County To Discuss Sheriff's Building Financing

Design and construction of the new Highlands County Sheriff's Building will start early next year as planned, according to the proposed county budget for the new 2008-09 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.

County Administrator Michael Wright said there never was any doubt about borrowing approximately $11.2 million to replace the cramped and, in some areas, outdated facility which houses the county's law enforcement personnel.

The sheriff's building and other major capital improvements, as well as how every county tax dollar will be spent in the next fiscal year, will be the topic of tonight's public hearing on the budget.

The hearing, in the county commission's meeting chambers, is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. so that people who work during the day can attend. State law requires two such evening public hearings before the county commissioners can adopt the next year's budget.

Key Budget Points:

•No layoffs of county employees, although the number of people employed by the county commission, now slightly more than 400, might be reduced through attrition;

•The county's millage rate of 7.3544 mills will stay the same, meaning taxes won't rise;

•County commission employees and workers in the tax collector's office are scheduled for 3 percent pay raises, while 4 percent raises are scheduled for employees in the sheriff's office, tax appraiser's office and the supervisor of elections office.

Sheriff Susan Benton has requested pay raises of 4 percent for law enforcement officers and staff and 2 percent for civilian employees of her office.

The pay raises and millage rate, of course, are not final and could be changed. All numbers in the budget become final when the five-member board of county commissioners approves the budget in mid-September.

At the budget workshop at Tuesday's county commission meeting, Wright and the commissioners talked with Benton about the new building for her operations.

The only question about the project raised was not whether to go forward with the project, but whether the county might delay borrowing the $11.2 million in an attempt to get a more favorable interest rate from the financial markets.

One thing not included in the proposed budget is a decrease in tax revenue from raising the break on property taxes received by low-income senior homeowners who already get the Save Our Homes tax break.

Two senior citizens have asked that, as allowed by state law, the commissioners increase the deduction on taxable value from the current $5,000, possibly up to $50,000, the maximum allowed by state law.

Commissioners have heard that request several times over the past year but have not given an answer. Their answer, apparently, is in the proposed budget, as there is no proposal to increase that tax break.

About 1,500 low-income seniors receive that additional tax break in Highlands County. By dropping the taxable value of each of their homes or mobile homes by $5,000, the county loses $55,155 in tax revenue each year.

Since Wright did not put an increase in that specific tax break into the budget, the tax break for low-income senior homeowners won't go up, unless the county commissioners add it to the budget.

The public hearing will begin with a detailed presentation by staff of the county's Office of Management and Budget of the entire proposed budget.

Once the presentation is completed, the meeting will be opened to citizens for questions and/or comments.