final budget adjustments, FEMA reimbursements, and millage rate
What the county recorded
This item is not from the published agenda
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The county’s agenda for Board of County Commissioners, Sep 22, 2026
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What was said
Machine transcription of 25m of recording, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 86% of 107 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.
Alright, Amy Farrell, Budget Director with Pasco County's Office of Management and Budget. And we left off here with the Constitutional Officer Budget slide. And so here you'll see in FY 2027, it's what's currently in the budget for each of our constitutional officers. The dollar difference and the percentage difference is the change from 2026 adopted.
Any questions?
Um
Commissioner
Weightman. Thank you, Chair. Mike, now's a good time to bring up our exhibit, Chief Daniels. For this testimony here.
Alright, so to kind of preface this, going through budget line items and and and and looking at uh really the unfunded mandate portion and digging into it a little bit further and in light of Amendment three. We were looking at structural balance, particularly within the sheriff's department. When the sheriff during his budget workshop had a couple of slides. I don't know, Chase, if you have those with you or not, but in related to uh the teacher pay referendum,
County Attorney has an opinion on that uh and uh what what that can be used for, and then by law the Sheriff's Department has to fund um school resource officers and crossing guards. And thinking about the future of all the planning, especially if Amendment 3 passes and what goes on, there's there's a delta there that our Sheriff's Department covers. That's well through our budget, that's roughly five million dollars. And the teacher
pay referendum, uh, according to county attorney, uh, does allow those deputies and those services to be paid for out of that pot of money. And this, you know, the school district is not touched by amendment three, should it be passed. You know, and then they have their their their millage rate on the ballot also. However, Pasco County government will be and we're going to have to look through things through a different lens. And so working both with Chase, and I'll let Chase explain the technicals on their
side,
Mr. Karbala has the details on, and Chase does too on what the school district is currently paying. But the the percentage breakdown we really our side of of the house doesn't receive much benefit from those deputies with the work and how their work schedules are. So I'll tee it up like that and let Chief Daniels take over.
Thank you very much. Uh Chase Daniels, Pasco Sheriff's Office. Um, so uh thank you very much, Commissioner. Um yeah, so as the Commissioner noted, in our budget, uh our current fiscal year 25 and 26 budget, uh we have approximately two million five hundred and seventy-seven thousand dollars uh for school resource officers and two million four hundred and thirty-two thousand dollars for school crossing guards. Um, those in increase in Proposed uh fiscal year 2627 budget uh to 2.63 million and roughly 2.46 million.
We do receive from the school district uh four million ninety thousand one hundred and fifty-five dollars, and that essentially pays for 180 days of an SRO uh at eight and a half hours a day. Um, we do uh have some costs when it comes to supervision, such as our capital. Captains and lieutenants and sergeants. Um, but but essentially as as the commissioner noted, uh the school district pays for 180 days out of the year for those SROs. Um the Sheriff's Office is responsible for uh a variety of things that
make up those other 185 days out of the year. Uh so they will traditionally do their in-service during the summer. Uh they will use their pay tight off, their pay tight off, paid time off that they incur during during the summer. as well. So realistically, we have them in a patrol function two to three weeks a year. We use them this year. We heard from the from the board a lot of concerns about e-bikes and things like that. So we will traditionally put them on special details like that during the time when we do have them. But yes, we we do bear
the cost of all their in-service trainings and uh and and their pay time off because they traditionally don't take take pay time off um during the during the school year. Um we have been working with with the school board when it comes to to the referendum. Uh part of the referendum uh that that they expect to to see if if it should pass on on the renewal. Is an idea of paying for some extra SROs because what happens right now is let's say an SRO is is out sick or something like that. We will traditionally take a detective or another officer from our
agency and have them fill in in that SRO role during that time. So there is that ancillary cost as well. Um, because like I said, uh we we pay for an SRO for every middle, or they pay for an SRO for every middle. Middle and high school for those 180 days, eight and a half hours a day. Um but whenever it comes to uh you know fill-ins, floats, things like that, we're we're responsible for for those costs as well.
