Minutes - 20090324 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

recommendations and said that she would like to hear from both the fire districts and the school districts before making any unilateral decision. Commissioner Pelissier said that there is no such thing as a tax neutral rate. She would like the Board to consider a dollar amount that might be palatable instead of doing exercises. Commissioner Nelson made reference to the second bullet and suggested saying that the Board agreed to implement a tax rate that is no higher than revenue neutral. Commissioner Gordon agreed with the wording "no higher than revenue neutral tax rate." Commissioner Jacobs would like to reach out to the 10% at the top of the revaluation and ask staff to send a letter to them. The Board agreed to send a letter to those property owners with an increase in revaluations from 40% and up. The letter would have information about appealing, with the other side explaining the Circuit Breaker and Homestead Exemptions. John Smith will take out the sale properties. The following are the Board's recommendations: • Board will not rescind 2009 revaluation. • Board agreed the tax rate will be no higher than the revenue neutral tax rate for fiscal year 2009-10. (While not specifically part of the resolution, it was understood that the manager would bring back budget recommendations for possible additional cuts to allow the tax rate to be set below the revenue neutral rate.) • Board agreed to apply the same principles for all taxing districts, including the countywide ad valorem rate, CHCCS district tax and fire district taxes, after hearing from each entity. • The Board agreed the funding target for schools for FY 2009-10 will be 48.1% of county revenues. • For properties that saw a revaluation increase of more than 40%, the staff will send letters to residents explaining possible exemptions and the appeal process. Commissioner Yuhasz said that implicit in bullet#2 is that the Manager is to look at rates that would be lower and what the cuts would be. Commissioner Pelissier asked Laura Blackmon if she would consider doing furloughs. Laura Blackmon said that the question is who would be picked for furlough and it is difficult to single people out. Commissioner Nelson said that he would be interested in hearing from the employees and what they might prefer— layoffs, furloughs, or pay cuts. Chair Foushee suggested that the Employee Consortium look at this issue. Laura Blackmon said that the Consortium is participating in this discussion and they suggested doing an anonymous survey. Commissioner Gordon said that she wants to figure out how to explain this revaluation process to people. It will require a concerted effort. She suggested having staff come up with a way to get this information out to people universally and how to explain it. Commissioner Nelson said that it seems simple but the County does not do a good job of communicating complicated issues. He suggested that staff start with explaining the tax rate reduction with bullet points. The first bullet point could be, "the tax rate will be reduced to 86 cents." Commissioner Pelissier said that the big message should be the fact that the County Commissioners have said that they will spend less money than last year.