Wakulla County board to target rolled-back millage for preliminary budget, will include nonprofit requests but delay contracts until after Nov. 3

A staff member opened the Wakulla County budget workshop and told commissioners, "This is the first of three workshops in the fiscal year 2627 budget development process," and outlined the schedule for a preliminary balanced budget on July 13, a final workshop Aug. 17 and public hearings Sept. 8 and Sept. 22.

The board focused on how to set millage amid uncertainty from a pending constitutional amendment and state revenue estimates. The staff member warned commissioners that the county must adopt a budget in September even though the amendment could reduce property-tax revenue, saying, "If the constitutional amendment passes in November, we would come to you with a plan to... throttle." The staff reviewed fund-balance figures (starting just over $6 million, projected year-end about $6.25 million) and presented three millage scenarios: holding current 7.9 mills (estimated to increase ad valorem revenue by ~5.47% and spend down about $960,000 of cash), a rolled-back rate of roughly 7.8348 mills (about +4.6% revenue, spending down ~$1.1M) and a deeper cut to 7.4 mills (about -1.2% revenue, spending down ~$2.2M).

Commissioners debated tradeoffs between spending down reserves and preserving capacity to respond if the amendment passes. One commissioner summarized a pragmatic approach of targeting the rolled-back rate for the preliminary budget so the county has flexibility: "Let's start with that. Obviously, we got time and something changes and we need to change that. But I think that makes sense." The clerk then read back the consensus for the minutes: the board will target the rolled-back rate in the preliminary balanced budget, will include nonprofit funding requests for consideration in that preliminary budget, but will hold off executing nonprofit agreements until after the Nov. 3 vote; the clerk also noted tentative approval of proposed special-assessment rates.

The agreement is procedural direction to staff rather than a formal vote recorded in the workshop; commissioners said they would revisit the millage choice and other budget decisions in follow-up workshops once additional revenue estimates and legal outcomes are known.

Next steps: staff will prepare the preliminary balanced budget with the rolled-back millage target and include nonprofit funding requests for the board’s review on July 13, and the county will hold hearings in September as required before final adoption.