Levy County holds its eighth budget workshop on August 25
The commission meets twice that day. Under Florida law the county has until the end of September to set its millage rate and adopt a budget, after two public hearings.
Levy County commissioners meet twice on Monday, August 25: a regular meeting of the Board of County Commissioners from 9 a.m., and Budget Workshop #8 from 2 p.m. Both are at 310 School Street in Bronson.
The workshop is the eighth in the county’s budget series, which puts the commission in the closing stretch of a process that has a statutory deadline attached to it.
The timetable is set by law, not by the county
Florida counties do not choose when to finish their budgets.
Section 200.065 of the Florida Statutes governs how a taxing authority fixes its millage, the rate applied to taxable property value that produces most of a county’s discretionary revenue. It requires that, once a tentative budget is prepared but before it is adopted, the authority computes a proposed millage rate necessary to fund it.
That proposed rate is what appears on the notice property owners receive in August, under the process known as Truth in Millage, or TRIM. The notice carries the date of the first public hearing.
Two hearings, both in September
The statute requires two public hearings, and both fall in September.
The first is to adopt a tentative budget and tentative millage rate, and exists so that the public can speak for or against them. The second is the final hearing, at which the board adopts the budget for the year ahead. It is the last point at which a resident can address the commission on the rate before it is set.
Budget workshops such as the one on August 25 are the working sessions ahead of those hearings. They are where the numbers that end up in the tentative budget are argued over.
Why the workshops are worth watching
By the time a budget reaches its September hearings, most of the decisions inside it have already been made. The workshops are where the trade-offs actually happen, and there are eight of them on the record this year.
Levy County has not published an agenda for the August 25 workshop at the time of writing.
Attending
Both the regular meeting and the workshop are at the Levy County Board of County Commissioners offices, 310 School Street, Bronson. The county lists both without a firm end time, so it is worth allowing that either could run long.
Dates and times are from the county’s own calendar and can change. For an agenda, confirmation, or guidance on addressing the board, the Levy County Board of County Commissioners can be reached on 352-486-5218 or at LevyBoCC@LevyCounty.org.