Board of County Commissioners Budget Workshop (2024-07-09)

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FLORIDA Budget Workshop July 9, 2024 Convened: 9:03 AM Adjourned: 10:03 AM 1. CALL TO ORDER - CATHY TOWNSEND, CHAIR BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS The meeting was called to order at 9:02 AM by Chair Cathy Townsend, District No. 5. Present Commissioner Cathy Townsend District 5, Commissioner Linda Bartz District 3, Commissioner Larry Leet District 2, Commissioner Jamie Fowler District 4 Excused Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky District 1 Also Present George Landry, County Administrator Mayte Santamaria, Deputy County Administrator Jason Davis, Deputy County Administrator Jennifer Hill, OMB Director Jennifer Garrity, Interim Budget Manager Dr. Patricia Aronica, District Chief Medical Examiner Kimberly Warren, Finance Director Clint Sperber, St. Lucie County Health Department Director William Wims, New Horizons Chief Executive Officer Lisa Hatch, Executive Director of the HANDS Clinic Gertrude Walker, Supervisor of Elections Michelle R. Miller, Clerk of Court Pete Tesch, President of the Economic Development Council Keith Pearson, St. Lucie County Sheriff Katrina Slay, Agenda Coordinator Sydney Halleran, Agenda Coordinator Vera Smith, Deputy Clerk Recording Secretary PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 2. DISCUSSION ITEMS Chair Townsend opened the meeting for Day 2 of the 2024-2025 budget discussion for the Constitutional Officers, Judicial Agencies, and Outside Agencies and acknowledged the Citizens Budget Committee.

BOCC Budget Workshop Tuesday, July 9, 2024 9:00 AM 2 | P a g e Constitutional Officers Sheriff's Office Jennifer Hill, OMB Director, presented an overview of the Sheriff's adopted budget for the fiscal year 2024. There was a transition of inmate medical services provided within the jail, where that expense was shifted from the Sheriff's Office budget to the Board of County Commissioners budget. In the fiscal year 2024/2025 adopted budget, an adjustment was made to reflect no expenses related to inmate medical services or the previous Wellpath contract services. The Sheriff’s Office adopted 2024 budget without inmate medical expenses was $96.6 million; the requested budget is $105.7 million, or just under a $9.1 million increase. The requested budget indicates $6 million related to salary and benefits, $1.8 million in operating expenses, and $1.3 million in capital outlay. The review of the Sheriff’s Office adopted budget for the last 5 years shows the following breakdown; for 2020 there was a $1 million increase, 2021 $2.2 million, 2022 $3.9 million, 2023 $4.4 million, and the current year, the budget increases by $6.5 million. The fiscal year 2025 recommended budget currently includes $100.6 million in funding for the Sheriff’s Office, which reflects a $4 million increase over the current year's budget. Sheriff Keith Pearson addressed the Board regarding the budget request and advised the main focus of the request is to increase pay for the starting entry-level deputies and civilian staff. The cost of increase throughout the County and associated services without pay increases for employees is at a 3.8% or $3.7 million increase to keep the doors open. Also, there is a $1.2 million radio purchase that was already made, and the deputies already have the radios in hand. The Sheriff's office aims to increase pay for entry-level deputies and staff by $6,000. This equates to an 18% raise for a $16 an-hour employee, but it only equates to a 3% raise for a topped-out deputy at the sheriff's office, the major command staff, and so forth. The increase will be fair across the board for all employees. Chair Townsend inquired whether the requested $6,000 increase per employee would be an ongoing annual expense given the budget. Sheriff Pearson advised that the request takes into account the current economic changes and the need to increase starting pay to retain current employees and prevent them from moving to neighboring counties. Also, it will not be factored into the FRS. Chair Townsend also suggested collaborating with the Sheriff's Office to create a 5-year plan for budgeting and resource allocation. Clerk of Courts Ms. Hill presented an overview of the Clerk's Office's adopted budget for the fiscal year 2024. The budget for 2023 was initially set at $3.1 million, and the new request is for $4 million, reflecting a $905,000 increase. The adjustments to salaries, health insurance, and additional positions total $900,000. In the operational portion of the budget, the technology portion for services paid to County IT in the requested budget is a $39,000 increase while the remaining operating expenses are decreasing by $72,434, which totals to a $905,541 increase. In the review of charges, the Board of County Commissioners is considering reducing the budget for information technology services by $26,384 in the coming year. This reduction is due to the separation from the County for certain services of constitutional officers. The Clerk will now be hiring IT staff to provide some of the

