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County manager proposes FY27 budget with 5-cent tax increase to cover EMS, schools and maintenance
Summary
The county manager presented a recommended FY27 budget proposing a 5-cent property-tax increase (to 70 cents) to cover rising EMS contract costs, replace lost federal reimbursement, boost school funding, address deferred maintenance and restore the debt plan; total recommended budget ~ $127.86M.
Lee Countystaff presented a recommended FY27 budget that would increase the property-tax rate by five cents—from 65 to 70 cents—bringing the countyrecommended total budget for the year to approximately $127.86 million, a 7.09% increase over the prior year.
County leadership identified five primary drivers for the tax increase: a projected emergency-medical-services contract cost increase (estimated at $1.77 million and accounting for about 1.73 cents of the tax increase); replacement of federal reimbursement revenue lost to changes in the federal/state food-and-nutrition funding split (around 2.7 cents when combined with other drivers); one penny dedicated to raising Lee County Schools current-expense funding (to about $2,522 per pupil); one penny to address deferred building-maintenance backlogs (17 projects recommended at a combined estimated cost); and one penny to restore the county's debt-plan funding commitment.
The manager described limited personnel changes, with only one position conversion recommended (a deputy formerly contracted) and market-based adjustments for about 18 positions; a 2.2% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) plus pay-plan steps for eligible employees was recommended. The budget also accounts for substantial retirement-contribution increases and estimated health-insurance premium increases.
Staff emphasized the budget is balanced under current revenue projections and that sales-tax growth has improved collections, but warned the county is monitoring state-level actions that could affect revenues. The manager proposed work-session dates and scheduled a public hearing on the budget for June 1, with final adoption to follow.
Commissioners asked detailed questions about revenue timing, EMS contract negotiation status and staffing implications; the first-reading approval of the EMS ordinance (FirstHealth) earlier in the meeting was connected to the budget projections.
