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Seminole County School Board adopts tentative millage and 2025-26 budget
Summary
The Seminole County School Board approved resolutions adopting tentative millage rates and a tentative 2025-26 budget at a July 22 public hearing after a presentation on required rates, rollback comparisons and estimated homeowner impacts; no public comment was received.
The Seminole County School Board on July 22 approved resolutions adopting tentative millage rates and a tentative 2025-26 budget after a staff presentation explaining the Truth in Millage process and the district's proposed rates. The board voted unanimously to adopt the tentative millage and the tentative budget; there were no public comments at the hearing.
Board finance presenter Mr. Pavelcek, a district staff member, told the board that the Truth in Millage statute (TRIM) requires public notices and two hearings and summarized the district's proposed rates, saying, "TRIM is about transparency to taxpayers." The board's proposed rates include a required local effort millage of 0.998 mills, a prior period funding adjustment of 0.003 mills, basic discretionary operating of 0.748 mills and a capital outlay millage of 1.5 mills, for a total proposed millage of 5.249 mills.
The presentation compared the proposed rates to last year and to the rollback rates that would generate the same revenue as the previous year on current taxable values. Mr. Pavelcek said the required local effort millage to be levied exceeds its rollback rate by 3.19 percent and the total millage exceeds its rollback rate by 3.63 percent, and he said the increases over rollback rates are "necessary to fund the operating and capital outlay needs of the district." A sample homeowner calculation in the presentation showed an additional $32.66 in property taxes for a homestead property after the homestead assessment change; the presenter said the assessed-value increase used in that example was 2.9 percent.
The board was told the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) is the state program that allocates state and local funding to districts and that the legislature sets the components of the required local effort rate. The presenter also said the tentative budget materials provided to board members exclude most carryover balances while the district closes out the prior fiscal year; the final budget will be presented to the board on Sept. 16 and will include updated carryovers and actual fund balances as of June 30.
No members of the public submitted comment forms or spoke during the public-comment portion of the hearing. After a brief opportunity for board questions ' during which members thanked staff for providing materials and said they had no further questions ' the board moved and seconded approval of the two resolutions and called the question. The motions carried with all present board members voting in the affirmative.
The actions taken were tentative: the district will return with a final budget for adoption at the required later hearing in September, at which time carryovers and final fund balances will be reflected in the budget ordinance. The board did not take any additional direction to staff beyond accepting the tentative millage rates and tentative budget as presented.