I have a qu I can I can have questions. So I've noticed recently at football games, because my son's on the football game, there are lots of of deputies and SROs. I I think Friday night there were like four of them. So is that on you when they need additional SRO books?
Yes, ma'am. So so things like that, uh, and thank you very much, Commissioner. So so things like that, uh, whenever it comes to school threats, for instance, or or deputies at at schools, um, we do that based on on the threat environment. So if we maybe have received a threat at the school during that day, we we will surge extra personnel there. Um, but that is over and above the the one SRO that that the school district pays for. Um, you know, uh so I was looking through the sheriff's budget letter here. So last year We had 365 school threats. So as you can imagine, you know, that requires a significant response
from us. We have to respond with detectives or our threat management unit is engaged and looked into it. Obviously, patrol units come because if we've got a report that there's potentially a gun or a weapon on campus, for instance, we cannot be wrong on those types of calls for service. So we surge a lot of resources there over and above the one SRO on campus.
You guys have to do a face to fle uh face to face to clear each room, right?
Yes ma'am.
Yeah.
So Chair, so basically, you know, if if we can work depending on what that what the future looks like, and this is looking towards the future, could the school district set their budget, but should next year's budget site budgeting be different, which I think irregardless, we need to have this conversation. I think the school district needs to pay more for those days. It's for them by law. It's an unfunded mandate. There's a millage rate on the ballot that you know this board approved for them to do, and that money can be used to pay for those calls, pay
for those heads. And then that allows us the flexibility, allows this county the flexibility to free up money that we can put to work and what we're responsible for. And so it would be, you know, a a a a conversation with our school district partners to see what they might be able to do because they won't be touched by the amendment and they have the millage rate on there and we'll we'll shoot should it pass. you know, we're gonna have to figure out okay, even though law enforcement's budgets are protected, we still have raises to contend with. We still have like
this year one point two million dollars worth of insurance claims we have to figure out a way to to make whole that just under five million dollars can go a very long way. and helping keep the Sheriff's Department and their needs or other needs in this county whole. So it's essentially, you know, working with uh uh uh you know our our neighbors or another jurisdiction to they they they're paying for what they're using and the unincorporated taxpayer isn't having to cover their use and they have the money have the money
to be able to do that. So um that's my thought process. It's really just teeing it up now to look for the future and and get the board's thoughts on the matter and um see where where it goes from there. But I think it's an important piece of our budget as we work to restructure it, that we work to rectify or either get a higher percentage of reimbursement uh potentially from the school district to the Sheriff's Department, since we're only getting these deputies for
roughly two weeks a year.
I I agree a hundred percent. I think we should be looking to the state, um, even this coming year to to get make the change of policy anyway. Uh so we wanna b because we wouldn't be attacked by spending too much money, but this is just another unfunded mandate. We saw I think ten, twelve million dollars earlier today on the previous slide. And now there's another five million that's not even listed, which should be one of those unfunded mandates on our slides, even separately, that we need to address it. Um now you just mentioned a thing about its insurance of 1.2
million. Um Then that's increased costs that we're gonna be paying for the insurance for the deputies or for deputies of the Sheriff's Office? The claims. Mm-hmm.
Пяцум.
Right, so the so go ahead and explain what we're doing and why.
Yes, sir. So our our budget uh for last year, we had um budgeted uh approximately thirteen point two million dollars. Uh our proposed budget this year is is thirteen point nine million. Um and we are working in the future. We've been uh working with our insurance provider to try to uh get get our rates up to to better cover that gap. Um but so we we expect uh or or we project that this year, um so like I said our uh budget. Budget on insurance is probably $13.8 million in the proposed budget. Our claims, we uh we expect I don't have
the the the numbers in front of me left my phone at my seat, but uh but something around sixteen sixteen million dollars. Um so the thought behind the the additional one point two uh that came from uh from a discussion uh with the county administrator and the sheriff earlier this summer. Um, that initially based on the based on the growth, um, we were expecting maybe have about four and a half million dollars. Extra. Um so the thought was to take seven hundred fifty thousand dollars out of that to get us from two and a half percent raises to three percent raises to meet the board. Uh and then take some bit of that, uh not the full four point five million, but approximately one
point two million to help get our delta down on that difference between uh our projected claims and what we're able to to budget um without having to to jack up rates too much on our on our members for for health insurance. Okay. And and so that that just helps cover cover that delta. Like I said, we are in the process of um getting our our rates in in a in a better place. Um but right right now we have seen a an increase in in claims.
