One year after the first property tax increase in more than a decade, Seminole County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously voted to keep the rate the same for the next fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.<\/p>\n
The board also approved a nearly $1.3 billion budget for 2026-2027, an increase of just under $55.7 million.<\/p>\n
While the countywide tax rate of nearly $5.38 per $1,000 of a property\u2019s taxable value stays steady, tax bills may still increase due to rising property values.<\/p>\n
County officials cited persistent inflation, along with rising costs for construction materials, labor and services. Officials also pointed to tens of millions of dollars that Seminole will have to spend on Florida Legislature mandates directed at local governments that are not not funded by the state government, including the county jail, juvenile detention, veteran services, indigent care, Health Department, medical examiner\u2019s office and Medicaid.<\/p>\n
County Manager Darren Gray pointed out, however, that Seminole will save about $60 million over the next five years because of budget reductions and efficiencies.<\/p>\n
For example, Seminole recently eliminated a majority of Lynx bus routes and is replacing them with Scout, an on-demand transit service, which Gray said will save the county about $15 million over the next five years.<\/p>\n
The county also eliminated five full time positions in its public works department and froze 11 vacant positions in several departments.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur focus has been the same: Maintain essential county services, invest in our infrastructure, and continue to identify opportunities to operate more efficiently,\u201d he said at the board meeting.<\/p>\n
Gray added that next fiscal year\u2019s budget will not be affected by Amendment 3, which voters will decide on in the November general election. If approved by 60% of Florida voters, it would raise the homestead exemption of a home from the current $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and up to $250,000 in 2028.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we begin planning now,\u201d Gray said. \u201cSo depending on the outcome of the November vote, we would be prepared to begin more in-depth policy discussions with the board [of county commissioners], starting in January 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seminole stands to lose up to $119 million in tax revenue by the end of 2028 if Amendment 3 is approved, according to projections.<\/p>\n
Sanford resident Joe Humphreys, who opposes Amendment 3, called it the \u201c800-pound gorilla coming at us\u201d next year if voters approve it.<\/p>\n
Seminole\u2019s new 2026-27 balanced budget will be $1.27 billion. That includes $80.6 million for its general fund \u2014 which includes paying for the day-to-day operations of Seminole County, such as parks, trails, libraries, mass transit, technology and administrative costs.<\/p>\n
Public safety \u2014 including the Seminole Sheriff\u2019s Office and Fire Department \u2014 accounts for $585 million or 45% of the county\u2019s spending.<\/p>\n
Commissioners last year had agreed to the first countywide rate increase in 15 years, from $4.88 to $5.38 per $1,000 of taxable value.<\/p>\n
Geneva resident Nancy Harmon said her checking and savings accounts are not seeing an increase. Yet the county\u2019s revenues are increasing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsn\u2019t there something in that amount of money [in the budget] that you could not do and give us some of it back?\u201d she asked commissioners. \u201cIt concerns me: Are we managing our budget? Or are we following the money?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanford resident George Sellery questioned why Seminole plans to increase its reserve funds from the current $69 million to $80 million next fiscal year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy don\u2019t you do a $5 million reduction just to show people that you do listen, and that you do feel the affordability issues that we all do?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Commissioners and county staff at the meeting did not respond to Harmon\u2019s or Sellery\u2019s questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One year after the first property tax increase in more than a decade, Seminole County commissioners on Tuesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[28,114,266,115,139,141,140,1014,109],"class_list":["post-408522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-seminole-county","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}