Minutes 12-09-2025-Business Meeting

Browse Search

17 • Staff determined a multiplying factor for the remaining $175,000 in available funding and used this to reduce all other awards by the same percentage. • All eligible homeowners received a minimum award amount of $200 or up to the full amount of the County portion of their tax bill if it was less than $200. • Award amounts were the County portion of the tax bill less 2% of the applicant's household income. Staff currently estimates that there will be 850 approved LHA applications, with a total County property tax burden of $1,894,000. The exact property tax burden is difficult to calculate, as the Tax Office continues to process data for a significant number of residents. Last year, with $250,000 allocated, LHA covered 25% of the County property tax burden for qualified applicants. Given the current County budget allocation is $377,805, staff estimates the allocation will cover about 19.9% of County property tax burden for the estimated recipients. The County has two potential options in order to close the gap between 2024 and 2025 cost shares: • Option 1: Using the remaining funds in the Social Justice account(approximately$76,000) would increase the cost share to 24%. • Option 2: In order to achieve the same cost share proportion as last year (25%), the County would need to allocate an estimated $95,726. Staff plans to share a more definite amount at the meeting. The difference between the Social Justice account and this figure would require a transfer from the County Capital Reserve Fund. The County Capital Reserve was seeded in FY 2023 with $2,500,000 in surplus sales tax and has been used over four fiscal years to address unanticipated capital and non-recurring needs. A transfer of that difference ($19,726) would result in a remaining balance in the County Capital Reserve Fund of$21,470. It should be noted that while staff is estimating both the total number of qualified applicants and the exact County property tax burden at the time of this agenda abstract publication, the final figures will be available and shared by the meeting date. It is also relevant to note that using the remainder of the Social Justice fund in January would leave the County without an unallocated reserve to meet emergencies through the end of the 2025-26 fiscal year. Blake Rosser, Housing Director, introduced the item. He reported a large increase in applications due to the revaluation -from just over 600 total applications last year to 940 this year. Approvals increased from around 500 last year to approximately 800 this year (expecting about 850), representing about a 60% increase. He said the Board had already authorized increased funding, but he wanted to compare the percentage of relief provided. Last year, $250,000 covered about 25% of the county property tax burden for recipients. This year's $377,000 allocation would cover about 20% of the burden for the estimated number of recipients. To approximate last year's 25% level would require using the remaining $76,000 from the Social Justice Fund account, bringing coverage to about 24%, with an additional $20,000 needed from elsewhere to fully reach 25%. Blake Rosser noted that using the remainder of the Social Justice Fund would leave no unallocated reserve for emergencies for the remainder of the fiscal year. Commissioner Portie-Ascott asked what the risk is if there are no reserves in the Social Justice Fund.