OCALA, FL (352today.com) – The Marion County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), unanimously adopted the final millage rates and budgets for the fiscal year 2024-2025.
It was a quiet second public hearing, Sept. 23, 2024, regarding the countywide and non-countywide funds. After the presentation by Marion County Budget Director Audrey Fowler, the BOCC unanimously approved the adopted budget 4-0 with Commissioner Carl Zalak District 4 excused, being out of town with a prior commitment.
“I’m very grateful to the citizens who allow us to operate at the level that we do, as well as to the county, the staffing, the directors who put this budget together, our county administrator; [it’s] based on a flat millage rate,” said Michelle Stone, Marion County Commission chair. “We didn’t raise the millage rate. We’re counting on those property values that did increase, which we have no control over. That’s strictly made by the property appraiser and based on that we’re able to continue to do business on a flat millage.”
What was adopted was the final countywide budget in the amount of $945,956,446 as well as the budgets of various non-countywide entities in the amount of $474,795,443 for a final total budget of $1,420,751,889.
“Everything went really well, even the meeting on the 12th [first public hearing Sept. 12]. We had a few citizens show up at that meeting, a lot of those were concerns [that] they weren’t understanding what was on their TRIM [Truth in Millage] notice,” said Matt McClain, Marion County Commissioner District 3. “Many of those were people who had just moved into the county. They’re buying properties with homesteads that fell off. They didn’t understand that this board works very hard to keep that millage rate flat.”
The budget process started back in June. There was a minor change of about $700 in the medical examiner’s budget. The only other noticeable change since the tentative budget was in the hospital budget and that was approved in the first board meeting in September significantly reducing the fund, said Fowler.
“The workshops that got us to this point tonight started back in July, and all of the department heads and every funding agency, it was a week worth of all days,” said Stone. “I think one of the main emphases is that’s it’s not all ad valorem – that includes grants, that includes carry forward funds and projects that have already been funded that have not been completed. And that’s why you see that large of a budget overall.”
The BOCC held a separate public hearing on each of the budget entities under consideration, and although there was a fair amount of input from residents at the initial meeting, the second public hearing went seamlessly.
“I came into this last year two weeks before we had this meeting, when I had the appointment. So, I didn’t get to see the process leading up to that that,” said McClain, referring to the budget. “Our staff did a wonderful job to make sure we’re picking and choosing the things we need to do the most, and still having a concern for maximizing efficiency of taxpayer dollars and getting us down to a place where we’re not having to raise that millage rate, raise taxes on people out in the community. Just because your home value went up doesn’t mean more money went in your pocket. The county still has to provide service and as we’re growing, we keep that millage rate flat so we can keep up with those services for the community.”
You can view a breakdown of the tentative 2024-25 budget at the Marion County Clerk of Court’s website.