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BCC Minutes 09/09/1987 B - -- - \. Naples, Florida, September 9, 1987 LET l¡ BE REMEMBERED, that the Board of Countf Commissioners in and for th~ County of Collier, and also acting as the Board of Zoning Appeals and as the governing board(s) Gf such special districts as ~ðV~ been ~reated according to law and having conducted business b~rein, met on this date at 7:00 P.M. in SPECIAL BUDGET SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Center, East Naples, Florida, with the following members present: CHAIRMAN: Max A. Hasse, Jr. VICE-CHAIRMAN: Arnold Lee Glass John A. pistor Burt L. Saunders Anne Goodnight ALSO PRESENT: Beverly Kueter, Deputy Clerk; Neil Dorri1l, County Manager; Ken Cuyler, County Attorney; Lori zalka, Budget Director; Stðn Litsinger, Jennifer Pike, and Jean Gansel, Budget Analysts. Page 1 &OO~ 107 FA(,( 353 \. SEPTEMBER 9, 1987 ~80LU~87-206 ADOPTING THE AMENDED TENTATIVE FY 1987/88 BUDGET L'~gal notice having been publishen in the Naples Daily News on sepcember S, 1987, as evidenced by Affidavit of publication filed with tne Clerk, p.;blic hearing was opened to consider the amended tentative FY 1987/88 County budget. Chairman Hasse advised this meeting is being held to receive public input on the tentative FY 1987/88 County Budget and introduced Budget Director Zalka. Budget Director Zalka stated the total Collier County budget for FY 1987/88 is $192,000,000 which is a 34% increase over FY 1876/87. She stated the total budget includes all capital projects, all enterprise funds, and all County departments. She stated that 20% of all County revenue that makes up-the $192,000,000 nudget is comprised of property taxes. She stated thct everyone received a notice of pro- posed property taxes which reflected tax increases of 18.5% on a County-wide basis. She advised thdt since the time the nQtices were sent, the Board of County Commissioners has been reviewing the budget in det~il and have made changes that will decrease the tax increase to 12.5%. She noted that the major change which reduced the increase was a $6,000,000 reserve for future capital outlay was cut in half, based on the assumption that the new one-cent sales tax will be used for capital facilities. Ms. Zalka also noted that the reduction in t,e capital outlay Page 2 &OOK 107 F~r.t 3'55 '001 107 PA~t 3"56 SEPTEMBER 9, 1987 reservp ~ill also reduce the unincorporated area tax increase from 45% to 28.. Sle advised that this portic, is shown on the tax notices on the line called M.S.T.U. She said the two other taxing units which re';eived re~'Jctions are: 1) the Ochop-=e Fire District went from 4 mills to 3 Mills, and 2) Sabal Palm Road went from 17 mills to 8.5 mills. Ms. Zalka explained the 12.5% tax increase is due to the capital ~utlay reserve of 5%, the She~iff's Depa~tment of 4.5%, new services in the County Manager Agency of 3%. She stated the unincorporated area tax increase of 27.6% is a result of the capital outlay needs fo~ both this year in Drainage and Parks & Rec~eation and the future reserve. The following people spoke in opposition to tL~ proposed tax increase: John Meeks, Jeff Davis, John~opovic, Joseph Platte, Robert Montgomery, Redmond Jones, and Robert Wilson, citing taxes are too high already, the County should no~ let the State dictat9 what needs to be done in Collier County, the p~ojects should have been done 10 years ago, the County is not being run efficiently, Collier County is absorbing more than its' share of State mandates as opposed to other counties, and the School Board should not be an independent agency. In response to the speakers, County Manager Dorrill explained that the Drainage Assessment is for a district which includes benefitted property owners on the east side of Vanderbilt La;oon; the County Engineer has various duties and the work required by a citizen Page 3 I I' - - - ~-_..,.... - - - \. SEPTEMBER 9, 1987 reque3ted ~etition is contracteò tc avoid putting more people on the County payroll; the level of service standards for the Growth Management. r.egislation were studied and recommended by a Citizens Advisory Commlttee consisting of 25 people in the community and are based on per capita figures; and the one-cent sales tax issue is pro- posed for 5 years only. Commissioner Pistor explained that if Collier County must accomplish certain things 1nd if the sales tax proposal does not pass the referendum, the County will be in a position of trying to raise between $12,000,000 and $15,000,000. He advised there are presently approximately 20 counties in Florida which are already at their 10 Mill taxing cap and these counties receive more money from the State than Collier County, which has ~ _millage rate of about 4%. He stated that