BOCC Budget Workshop Tuesday, July 9, 2024 9:00 AM 3 | P a g e services. Overall, the recommended budget with adjustments is $3.9 million, or an $839,791 increase. Supervisor of Elections Ms. Hill gave an overview of the current adopted budget which is $5,230,348 million. The requested budget is approximately the same amount, which reflects slight increase of $14,760. This year's budget includes the regular operating budget and a separate budget for the presidential primary. Judicial Agencies Guardian Ad Litem Ms. Hill provided an overview on a portion of the Guardian Ad Litem budget request funded by the County. The total budget is being requested would decrease by $5,500, with St. Lucie County's portion constituting 50% or $2,750. Medical Examiner Ms. Hill provided an overview for the medical examiner's budget submitted with their total expenses, and adjusted to reflect how much money they expect to return at the end of the year. The submitted budget also delineated the agreed upon separation of costs between each of the four counties. The total budget requested is a $407,329 or 9.83% increase and, when adjusted for the unspent funding this year, it reflects a $32,328 or 1.02% increase for St. Lucie County’s portion. When split between the four counties based on the number of deaths and autopsies, the County’s portion will increase by $16,003 or 1.09%. Ms. Hill also advised the County received a $1 million legislative appropriation this year which offset the expenses for all four counties. The County has accumulated $5.7 million and the budget going forward in the five-year capital improvement plan set aside an additional $5.5 million. While the cost of the new facility is still unknown, the County has set aside a reasonable estimated amount for the agreed upon portion. Dr. Patricia Aronica, District Chief Medical Examiner, addressed the Board and updated the Board on the progress of the new building and expressed gratitude for their efforts. State Attorney Ms. Hill provided an overview of the State Attorney's budget. The current budget was $1.5 million and the requested amount is $1,791,973, reflecting a $272,972 increase. A majority of the budget is in technology, while $25,240 is in their regular operating expenses and $41,319 is in the victim services budget. During discussion with the State Attorney’s Office, it was advised that the majority of the technology expenses were incurred through software contracts, where a 3-year agreement was paid all at once. It is not expected to continue every year.

BOCC Budget Workshop Tuesday, July 9, 2024 9:00 AM 4 | P a g e Court Administration Ms. Hill provided an overview of the overall request for the entire 19th Judicial Circuit. The current year budget is $3.6 million and the new year request is $3.7 million or a $100,127 increase. St. Lucie County’s portion is $88,547 with $31,931 in technology and $56,616 in the general operating budget. Outside Agencies Ms. Hill provided an overview of the 2024-2025 requested budgets for the following outside agencies: Health Department, New Horizons, Soil & Water Conservation; Transportation Planning Organization (TPO), Economic Development Council; Summer of Success, HANDS, and Executive Roundtable Dues. The Department of Health’s requested budget is the same as last year's budget. New Horizons requested their budget to increase by $119,189. For the Soil & Water Conservation, the County will fund one position. The adjustment is related to the changes in the cost of living for that position as well as the health insurance. The Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) budget did not change. The Economic Development Council's (EDC) current budget is $300,000 and the County Administrator is recommending an increase of $25,000 to increase the challenge grant portion of their budget. The HANDS clinic's current budget is $300,000 and the request for next year is $400,000, which is included in the recommended budget. The Summer of Success program's current budget is $150,000 and next year’s budget is planned to be the same. However, there is some one-time funding coming in from Allegany Franciscan Ministries for $70,000. While the budget remains the same for the program, less will come from the County for this one year. The Executive Roundtable Dues are budgeted at the same level as last year at $48,200. Clint Sperber, St. Lucie County Health Department Director, and William Wims, New Horizons Chief Executive Officer, addressed the Board and expressed gratitude for their continued support. Lisa Hatch, Executive Director of the HANDS Clinic, addressed the Board and provided an update on the mental health program and the start of a mobile unit at the UP’s Center on Orange Avenue in Fort Pierce. She also expressed gratitude for their continued support. Economic Development Council Pete Tesch, President of the Economic Development Council (EDC), addressed the Board and provided an overview of the program regarding mid-year reports, preliminary budget, and executive summary. He mentioned the Costco Warehouse along I-95 and Okeechobee Road and the P1 Motorsports project. He advised on the upcoming job creation projects by Project LOOP and Project Sandwich, which were presented to the Board recently. Over the 7+ years, there have been 31 projects in terms of expansion of local industry, and over 48 attractions. Currently, the EDC has worked on one expansion and five new projects in the last six months with considerable capital investment and job creation. Recently, Cheney Brothers opened their new facility, with nearly 300 people already employed, and Excel International, a technology-based manufacturer, built their new facility in Tradition and is now operational. The EDC is focused on job creation and trying to increase the average earnings per worker in Saint Lucie County. He also mentioned the Amazon Distribution Center. He advised strategic planning and public-private partnerships have helped St

