DELAND -- Volusia County Manager Jim Dinneen presented the Volusia County Council with a $634.7 million proposed budget July 10, to fund the operations of county government for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, insisting cutting taxes would hurt services.
“Further property tax reductions cannot be made without severely impacting services,” said Dinneen in his budget message to the County Council. The recommended property tax rates for the five countywide funds together amount to $5.40 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. These rates include the general fund, library fund, Volusia Forever and debt service and the Volusia ECHO. All are proposed at or below the rollback rate. The rollback rate is the rate that generates the same amount of tax revenue as the previous year’s rate, minus the growth in the tax roll from new construction which this year is about $1 billion. Normally, the rollback is less than the previous year’s tax rate because of Florida’s rapid growth. However, the slowdown in building has dropped taxable property values countywide by 11 percent, Byron said.
Property taxes for all funds account for $234.4 million of Dinneen’s recommended budget, an increase of $6.2 million, or 3 percent. There are 13 new positions, only one of which is funded by general fund tax dollars. Six of those are to staff the expanded Ocean Center, which is scheduled to open early next year. Six are related to the expansion of the Deltona Regional Library, which is being doubled in size with an attached environmental center and amphitheater to be completed early next summer. The other new position recommended is a pathologist in the Medical Examiner’s Office. The major capital project being recommended is $10 million, to be repaid by a 20-year loan, to begin to address jail overcrowding.