County Commission Outlines 2021 Budget Priorities

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — On Tuesday, the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners received its first look at the proposed Fiscal Year 2022 budget, which aims to address key community needs, including affordable housing, behavioral health, transportation and infrastructure investments.

To help residents and businesses continue to recover financially, the proposed $2.8 billion budget would also reduce countywide millage rates used to calculate property taxes.

The budget as currently proposed by staff will be discussed by the commission during a series of work sessions and public hearings before a final budget is adopted in September.

“The proposed budget freezes property taxes while supporting priorities like behavioral health services, affordable housing, increased investment in sidewalks and roads, and a commitment to protect our environment,” said County Administrator Barry A. Burton.

“It does include a 5-cent increase to gas taxes that can only be spent on increased investment in sidewalks and roads, but the budget reduces millage rates to help our residents and businesses continue to recover financially. This all comes as a result of budget cuts last year of over 4 percent from our departments and strong economic recovery," Burton said.

Budget Overview

• $2,861,296,140 total proposed budget for all county departments, constitutional offices and capital expenditures.
• Countywide taxable property value increase of 6.58 percent for FY22 with a reduced general fund millage rate from 5.2755 to 5.0170 mils.

• The proposed millage rate rollback yields no increase to countywide property tax revenue. This is possible due to the county strategically setting aside extra reserves last year in anticipation of a real estate downturn, which did not occur.
• The county continues to limit budget growth with a fiscally conservative approach – the proposed budget only calls for a $4.2 million, or a 2.2 percent, increase for county departments in the general fund while addressing key priorities noted below.
• Pinellas County continues to have lowest per capita debt among urban Florida counties.
• The FY22 proposed budget document is available on the county’s budget website.

Key Strategic Funding Areas

• Affordable housing: Pinellas County housing programs include affordable housing development funding for both homeownership and rental housing, home buyer counseling classes, down payment loans, home repair loans and rental assistance. To leverage state and federal housing funds, the county and cities created the Penny for Pinellas Affordable Housing Program, an $80-million fund dedicated to expanding affordable housing production in Pinellas County. As of July, the county has committed $23.4 million of Penny for Pinellas funding to produce 1,197 units of which 884 will be affordable.
• Behavioral Health: Designing a new coordinated access model for countywide behavioral health services that allows people in need to get consistent help by providers around the county as well as support for sheriff’s mental health response teams to support law enforcement in responding to mental health crises.
• Infrastructure: Launching a two-year program to address the backlog in sidewalk repair projects while continuing to invest the Penny for Pinellas in roads, bridges, trials, water quality and stormwater projects, parks, public safety and other priorities.
• Sustainability & Resiliency: Sustainability and resiliency will be increasingly integrated into the decision-making process for both policy and practice across county operations to ensure the wise use of resources, preparation for potential disasters, and long-term solutions to address economic, environmental and social challenges.

Balancing Transportation Trust Fund

The proposed budget also calls for stabilizing the county’s transportation trust fund through a proposed 5-cent-per-gallon increase to the Local Option Fuel Tax. Flat revenue from the existing fuel tax, combined with increased construction and maintenance costs, have continued to erode the fund balance. The additional fuel tax revenue would enable the county and cities to continue to pay for maintenance and improvements of roads, sidewalks, bridges and other transportation infrastructure that residents rely on.

The fuel tax would be shared by all who pay for fuel in Pinellas County, many of whom are visitors. It would cost around $27 per year per household vehicle based on average miles driven (13,500) and fuel mileage (24.9 miles per gallon).

The commission will hold a budget information session Aug. 3 to consider this and other possible ways to balance the trust fund. Based on the BCC input, a public hearing and vote on a Local Option Fuel Tax increase would take place Aug. 24.

Additional information regarding the transportation trust fund is available here.

Next Steps

At the Aug. 3 meeting, the county commission will also provide feedback on the budget and determine maximum millage rates for proposed property taxes in TRIM notices to be mailed later in the month.

The commission will hold budget hearings in September to adopt the budget.