OMB-26-0003

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TranscriptWhat was said at each appearance is below it. Machine transcription, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 81% of 64 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.

1. 1Nov 12, 2025
   Board of County CommissionersP64Public hearingAdopted

   Approved minutes

   Approved to adopt and to waive introduction of the Ordinance and for the underlining which appeared in Section 1 to be deleted by a roll call vote with Commissioner Mariano voting nay.

   Open this item →▶ Play from 31:41
   ▶ 31:4113m

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   31:41All right, P sixty-four. We

   Seth WeightmanSecond Vice Chair

   31:43have

   Unidentified speakerVoice A

   31:44Amy Farrell, Budget Director with Pasco County's Office of Management and Budget. I'm here with item P sixty four or ONB twenty six.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   31:54We have proof of publication in the Tampa Bay Times October twenty-second, twenty twenty five at the hearing of this matter at this time.

   Unidentified speakerVoice A

   32:03All right. All right, Amy Farrell, Budget Director with Pasco County's Office of Management and Budget. I'm here with item P sixty four or OMB twenty six zero zero zero three, which is an ordinance to establish a law enforcement municipal service taxing unit.

   32:19Um, so there's a couple statutes that allows the board to establish a municipal service taxing unit. Those are up there on the slides. The first step is for the board to adopt an ordinance that would establish it. If the cities were to participate, one way that they would do that is by after our ordinance gets adopted by the board, they would have to adopt one of their own.

   32:43So, what this ordinance provides, it establishes the MSTU for law enforcement for the unincorporated areas of Pasco County. It will define the powers, boundaries, and duties for law enforcement. Um, it provides a legal existence and status, allows the levying of ad valorem taxes to provide funding, but this is not the actual process. We won't actually be talking about millage rates here. This is just setting up the ordinance. And then we would follow the typical budget process and the trim

   33:13process.

   33:17All right, so I pretty much just said this. So we so let's assume this gets adopted today. We would then come back at at our term meeting in July to establish the maximum military and that would you will remember require a unanimous vote by the board. And then uh the The tax would be Stood up for the fiscal year twenty twenty seven budget.

   33:44All right, so what do we need to do today? Accept public comment and then vote on the ordinance to provide for the MSTU by roll call.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   33:52Yeah. Programs, any questions?

   Jack MarianoVice Chair

   33:55No, sure.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   33:56Yeah.

   Jack MarianoVice Chair

   33:56So we had looked at doing this years ago. Yeah. And as we talked about the the problem came in with Uh really one gentleman made a comment, you're gonna put the burden of law enforcement on The only quote We've got July fourteenth is the date you you for your next step. I know you're working with the cities right now. But I I don't want to support this until you've got the agreements in place. Um You know, we help with parades, we help with certain things that they need help on. Um

   34:28you can structure it where it's population based as far as how you tax, like gas tax. We don't break out for every little gas station where they are. We just base it upon everybody equally sharing, getting the share where they can allocate how they want to spend their money. So that's like equity for everybody at that point. So I wanna see that done because uh to me I don't wanna put that shift on unincorporated citizens the way this is gonna be shifted now.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   34:56Uh question on that. Go ahead, Commissioner. Well I'll go after you.

   Ron Oakley

   35:00So you got the cities you were talking about and aren't paying, but yet they have their own police force. Exactly. So they are paying toward their own police force within the city.

   Lisa Yeager

   35:10Yeah, but

   Ron Oakley

   35:11Yes.

   Lisa Yeager

   35:12We're still helping like Pasco County Sheriff's Office is still going into the cities and helping them.

   Ron Oakley

   35:16Then there should probably be some kind of fee that they have to pay for extra help from the county.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   35:23And maybe that V looks was different than the MSTU. Maybe we just say we're not coming into your city unless you're helping pay and let's figure out what that is.

   Seth WeightmanSecond Vice Chair

   35:33Yep.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   35:34And remember those cities are little.

   Seth WeightmanSecond Vice Chair

   35:35You need Swatteen, fifty grand

   35:39price I mean

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   35:41Hey, we have no property tax. You want the sheriff to come to your house? How we can afford it, I don't know.

