Alachua County staff present $944 million FY26 budget proposal; commissioners set schedule and flag debt, facilities needs

Crosby, assistant county manager for budget and fiscal services, told the Alachua County Commission that staff is recommending direction to refine the county manager's proposed fiscal year 2026 budget and proposed millage rates, and reviewed the schedule for hearings leading to final adoption.

Crosby said the proposed countywide budget totals $944,000,000, an $81,000,000 increase from the prior year, and that much of the increase is tied to planned debt for an animal services facility and finishing work at the courthouse. "Most of that's gonna be your new debt issues that we're looking at for an animal service building and for the finishing the courthouse," Crosby said.

Staff reviewed reserve and fund-balance guidelines the commission adopted earlier in the year: a target ending fund balance of 10 percent of operating revenue for the general fund and 5 percent for the MSTU law-enforcement fund, with MSBU and gas-tax funds having minimums. Crosby said the county reestablishes reserves each year and noted limited reserve draws this year, "we've only spent $1,100,000 out of reserves," which he described as low compared with past years.

On staffing and pay, Crosby said the proposed budget raises the county's local minimum wage to $18.50 per hour and applies salary increases requested by constitutional officers. He said health-insurance cost increases were minimal and that planned clinic and pharmacy renovations should produce additional savings.

Crosby asked the commission to consider an adjustment to the county's per-capita debt policy to allow planned debt issuance. "We're asking that your per capita debt go up to 1000 dollars from $7.50," he said in the presentation; staff said the change is needed to issue debt for prioritized capital projects. (Transcript contains inconsistent figures on per-capita thresholds; the commission requested detailed numbers from staff before making a decision.)

The presentation also included department-level requests: one FTE for the property appraiser, equipment and poll-worker station requests for the supervisor of elections, and several positions for the sheriff's office that staff said were incorporated into the manager's proposed budget. Crosby said staff intends to return to the commission on Aug. 14 for a more detailed review and that the final budget adoption is scheduled for Sept. 23, with an additional special meeting on Sept. 11 to meet TRIM timelines.

Crosby described ongoing capital work — including an emergency operations center, fire-rescue administration, animal services, and courthouse systems — and said staff expects to go to market for remaining financing in October. Preliminary bids discussed in the meeting suggested interest rates "less than 4%," he said.

Commissioners asked for comparative benchmarking on debt ratios; staff said the clerk's office and finance staff track peer counties and that Alachua County remains in a relatively low-debt position compared with others. The commission also directed staff to provide a rollback-rate analysis showing the budget impact if the board chose the rollback rate.

The meeting closed with praise from commissioners for staff clarity and transparency on budget matters and a reminder that staff will return with more detailed analyses and numbers before any formal changes to policies or millage are adopted.

Next steps: staff will circulate the detailed rollback-rate impact and related analyses ahead of the Aug. 14 meeting; final budget adoption remains scheduled for Sept. 23.