So and the I think the bull was and we were very equivocal. We wanted everybody to get the same percentage raise. So the de as far as the raises go to deputies, everybody's a hundred percent on board with that. However, last year we had an opportunity to actually you guys had an opportunity to work with us to join our insurance rates. And looking at it closely with our personnel, you could have saved about a thousand dollars an employee joining our our our group, as opposed to not. Never mind probably would have diversified even the numbers that you're going up escalation. Why haven't you joined us and
would you could join us this year, especially if we're going to save the citizens the taxpayer rates?
Yes, sir. So we we uh I I remember we we had that discussion, I believe it was I believe it was this time last year. Uh so our HR teams got together, and so what our AR which what our HR teams found uh is that the county rates are are significantly lower on employees than ours, so it would have been a a significant rate increase on our members to join the the county's insurance is what RHRTN found. But we're certainly happy to say that back to let him finish please. No but I think he said it back right so so the the county subsidizes more poor employee than than the sheriff's office does so it keeps those those
rates lower but we're not able to to pay that much as our agency so our rates have to be higher. So to join the the county's insurance it would have been a rate increase on on our members.
So that's the argument I heard how However, talking to my HI director. Our cost for insurance are about a thousand dollars less employee than what you're paying. So whoever it's subsidized or whatever, our costs are less than what yours are. So how are you subsidized compared to we? I don't know how that really goes, but our director Working with your group showed you guys you could save a thousand dollars employee working with us, you guys chose not to.
Yeah, and I'm certainly happy to to have our team re engage with with your director. Absolutely.
I'm I'm I'm looking for more than re engagement. I'm talking about real numbers that's out there affecting taxpayers. Barbara Hinson's right here. Barbara you wanna come up?
I Barbara Hitzman for the record.
Yes. If you Yeah, there's good and say where I'm sorry.
Yeah, we had uh we had a good meeting last uh last year discussing uh the insurance. Uh there's some differences in their plans too. Um what I mean by the thousand dollars, they're budgeted numbers for each person. They just budget more per employee. And you are right, I mean you don't have to like every constitutional officer can set their own rates. So they could set their own rates completely uh how they want to. But again, we absolutely would be willing to see. Sit down again and kind of discuss it again.
And you feel that we'd be able to save them a lot of money by joining us compared to going the same way they are?
It I mean that definitely is possible right now. I mean, if it was this year, yes, absolutely, based on the claims. But again, I think we're all on Florida Blue, so the numbers are essentially all the same in terms of the discounts that we get. Uh it would just be a matter of how we would structure the plan. So
yeah. And and diversifying tongue is good for risk.
Mm-hmm.
Okay. Uh Commissioner Starkey then Commissioner Weightman.
No, uh I was gonna bring up exactly what you brought up and um Yeah, it seems like if we have more people it the bigger the pool, the better off we all are. So
thanks. Yeah, so I had we explored this same subject matter. Start with Eric Breitmach, and I get it wrong, please correct me. So the county The county's insurance. Bucket, foot locker, if you will, there's claims. The Pasco County uh uh puts in ninety five hundred dollars here, correct me, or you want to explain it? And why the sheriff can't because they don't have a reserve possibility. This is another budget structural conversation. To try to
prepare for this. So anyway.
Yeah, so for each for each person, the county budgets eleven thousand five hundred dollars currently for insurance, right? And then what happens is that's the budgeted numbers that are sent out, like to the constitutional officers, obviously everyone but the sheriff at this particular time. And then the actual rates are really determined based on the plans that they pick. For instance, if everyone chose the family plan, Then that would be a little bit higher, and the constitutional officers would have to adjust those. If everybody s chose a single plan, then obviously it would be lower. But right now we budget eleven thousand five
hundred dollars per person to fund health insurance.