BOCC Budget Workshop Tuesday, July 9, 2024 9:00 AM 5 | P a g e Lucie County's economy grow, with a notable decrease in the poverty rate over the past 10 years. Wrap-up Ms. Hill, initiated a discussion to address any questions from the Board about any outstanding issues from the workshop. The discussion focused on the additional revenue generated from the July 1 property values and the millage rates, to reach a consensus on the allocation and proposed changes. The focus of the budget was on the 10 priority areas that the Board adopted last year based on feedback from the Citizen Engagement Survey. Ms. Hill reflected on the July 8th presentation regarding the primary recommendations for funding allocations for the Clerk of the Courts, the County 5-year Capital Plan, additional funding for the Reserves, government campus, inmate medical, communications division, traffic-calming, as well as the infrastructure surtax extension. Also, the replacement of any secondary recommendations, which were providing additional funding for the Sheriff's Office, new lifeguards, and towers for an additional beach, as well as additional funding for Information Technology. Ms. Hill summarized the main recommendation changes, which included reducing the Reserve level from $1 million and decreasing funding for the Cultural Affairs Council from $185,000 to $75,000 as a challenge grant. The savings would be redirected towards hiring new lifeguards and building new towers. However, with the new lifeguards and towers, there was also discussion about getting the City of Fort Pierce to assist with the cost. While staff has identified $300,000 in potential funding, the plan is to follow the Board's guidance and reach out to the City of Fort Pierce, for the amount to decrease from $300,000 so, instead of reducing the Reserves to $810,000, they could get it closer to the $1 million which was the original recommendation. Chair Townsend commented and advised that the adjustments were made accordingly and the Board agreed. Ms. Hill gave an overview of the items that the County could not get from the upcoming budget. This includes the largest item: the Public Works Division in the 5-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for the unfunded projects, with an estimated cost of $363 million, although the actual amount is closer to $480 million. Some of the projects were either reduced funding and pushing the projects out, or not able to fund at all, and some have to be addressed with future debt. Ms. Hill discussed the recommended millage rate in the budget, including an aggregate millage rate of 8.0351 mills, which is a reduction over 5 years from 0.8408 mills in the aggregate millage rate, which equates to $32 million in recurring revenue reduction. She provided an example overview of the TRIM notice with a variety of taxing districts scheduled to go out in August as well as the actual property tax bill that goes out at the end of October/early November. There are four (4) changes to the individual changes to millage rate, including the General fund which is recommended to go down by 0.05 mills, the Unincorporated MSTU and Law Enforcement MSTU are both adjusted by 0.07 mills offsetting each other, and South Hutchinson Island Beach Erosion Control going down by 0.02 mills. This has an overall impact on the aggregate millage rate of 0.0655 mills reduction or just a little over $1.9 million reduction in the taxes being collected in association with these rate changes. The impact of the individual tax bill changes depending on the location within the County, City, or Unincorporated area. Other than Hutchinson Island, residents are seeing a 0.0500 mill

BOCC Budget Workshop Tuesday, July 9, 2024 9:00 AM 6 | P a g e reduction. This reduction equates to $5 in taxes per $100,000 for a homestead property. For a property valued at $400,000, this reduction equates to a change of around $17.50. In addition to the rate changes, there is a 0.02 millage rate reduction for the MSTU in South Hutchinson Island. South Hutchinson Island equates to $7.00 per $100,000 of taxable value and $400,000 homestead property equates to $24.50. George Landry, the County Administrator, explained the tax savings for homesteaded properties ($294) and non-homesteaded properties ($336) as part of a 5-year strategy to reduce the millage rate set out by the Board. He presented the consecutive reduction, and its overall impact and proposed millage rate reduction for consideration, with the ability to adjust until September. Chair Townsend commented and acknowledged the Board for reducing property taxes by 9.5% over 5 years despite rising property values. George Landry, the County Administrator, discussed the collective bargaining agreement renewal expected before October, revisions to the employee handbook, purchasing limits, and travel policy for commissioners between now and September. He also mentioned organizing a charity golf tournament event in the fiscal year 2025 to support local nonprofits chosen by the commissioners. The Board agreed with the recommended budget and no objections were made. Chair Townsend thanked the Board and all staff for their participation and concluded the budget workshop. 3. ADJOURNMENT With no other information to be brought for consideration before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 10:03 AM. Please note: Final minutes are recorded in the official minute books filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court and available for inspection upon request.