The County Commission decided to hold the general fund millage rate at 6.9912 going into budget hearings for FY 2016. This means that they will not be able to raise the millage rate during the public hearings, only lower it or keep it the same. During the budgeting process, the Sheriff’s Office and Supervisor of Elections will most likely face cuts to their proposed budgets as both offices had significant increases over their FY 2015 budgets. While the Commission decided to keep the general fund millage rate the same, they are giving themselves to ability to raise the EMS MSTU during the budget hearings by tentatively setting the rate at .67, an increase of .0366 mills over FY 2015. For a $100,000 in taxable value, you’d be paying $3.66 more.
County Administrator Leonard Sossaman explained their options for setting the tentative millage rate to the Board of County Commissioners. He explained that if they wanted to fund all the requests from board departments and constitutional officers it would require a millage rate that would go from the current 6.9912 to 7.5861. That would be an increase of .5949. Another option would be to provide sufficient funding in the general fund to cover any monies the fire department would require in an emergency situation.
In July, the BOCC set a fire assessment rate increase at 3% for 5 years, which leaves them having to dip further into their reserves, below minimum levels set previously. In the event of an emergency, they will be able to take from the county’s general fund, to avoid using their reserves below a certain point. Therefore the county millage rate would have to go up from 6.9912 to 7.9912 to cover the general fund if the fire department finds itself in dire straits. “It would provide the latitude so that the Chief should not have to essentially deplete the reserves of the fire service,” explained Sossaman.
Another option he explained would be not to raise the millage rate at all. This would require a budget reduction for all board departments and constitutional officers of approximately $4.18 million. The Sheriff’s Department would have to reduce their proposed budget by roughly $1.5 million, the Supervisor of Elections by $550,000 and board departments would be reduced by a little over $2 million.
Commissioner Dukes stated that he is extremely willing to support the fire department should need arise, but he will not under any circumstance vote for a property tax millage increase. He explained that he voted for the gas tax increase because it is a tax that affects everyone, not just property owners. “It’s to the point that property owners carry the whole burden for the whole county and I don’t think that is fair and I think that we should live within our means,” Dukes explained.
Commissioner Rowden jovially replied, “I have to stop and look at Commissioner Dukes here and say, ‘Wow, we agree!’ ” She continued, “I agree wholeheartedly and I think that… we need to be efficient and we need to be effective and we can do that with what we have.”
Commissioner Holcomb stated, “Keeping the rate at 6.9912 is the best thing we can do for our property owners.” Vice-Chairman Adkins agreed on a zero tax increase for the property owners as well as Chairman Nicholson.
Justifying the proposed rate increase for the EMS MSTU from .5534 to .67, George Zoettlein stated that there has been a 170% increase in the cost of drugs and medicines for EMS services. He also explained that medicare and medicaid, set a maximum price they will pay for transport fees which is well below what they charge. Additionally, many uninsured individuals never pay for the EMS services they receive. Fire Chief Scott Hechler stated that EMS rates since 2006 have not kept up with inflation and have actually been lowered. He also clarified that certain types of medications they are required to carry for Advanced Life Support have increased 390% and 1700%, which they have no control over.
Commissioners agreed to tentatively set the EMS MSTU rate at .67. A lower rate can be adopted during the public hearings, but not a higher rate. Rates for the transportation trust fund, County Health Trust Fund and Stormwater Management MSTU will all remain the same at 0.7091 mills, 0.1102 mills and 0.1139 mills respectively.
The first public hearing is set for September 15th at 5:01pm.