Lee County commissioners review first-draft FY 2627 continuation budget; no action taken

Vice Chair David Mullica opened the Lee County Board of Commissioners workshop and said the meeting would be informational with no formal votes expected. "I'm David Mullica, and I'm the vice chair," Mullica said as he called the meeting to order and noted two commissioners were absent.

Pete Winton, the county staff member presenting the budget, walked commissioners through revenue assumptions and reserves. He reported the general-fund tax base "came in at an increase of 4.56%" and cautioned that "4.56% is the lowest increase in the tax base in 13 years since 2013," signaling a softening in assessed values. Winton said other major revenue categories—state sales tax sharing and other state revenue sharing—were largely flat and that ambulance fees have accounted for most recent growth.

Winton summarized a $28,000,000 pool of growth revenues and showed a straight-line allocation by expense share: roughly $16,700,000 to constitutional offices (the sheriff accounts for most of that share), about $8,200,000 to county departments and the balance to joint costs and mandates. He also presented reserves and a bottom-line reserves figure shown on staff slides.

Commissioners directed staff to model rollback-rate and alternate millage scenarios (general fund, MSTU, library and all-hazards) and to return with those scenarios at the August 19 workshop. No motions or votes were taken; staff will bring scenario results and revised pages back for further discussion.