On May 23rd, the Board of Commissioners held an open session. The agenda included a vote on the FY25 budget proposal. Despite Commissioner Vigliotti’s sole vote in favor, the motion to adopt the proposed FY25 budget was ultimately defeated in a 4-to-1 vote.
The Commissioners called a 30-minute recess to regroup and hold individual meetings about the best way to proceed with the budget.
After returning from recess, Commissioner Guerin motioned to restrict $80,000 in funding for the Library System. This restriction would remain in place until the Library Board conducted two agreed-upon studies. The studies would examine the potential for Sunday branch openings and the implementation of late return fines for adult patrons. The Commissioners unanimously approved the motion. In previous budget meetings, the Commissioners had voted to restrict $169,000 in FY25 funding for the Library System, but they had removed that restriction prior to today’s meeting.
In a 4-1 vote, the commissioners passed a motion from Commissioner Guerin to amend the budget. The amendment ties any revenue increases to a reevaluation and potential reduction of the Recordation Tax, as proposed in the FY25 budget. Commissioner Kiler explained the motion, stating “we are going to evaluate revenue and could adjust the Recordation Tax based on what we hear about revenues.” This revenue evaluation is scheduled for the end of August 2024. Commissioner Rothstein cast the lone dissenting vote against this motion.
The Commissioners voted again on the FY25 Budget, which incorporated the recently made changes. The motion passed in a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Kiler, Guerin, and Vigliotti voting in favor, and Commissioners Rothstein and Gordon voting against.
County staff from the Budget Office tells The Observer that the adopted FY2025 Budget will be available for public viewing on the county’s website at some point next week.
The budget does not include any property tax rate increase for FY2025. The budget includes increases to the county’s Recordation Rate fee from $5.00/$500 to $6.50/$500 ($1.50/$500 increase). The budget ordinance also includes fee increases for utilities.
The county’s FY 25 operating budget is funded 48% from property tax, 37% from income tax, and 3% from recordation, with the remainder supported by other revenue sources including building permits, 911 service fees, investment income and others.
You can view the full meeting from May 23rd HERE
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