   Mike Carballa

   35:48So if I may, Madam Chair, I I

   35:50have

   35:50been in contact with with the city managers and and have had this discussion and I know uh uh Chase and knows the Sheriff's uh uh the Sheriff's Office are are kind of piecing together what those actual costs look like in terms of serving citizens, whether it's through SWATs, uh detective service or or even parades and so Um I've I've gotten, you know, commitment that uh we're gonna work together towards something equitable. I understand Commissioner Mariano. July is is is not too

   36:20far away. It's far enough away, but it's not far away, and so we will endeavor to work on interlocal agreements or whatever the necessary mechanisms are to ensure equity for the citizens of Pasco County when it comes to providing law enforcement services. Noting that yes. Some do have police services, but that the sheriff also, you know, is is the you know the big law enforcement uh agency here for for the county and provides a lot of service and backup to to police. I know Chase is here in case you know he wanted to hear from the sheriff's office, but uh I I think we've you know

   36:50we'll we'll work to endeavor to what the board's wishes.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   36:53Yeah, I think we work really well with our cities.

   Lisa Yeager

   36:56I I would love to hear how I I honestly would love everybody to hear how the Sheriff's Office helps other cities. That's okay, Chase.

   Chase Daniels

   37:13Good afternoon, Chase Daniels, uh Under Sheriff Community Outreach Operations, Pasco Sheriff's Office. Um thank you very much, Commissioner. And as the administrator noted, uh we have been working very, very uh closely with this. I thank Amy and her team as well for uh for including us. Um as it stands today, we are fully in support of of this MSTU in this language. Um to speak specifically to how how it works with the cities. Um so yes, uh you you all are are absolutely correct that We do help the cities. So, for instance, most of the cities do not have the ability to investigate major crimes,

   37:43things like homicides, they do not have their own forensics, units, and things like that. So that is a resource that we we provide to them. Also, when it comes to large events, for instance, the Christmas praise that are coming up, we provide security and assistance with those types of large events as well. So, what we are working on, so the sheriff has a quarterly meeting with the Chiefs of Police. So as As part of that meeting, we will be informing them moving forward that this could be an option or and something they need to talk about with their city managers or city councils. We are also starting to build payroll codes. So, for instance, if we have someone that is on uh

   38:14someone who's on our forensics unit who has to go out to one of these scenes to assist the cities, we are going to start capturing exactly how much time we spend assisting the cities, whether it be like I said, forensics through one of those. One of those big events or those major events like the Christmas parades, we're gonna start capturing all those things and essentially telling the cities, hey, if you do not come onto the MSTU, this is going to be a build service to you, or you can you know take it upon yourself if you wish to create a forensics unit or something like that. But essentially, if a city does not come along, those are the options that we're

   38:44planning to give them right now.

   Seth WeightmanSecond Vice Chair

   38:46Yeah. So the unincorporated taxpayers really carrying the weight of

   38:53a pile of additional services. Yeah.

   Unidentified speakerVoice B

   38:58Madam Chairman, if if I can ask Chase a question. So the cities that you currently are providing a hundred percent service for because they don't have a police force You have a con I'm assuming you have a contract with them and they fund that operation in that manner, correct?

   Chase Daniels

   39:17Yes, sir. That that that's correct. So for instance, uh that is San Antonio and Saint Leo. They enter into a contract with us and then we provide those law enforcement services in lieu of the in in lieu of the cities. But those are paid uh for the for the total cost of the deputy.

   Unidentified speakerVoice B

   39:29And so they and so they ba they are levying a millage on their residents for your service? And collecting it that and collecting it in that manner.

   Chase Daniels

   39:40Yeah, h however it goes with with the contract, we we just know they they pay us the contract. However they they raise that revenue to pay that contract.

   Unidentified speakerVoice B

   39:46And so that would be an option for the other cities as well if if they wanted to contract with you for SWAT services for forensic services, that would be another Other than pulling them into the MSTU, they they could provide a funding source for that contractual as well contractually.

   Chase Daniels

   40:07I if if that was something that they want to pursue, absolutely, or again, you know, we could just give them the the real cost of services or they could they could do it on their own. Uh the one thing I I should note uh in less in discussion with the Mr. Karbala, if there is some type of life safety thing, for instance that there is uh if there's an active shooter, um, you know, God forbid in in Zephyrhills or something. We will obviously make sure to provide th those types of resources. We're we're not gonna let anyone be be in danger o over this, but it's kind of more of those ancillary things that that happen after the fact that that we will um you know be be billing them for or raising that fee for.