the Board of County Commissioners has consistently eliminated capital improvement projects to avoid raising taxes and the State man- date is forcing the County to catch up. He noted that in dr~inage alone there is a shortfall of about $20,000,000. Commissioner Glass stated that every county is going through the same procedure. He said issues need to be addressed and this Board is attempting to accomplish the task with the least amount of ad valorem taxes. He noted that the Board is presently reviewing impact fees to make certain that growth is paying for growth. Ee said the School Board, at present, has no impact fees and is funèing everything through bonding. He said the one-cent tax is neEded so people who are Page 4 eOOK 107 PA~r 3'57 '00( 107 f'\r.{ 358 SEPTEMBER 9, 1987 here only ~emporarily will help pay for the services they are using. Comm~ssioner Saunders explained th~t the Florida Constitution ~ets up the form of County Governments and the School Board and all Constitutional Officers, such as Sheriff, Property Appraiser, Tax Collector, are all separate entities over which the Board of County Commissioners has no control. He said there are a few counties in which the people have voted for a Charter form of Government and in those counties, the Schoo~ Board is under the control of the County Commission. Mr. Bob Moates, citizen, stated that he does not mind paying his taxes, however, he objects to paying for services he dves not have at this time. He stated he owns property in the J & C Industrial Park and they are being taxed for improvements that hale not been done. He stated the project started in 1981 and .it looks as if the services will not be available until 1991 County Manager Dorrill there are three large assessmen~ projects which are in the same situation. He said the other two are the Pine Ridge Industrial Park project and the Naples Production Park. He stated these three projects were industrial subdivisions developed prior to adoption of County Subdivision Rules and Regulations, none of the streets or drainage were built in accordance with County codes and they have never been accepted by the County anè are still private streets. He said the easements, rights-of-way, and water and sewer facilities were never installed. He advised tl1e Board of County Page So " i' - - - \. SEPTEMBER 9, 1987 Commissioners was responding to cltiz~n petitions to make the improve- ments and .there is approximately $l8,000,000 in the bimodal bond pool set aside specifically for these three projects. Mr. Dorrill stated tt~ two major problems holding up these projects are: 1) the lack (,f deGicated right-of-way to build roads to County standards and also for ~ater/sewer lines, street lighting and drainage facilities, and 2) contL~uing negotiations with both the Property Appraiser and the Tax Collector to do the billing associated with an assessment pro- ject. He advised that historically the County's delinquent assess- ments on these projects run as high as 25% and it is hard to convince bondholders to buy municipal bonds on that basis and Staff is working toward having the assessment included as part of the tax bill so that failure to pay a delinquency could be taken to a certificate sale, or maybe have the Tax Collector do ~ separate billing because his ability to collect money is better than the Board's. Mr. John Keschl, Mr. John Veit, and Mr. Richard Wood also addressed concerns over people paying their taxes, inefficient admi- nistration, and the one-cent sales tax. Budget Director Zalka noted for the record that 9 letters have been received in opposition to the FY 1987/88 tax increase. Commissioner Pistor moved, seconded by Commissioner Saundars and oarried unani~ously, that Resolution 87-206, the Amended FY 1987/88 Tentative Budget, be adopted. (appended) Ms. Zalka then reiterated the tentative millage rates: Page 6 aOOK 107 m~ 3"59 -""'--~. ^"."""~,.~-_._,,,..,.,;----- ...-..--- ".... lOOK 107/Ar,[ 380 SEPTEMBER 9, 1987 COU:1ty-wide: 4.4493 mills Unincorporated Area: .6212 mills Aggregate Tax Rate: 4.9534 mi Us 12.5% increase 28% increase 14.3% increase Chðirman Hasse reminded everyone there will be a final public .learing on the County budget on Monday, September 21, 1987 at 7:00 p.m. *** There being no further business for the Good of the County, the meeting was adjQUrned by Order of the Chair - Time: 8:30 P.M. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS/ BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS ;;:;12 k? MAX A. HAsse~~ ATTEST: JAMES C. GILES, CLERK ~~~£!.é' These min~t~s approved by the Board on as presentß'dv'";"~ or as corrected - .' ..... ", ~'~1'/'~,r/ " . . ~., . . . ~ \.' \. ' :": .·...··:·;';:..::~<·C.. '. " i' Page 7 - - - "~.,...~,...,.."."._.".~,_..._._-~-