beautification MSTU Fund 1629 , the proposed
millage rate is 1.0000; the rolled-back millage rate is 0.9521 . The
Page 47
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September 5, 2024
percent change from the rolled-back rate is 5.03 percent.
Bayshore Avalon Beautification MSTU Fund 1630, the
proposed millage rate is 2 .1104; the rolled-back millage rate is
1.8030. The percent change from the rolled-back rate is
17 .05 percent; 17 .05 percent.
Haldeman Creek Dredging MSTU Fund 1631, the proposed
millage rate is 1.0000; the rolled-back millage rate is 0.8154. The
percent change from the rolled-back rate is 22.64 percent.
Rock Road MSTU Fund 1632, the proposed millage rate is
0 .7224; the rolled-back millage rate is 0.7224. The percent change
from the rolled-back rate is 0 percent.
Vanderbilt Waterways MSTU Fund 1635 , the proposed millage
rate is 0 .3000; the rolled-back.millage rate • s 0 .2798. The percent
change from the rolled-back ate is 7 .22 percent.
Forest Lakes Debt Service Funa 2014, t e proposed millage rate
is 0.0000; the rolleo-back millage rate is 0.0000. The percent
change from the rolled-back rate is 0 yercent.
Blue SageM STU Fund 3080, the proposed millage rate is
3 .0000; the rolled-back millage rate is 2.8690. The percent change
from the rolled-back rate is 4 .57 percent.
ollier Councy Lighting Fund 1601 , the proposed millage rate is
0 .1025; the rolled-back mil age rate is 0 .0960 . The percent change
from the rolled-back rate is 6. 77 percent.
42nd A venue Southeast MSTU Fund 163 7, the proposed millage
rate is 1.0000; the rolled-back millage rate is 0.9858. The percent
change from the role -back rate is 1.44 percent.
Palm River Sidewalk MSTU Fund 1638, the proposed millage
rate is 0.5000; the rolled-back millage rate is 0 .4 777. The percent
change from the rolled-back rate is 4 .67 percent.
Private Road Emergency Repair Fund 1639, the proposed
millage rate is 0.0000; the rolled-back millage rate is 0 .0000. As a
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September 5, 2024
new MSTU, there is no calculated change from the rolled back, and
there is no calculated change from last year as well.
Pelican Baying MSTBU Fund 1008 , the proposed millage rate is
0 .0857 ; the rolled-back millage rate is 0.0792. The percent change
from the rolled-back rate is 8.21 percent.
Commissioners, the aggregate millage rate propos ed is 3 .7673,
the rolled-back millage rate is 3. 7702 , and the percent change from
the rolled-back millage rate is negative 0.08 percent.
And I'm going to look around to see if I got all those correct, and
I'm getting head nods , so ...
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Those four sitting behind
you , they're the ones we've got to watch.
MR. JOHNSON : We've got to ~ke ure four --i f five ofus
agree, we're good, right? Tl\at's ow it works, right? I think.
COMMISSIONER McDA IE~: Supe~ority.
MR. JOHNSON: All right. No we'll mpve on to the
resolution to adop the tentative • illage rates.
Item #lE
RESOLUTION 2024-158: ADOPTING THE TENTATIVE
MILLAGE RA TES
Commissioners, at this time , a motion to adopt the tentative
millage rates as read fo v Y '25 via resolution would be in order.
COMMISSIO ER McDANIEL: So moved.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: So moved.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL : Second.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Motion and second to adopt the
resolution. All in favor, say aye .
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
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COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: Aye .
CHAIRMAN HALL: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HALL: Good.
September 5, 2024
MR. JOHNSON: All right. And just wanted to just remind
you guys about this : If there isn't a unanimous vote at the next
meeting, there are a couple of these ~STU funds that require
supermajority. You can see there Victoria Park Drainage, Forest
Lakes, Bayshore, Vanderbilt, and Pelican Bay and there's one that
requires a unanimous vote. So at the ext meeting, if w ~don't get a
unanimous vote, we'll spli t ose up and deal with those ones on their
own.
Item #lF
RESOLUTIO 2024-159: ADOP ING THE AMENDED
TEN'PA,:I'IVE BUDGET
So will move on now to the resolution to adopt the amended
tentative budget. So at this point, I'll need a motion to adopt the
tentative budget. Your action on this item will include changes
discussed under Item 1 B as well as the changes discussed tonight
resulting from the adopted tentative millage rates at rolled-back for
the principal funds.
Changes from July include changes for the General Fund to roll
back, Water Pollution Control, Conservation Collier, and the
Unincorporated Area General Fund to roll back, and also , as we
discussed, the private road MSTU was brought back to zero.
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September 5, 2024
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'll make that motion,
Mr. Chairman.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Second.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Motion by Commissioner Saunders,
second by Commissioner Locastro. All in favor, say aye .
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Aye.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Aye .
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER KOWAL: [)le .
CHAIRMAN HALL: All opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HALL: So moved.
Item #lG
ANNOUNCEMENTOF ~HEFINA
MR. JOHNSO : And, final ~, Item lG is the announcement of
the final publicJlearing. The fi 1 pub1ic hearing on the FY '24/'25
Collie County budget wil be Thursaay, September 19th, 2024, at
5:05 p.m. in this building, Collier County Government Center, W.
Harmon Turner Building F, Third Floor, boardroom, Naples, Florida,
34112.
And with tliat, open for questions.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: I've already informed the
Chairman and the County Manager that on September 19th, I'll be
calling in. I have a conflict that I can't move, and I won't be able to
be here in person. So if there's any slides or anything that you can
get me ahead of time that I might not be able to, you know , get on my
laptop or whatever --I'll be in a place where I'll have full
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September 5, 2024
connectivity, but I just won't be able to be here.
MR. JOHNSON: Certainly. And we'll get you the agenda
packet next week for that, and then I'll also provide you with any
slides that we put together.
COMMISSIONER LoCASTRO: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN HALL: Anybody else?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN HALL: We're adjourned.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Let's go eat.
CHAIRMAN HALL: See you Tuesday.
*****~*
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September 5, 2024
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 7: 13 p.m.
ATTEST
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF
SPECIAL DISTRICTS DE ITS CONTROL
CHRIS H~CL, CHAIRMAN
CRYSTAL K. KINZEL,
These minutes approved by the Board on ____ _,. as
presented ______ or as corrected ____ _
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF FORT MYERS
COURT REPORTING BY TERRIL. LEWIS, REGISTERED
PROFESSIONAL COURT REPORTER, FPR-C, AND NOTARY
PUBLIC .
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