   Jack MarianoVice Chair

   40:37Madam Chairman

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   40:38Mariano. Yeah, I'm good with that.

   Jack MarianoVice Chair

   40:39Part of the thing with like if you're gonna do utility charges, right, you've gotta have the certain pipes in the ground, the treatment in place, the staffing involved to be able to run utility. Whether someone needs to use a drop of water, there's a fixed cost that's there. When you're gonna set up for a forensic unit, we're gonna set up for a SWAT team, others other instances where you may need nine deputies on a vehicle for a school thing that's in front of a school that's in a city that you're gonna jump on, you're not gonna be able to account for all that. And part of the reason

   41:10I said just like we do with the gas tax, structured so it's ba population based, everybody shares, whatever the costs are to run the whole operation for the year, just like in a budget, that's what should be factored in the M STU for every year. Every year, every time every time a city is is in there as well. You can't just go, all right, we're gonna tave forensics here, we're gonna pay for the SWAT over here. Because it's not gonna break up. You need those people in place. You need the training in place. So again, the reason this thing died last time was because of the

   41:40burden falling to the county. And I just have the big fear and until I see this work out, I'm not gonna support it. I want to see all the agreements in place. Well you can see.

   41:53But you still gotta factor those other things in too. Whether they're gonna use SWAT or not, that's gotta be factored in your fixed cost. So I think these things need to be structured and I want to see ahead of time before I'm going to shift the burden where it could fall heavier on the county citizens. That aren't incorporated.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   42:08Uh Commissioner Mariano, we could go ahead and set up the MSTU but we don't have to fund it uh with anything until those deals are worked out. The sheriffs and in support of this. I think we should move forward, but I I hear what you're saying and I think there's plenty of time to work that that

   Jack MarianoVice Chair

   42:24I'm not comfortable with it. I'm not going to support it because they've had all this time to look at it, all this time to talk about it. I don't think a quarterly meeting now and then to talk about it's enough. This is going to be a big of uh enough of an issue that's going to come forward. This stuff needs to be worked out ahead of time before the next step's taken.

   Mike Carballa

   42:40And Commissioner Marion, I have spoken with the city managers and I would say over the course of the next three months see they recognize it's it's it's important to get this ironed out by the February-March timeline as we're establishing budgets. So um we will we will certainly do our part to work with the cities. I think you've got some you've outlined some great ideas. The the base charge variable cost sort of model, you know, makes makes sense and resonates. But uh we'll we'll bring that. We we will certainly we understand that we need to bring something

   Jack MarianoVice Chair

   43:08back. And I'm gonna say this is not a thing that has to happen today. It's not something that has to happen this year even. But I think the details are more important to make sure it's labeled that everybody knows what's gonna happen, how it's gonna happen, where the cost is gonna come. And if that takes more accounting, more time, et cetera, so be it. But I want to see it in place before that burden ever shifts to the unincorporated county citizen. Yeah.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   43:31Okay. Um is there anyone here in the public that wishes to speak to this item?

   43:38Is there anybody online? No one online. Okay, well I will entertain the motion.

   Unidentified speakerVoice B

   43:44Madam Chairman Mariano, um if the board is wishing to move forward with this, again I would l ask the board to add add to the motion Um the uh waiver of introduction of this ordinance um and the final ordinance, the underlining uh which appears in section one uh should be deleted.

   44:14I think it I think it's a leftover from when drafts were going back and forth. But there's there's underlining in your final version that shouldn't be there.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   44:24Well thank you for pointing that out. I will accept what he said in the motion. I'll make

   Ron Oakley

   44:28yeah, I'll make a motion that we accept what the county attorney just stated and that part of the motion. Second.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   44:36Okay, any more discussion? Alright, roll call button.

   Kathryn StarkeyChair

   44:40District one, Commissioner Oakley. Aye. District two, Commissioner Weightman. Aye. District four, Commissioner Yeager. District five, Commissioner Mariano. Aye. District four, Chairman Mariano.