Nassau County, Florida $12 Million Budget Hole

Balancing the Nassau County budget is a difficult undertaking this year. In future years, as property values rebound, the task will become much easier. But for now, it will take a gravedigger’s skill to fill in a gaping $12 million hole. Read more by Steve Nicklas…

EDITOR’S NOTE: Contributing columnist, Steve Nicklas, expresses his views and insight on various topics in Marketplace column.

Steve Nicklas
Steve Nicklas

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Nassau County commissioners are digging out of a $12 million budget hole with a shovel and a calculator.

The shovel is used to unearth unnecessary expenses, and the calculator helps to determine what is worthwhile. Commissioners should also be using an iron pick – to help them choose between what to take out and what to keep.

It has been a strenuous process of austerity this year, and in recent years. However, it appears county officials can finally see the light of a balanced budget. How they get there is the telling story.

Here’s a granular review of what they’ve done and what they might do between now and when they adopt the new budget, from the pebbles of smaller cutbacks to the rocks of major reductions.

— Assess a new fire tax. Someone apparently sounded the alarm – this was a bad idea from the beginning. Commissioners have been considering a tax for residents and businesses to help defray the costs of fire protection. Fortunately, this appears to have died a fiery death. The $217 tax per residence was bad enough, but businesses were going to be assessed by the size of their properties. Due to public opposition and a bout of realism, county officials are looking elsewhere for revenues.

— Increase the property tax rate. This re-appeared as a replacement for the fire tax. It’s easy for commissioners to choose this option, because they couch it and justify it by saying they are increasing the rate to generate similar tax revenues as last year. You see, as property values fall (like they have done for five years now), the same tax rate would produce less revenues – not a bad thing, by the way. But after years of holding the line on taxes and making ends meet by reducing expenses through each department, county officials feel they have gone as far as they can go.

— Use $30 million in reserves to balance the budget. This is the recommendation of county clerk and comptroller John Crawford. In in this low-interest rate environment, the millions of dollars (as many as $80 million) in county coffers are earning practically nothing. Therefore, it’s just sitting there – much of it is committed already, while some $30 million qualifies as untethered reserve funds. This sounds like a workable solution, as opposed to raising taxes. Also, for some of the money that is so-called “committed,” county officials can obviously vote to un-commit it (from proposed road projects, buildings, etc.). This sounds like the best idea yet.

— Delay using $4 million for a road project. Another practical idea. Constructing parallel side roads to remove congestion from State Highway 200 is a worthy project. However, not when the $4 million it will cost can be used to help balance the budget.

— Eliminate funding for replacement vehicles. Give the person who came up with this idea an accommodation. Saving $2 million by not buying new county vehicles to replace older ones is probably the best idea yet. Kudos.

— Avoid paying $50,000 for a mailing to explain the fire tax. By nixing the fire tax idea, county officials will not have to notify residents and businesses about its implementation. In addition, the county may be able to recoup some of the $47,000 it paid to a Tallahassee consultant for work on the issue.

— Treat the constitutional officers like the other department heads. While county officials have held the line against spending within their departments, they have not had as much success with constitutional officers (who are elected). For instance, new sheriff Bill Leeper is proposing a $16 million budget for his department that calls for additional funding for new positions, new vehicles and a new building.

Balancing the county budget is a difficult undertaking this year. In future years, as property values rebound, the task will become much easier. But for now, it will take a gravedigger’s skill to fill in a gaping $12 million hole.