But the sh but the sheriff's plan we have that reserve fund for claim because this my understanding is because the Sheriff's Department can't legally have a reserve fund, they can't budget How we do. And so moving forward for kind of these unbudgeted, you never know what's going to happen, cancer or shooting, whatever goes on the course of the year, which came to roughly 1.2. If there's a way to work with as a you know with MSTUs in a way that we're kind of restructuring our budget. To
find a way to create an account or fund at a lesser amount since there's lesser people in the sheriff's department, whatever that number may be, for their head to start building kind of their footlocker fund for potential insurance increase, you know, if there's an insurance increase. when with 1.2 went to Eric and said, hey Eric, how much does the county have in its fund, right? With additional claims if that were to happen on our side uh of of the business based
on what the rules that are there, that fund that insurance fund can't be used. For the sheriff's side because they're kind of classified differently. And so we have a a structure in place in in our budget to help offset those costs, but do the way that based on how the sheriff's budget is structured, they don't have the ability. And we know in the nature of law enforcement things are gonna happen, right? And I think it would be critical that that whatever whatever
the rules are that we figure out a way to try to find a model like we have in our county For the Sheriff's Department. That way We can have a more uh preparedness when it comes to budget time. That way, you know, in some years there might not be anything. So that fund will compound but then if they get hit with two million bucks three years from now, there might be a build up there and then it doesn't wonky up our budget process the way that it is. Um Those are kind of outside of the Sheriff's Budget control,
but if we structure the monies in a different way, it might be able to to help. So that was my thought process through insurance with the Sheriff's Department.
Yeah.
Commissioner Starkey
Um A number of years ago we upped the amount of employee contribution. Um so what What is at the county 'cause Chase was alluding to something and I didn't quite follow him. What does the county pay per an employee pay for
health
insurance?
Uh it depends on the plan. So we have five different healthcare plans. Um our It ranges probably from about six hundred and fifty up to about seventeen hundred per month per person depending on the plan. So some levels are offset more than others. We happen to offset the cost of the employee plus children more than like an employee plus spouse. So there's really no unfortunately right one
answer like how much because it really depends on the plans because we we you know, it's the way we cost shift for those uh particular expenditures. Okay. So but it's about six hundred fifty dollars a month. That's and what does this um share off do,
Chase? Okay. Okay, 'cause he said that they do it differently and I I didn't understand if the sheriff covers more of the cost or the the employee covers more of the cost percentage wise than that the county.
Right, and I know we have five health care plans. I think they have two, but I would have to check on that. So they're not a hundred percent
And this is why the conversation of with the with the mill trait that's on the ballot, the amendment three, we don't know what the future is, why it's important that if other jurisdictions need to need to cover their cost, then we don't necessarily have to carry it. Obviously there's probably a a negotiation that goes on, but if it freed up that almost five million dollars. It allows us much more uh flexibility in be being able to pay for these types of situations.
Yes, and I apologize. I'm just uh trying to find a document in my email.
It it doesn't have to be um to the penny. I mean you you mentioned a statement and I didn't follow it that you said do you guys pay more than we do or less than we do?
Yes, so we have
Uh
So we receive approximately $235,000 per month in employee contributions for a total of our employees of $2,820,000. And then the Sheriff's Office pays so based on based on claims, last year we paid $12,974,690 out of that $13,279,000. And so our our employer our employee contributions uh made up about two hundred thirty five thousand dollars a month.
Okay, um I may not be asking my question, right?
Might be the answer.
Huh? The answer wasn't my questi. You you didn't answer my question, I think. Um so we used to pay less here. I don't know if y'all remember. You you weren't here, but we increased our percentage here I think before Seth and Ron Does anyone not remember that? Who's been here a long time, right? We incre increase the our our contribution towards our health care benefits. I'm just wondering if you guys are somewhat at the same percentage as us. Cause that would be important
if we did a merger. If you know, if they're paying more or will they expect their deputies to pay to step up I mean their employees or are they paying less and It's I it's all in the negotiation, I guess. Do you not answer specifically to the right-of-way?
