Archer City Commission adopts maximum property tax rate of 6.4322 mills, schedules third budget workshop for August 21

BY DAVID LIGHTMAN

ARCHER, Fla. – At a July 29 special meeting and second budget workshop, the Archer City Commission adopted a maximum millage rate of 6.4322 mills, added a third budget workshop for August 21, and moved the final budget hearings scheduled for September 8 and September 22 to September 10 and September 24 so Financial Consultant Dallas Lee could attend. Members of the public shared ideas and pointed out possible oversights for reducing the budget.

The meeting began with a motion and a second to excuse Commissioner Joan White from the meeting due to being “under the weather.” It passed 4-0.

After adopting the agenda, the first public comment period began. Laurie Costello said, “I know that this meeting is about adopting the millage rate. But we don’t have a full budget yet. And like we said at the last meeting, you know, we got to have numbers. And this is really only half of our budget… I know that you have to pass it by such-and-such date, but maybe you can work it out where we can get numbers before you do that.”

Mayor Fletcher Hope answered, “We may have a third workshop.”

Attorney Kiersten Ballou introduced the main agenda item, “A resolution determining the proposed millage rate, the current year rolled-back rate, and the date, time, and place for the first and second public budget hearings as required by law.” Vice Mayor Iris Bailey made a motion to approve the resolution, and Commissioner Marilyn Green seconded the motion.

Proposed maximum rate is 21.6% higher than the rolled-back rate

Hope asked Interim City Manager Deanna Alltop, “What is our current rate for this year?” and the response was that it’s 5.5479 mills. Hope continued, “This will increase it to 6.4322.” Referring to the meeting agenda, the rolled-back rate was computed as 5.2910 mills. The new rate is 0.8843 mills or 15.9% higher than the current rate and 1.1412 mills or 21.6% higher than the rolled-back rate. The “rolled-back rate” is the rate that would raise the same amount of revenue as the prior year if applied to the current year’s tax roll. 

Public comment

During public comment on the item, Karen Fiore said, “I understand you have the timeline. You’ve had the timeline forever. I mean, the laws haven’t changed, but yet we come down to the last minute constantly with Archer. And now you’re going to adopt the max millage… Max millage is scary to the citizens, and you’re going to adopt this before you have any discussion on the budget tonight. So, you’re doing this first, which I said last meeting. This seems very out of order and disappointing because you’re not getting down into the meat of your numbers, and citizens have dug into these numbers. And you have poor Dallas, who doesn’t have the history, so he’s only working with what he was provided, which are not complete numbers.”

Bill Lewandowski said, “There’s lots of assumptions here. Not a lot of data. I just can’t see how you can possibly make a decision based upon all these assumptions.”

Gene Arnold questioned what Archer is receiving by paying extra to the County for law enforcement services, and he noted that Sheriff Chad Scott didn’t have answers to that question when asked.

Vote

Hope called for a vote “setting the millage at 6.4322.” It passed 4-0, with White absent.

Final public comment period

The second public comment period was opened. Costello said the budget should include notations indicating why actions were taken, and there are no notations. She said, “Most of these things, you just look at it and, like, you scratch your head, and it doesn’t even make any sense whatsoever.” Costello asked whether the grater and dump truck had been sold since they were declared surplus.

Budget workshop

The budget workshop began after a brief intermission. Newberry Assistant City Manager and Financial Consultant to the City of Archer Dallas Lee was seated next to Alltop, and City Attorney Ballou was no longer in attendance. Lee said he was using a spreadsheet to create the budget, and he had only completed the General Fund portion. Responding to a question raised earlier by Gene Arnold, Lee said he will not be in attendance for the planned September 8 and September 22 budget hearings, both on Mondays, because Newberry’s budget hearings fall on the same dates.

Commissioner Kathy Penny said she would like to schedule the budget hearings so that Lee will be able to attend. Lee said he would be free Wednesday and Thursday of those same weeks, and Hope suggested moving the meetings to September 10 and September 24, both Wednesdays, instead of September 8 and September 22. Everyone agreed to change the budget hearing dates. Lee clarified that the City Manager is able to change the dates of the budget hearings even after they were set by a vote of the Commission.

Hope asked, “Could we set a third workshop for August, to have the completed Enterprise Water Fund prepared and added?” After some discussion, Lee suggested Thursday, August 21, and everyone agreed on August 21 at 6 p.m.

There was discussion about the need to repay the County approximately $68,000/year for three years for Wild Spaces funds. Hope said to Lee, “If we could just earmark that as the things to do, to make sure that we’re looking for $68,000.”

To help cover recreation expenses, Commissioners suggested seeking more donations from sponsors, possibly by selling items like banners and t-shirts. Alltop said some recreation equipment may be able to be surplused to raise additional funds. 

Responding to Costello’s earlier question, Alltop said the dump truck and grater have not yet been sold. Alltop said she needs to make videos of the vehicles before they can be placed online to auction.

Discussing revenue from rental fees of buildings, Hope reminded Lee that the Senior Center is no longer being rented and will no longer generate revenue unless it is eventually sold.

Fiore reminded Lee that Commissioners took a pay cut for the first three months of the next fiscal year, and he said he would adjust the payroll and also the payroll taxes for that period. Fiore pointed out that retirement funding also needs to be corrected. 

Lee confirmed that the City Clerk and City Manager positions have been rolled into one City Manager position. 

Fiore asked about legal notice expenses, which she thought Lee had under-estimated. He explained that, as of the last few years, most notices can be advertised on the County’s website at no expense.

Lee suggested that the City should save money by not printing Commission packets; he said Newberry has been sending electronic links instead. Lee also suggested shopping around for better rates for workers’ compensation and liability insurance. He said Archer’s postage expenses are substantial, and he suggested offering small incentives for utility customers to switch to electronic-only billing, which he said has worked well in Newberry.

Fiore pointed out that cleaning services were not included in the new budget. Alltop said that was her fault, and they will budget $240/month. 

Fiore asked, “You’re going to hate me, but that’s what I’m up here for. Where are the list of cuts? I don’t see any.”

Lewandowski asked if there are any outstanding loans that need to be factored into the budget. Lee said there are none, aside from repaying the outstanding Wild Spaces funds.

Costello said, “Remember, the State is looking at us, and so we cannot depend on selling surplus property [to balance our budget].” 

Hope said Duke Energy may provide a discount for some street lights since they switched to cheaper-to-run LED lights, but they haven’t done so yet.

Costello said she thought overtime pay was being abused by employees and should be brought under control.