The only thing I I can say in in relation to that, 'cause I think I know what you're asking, is when we um had the jail come on board uh ten one and twenty two, there were very few people uh that had to pay more uh there was only one tier on one plan that was a little bit more for the jail folks. Everything else was a savings of money. So if what Chase is saying is that it's Pretty close. It would be a savings for some of the employees, right? It would you know and uh you know, for the most part, again it depends
on the tiers because we have five plans. Um but I do say this, it was pretty close. I I don't think that anything was a major impact. And where there may have been a major impact they were able to switch over the plans because we have five different plans that cover those. Well what
what does seem
as
a benefit to the employees of the Sheriff's Office and the Sheriff is is that we have that pool.
We have the reserve, yeah.
The reserve fine.
Well and I and I think when you look at this actually one of the sheriff's employees, I think it's a joint venture, they could join either either insurance plan. They picked our insurance plan. So it tells me we're competitive.
Yeah, and we we also do uh partner with the school district when it comes to using the the My Health on site clinics, um which is which is a cost savings for us as well. And I know that's something we had previously discussed with with Barbara, so we'll we'll we'll we'll make sure that we're gonna be able to do to to have that discussion again.
Well let's let's have a discussion about as far as the reserves go, as far as Commissioner Weightman. I mean Barbara, if we're gonna go through and set up a joint venture and and join forces as far as insurance goes, there's is there any reason we can pick can't we can can we pick the number we want to put in reserves for excess claims?
So uh we have we buy an excess policy. In fact, ironically that was on the budget this mor the board agenda item this morning um and then yes we set a claim number but because we're self-insured the state of Florida makes us have a certain amount in reserve so we have to keep sixty days of claims at least in reserve. Uh if the sheriff were part of that, obviously that would expand that number. But yes, we could absolutely get together and and You know, make that a little bit more. Feasible for all parties.
So I'm going
to
say if we're going
to
move forward this 1.2 that Amy's had to go work on other things to make this come in to go, which I was not aware of until this was coming forward just in the past couple of days, I want to make sure that if we do join, if we do have savings, that part of those savings goes right into the excess reserve fund that'll be there. Yeah. And if that goes that way, I'm comfortable keeping it just the way it is.
Yes sir, and I I'm texting our our HR director now, so I will have her uh re re engage with uh with Barbara Post Haste.
Thank you.
All right.
Alright, I don't know if my thing woke up or not, or if this was my friend Gina, but we got to the next slide. Alright, so our five-year capital improvement plan, so there's really no change from this slide from the first public hearing. So I'm gonna go ahead and we'll keep it moving.
Oh no, I went too far. You did it. Ah put it down. It's you here on out. Alright. So our transport Mmm, this is high. Sorry, guys. Whoa, lunch was hard. Alright. So here's the transportation line. Here's that breakout. So I did promise you all that you would have details of the five-year TCIP as it shifted from the July workshop, and you will have that as part of your packets for this evening at the final publication. Hearing. Alright, so then our tentative um millage rates from Trim. This was
what the board adopted in July, and then again at the first public hearing. But the next slide is the recommended final millage rates that we will come back with a final budget for you this evening based off these millage rates, which the big change here is taking the general operating millage down to the rolled back rate of 7.2488.
Alright, so now let's recap. Um, consensus. So Foot Locker Directive, we're gonna maintain course and speed as recommended by the county administrator, and we are going to come back with a reduced general operating millage of the rolled back rate. Does that sound accurate? Yeah, yeah, cool. According
Accurate Amy. Accurate. Accurate Amy, yeah.
Here for it. Alright. So later today at five fifteen PM in this room, I will be back and together we're gonna adopt a budget.
Together. Together.
Together we're gonna do it.
Smiling all the way.
I'll be smiling all day. I'll see you all later. Thank you.
Alright, thank you.