Collier board votes to roll back property rates, and cut money for Conservation Collier

After hours of discussion and debate, Collier County commissioners decided not to increase property taxes next year.

With a 4-1 vote, the board agreed to roll back the millage rates for its general and unincorporated funds, as well as for its Conservation Collier and Water Pollution Control programs.

It also voted unanimously to reduce the millage for the Rock Road Municipal Service Taxing Unit, which funds neighborhood improvements, below the rolled-back rate.

The key decisions came more than six hours into the final budget hearing, which drew a passionate crowd.

Commissioners tossed about different ways to hold the line on taxes for hours before finding what's seen as a temporary solution, with support from all but one of them.

After much grappling, Commissioner Bill McDaniel proposed the solution: Rolling back four of the county's tax rates – resulting in most of the cumulative tax cut of nearly $61 million.

His idea required taking the same amount of money from Conservation Collier's acquisition and maintenance reserve funds and redirecting it toward the county's operating budgets, to completely offset the tax cuts.

A majority of commissioners agreed – and ultimately approved McDaniel's idea, with final votes coming in the wee hours of the morning Friday.

It took city staff more than an hour to update all of the budget resolutions, to reflect the changes in millage rates and the shifting of banked money from Conservation Collier into other projects and services.

During the hearing, dozens of Conservation Collier supporters asked commissioners not to mess with the popular land-buying program – but they didn't get their way.

"It's a wonderful program. It's part of what makes this county unique," Dick Grant, a long-time resident, told commissioners in making his arguments for not tampering with it.

Many others expressed the same sentiments, in person and over Zoom.

At the microphone, Em Kless, president of the Naples chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, said it's not a big ask of homeowners to support the purchase of more land for the program, which on average costs them one week's worth of groceries a year.

"Without protecting nature, there is no humanity," she said. "We rely on nature to breathe, eat and be safe. We have to protect nature, if we want to help people."

In case you missed it:Conservation Collier could see budget cuts next year. Here's why

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Hurting residents asked for a break

Commissioners also heard from residents who wanted their taxes reduced for relief in hard economic times, as they face rising cost of groceries, gas, electricity, insurance, housing and other living expenses. Even if it meant temporary cuts, or a temporary pause, to the voter-approved Conservation Collier program, they were OK with it.

With so many struggling just to make ends meet, Naples resident Teddy Collins urged commissioners to "stay committed to your tax pledges," with the majority of the board having signed pledges not to raise taxes.

"People come first," he said. "Then the environment. That's God's order, not my opinion."

Dan Sperduto, a local resident and Realtor, agreed, sharing a story about an elderly woman he's trying to help because she's "completely broke," and scraping for money to eat.

"How much land is enough? It's never enough," he said. "At some point, it has to be enough."

Commissioner Burt Saunders objected to rolling back taxes, raising concerns about the potential consequences, without the chance to study it.

He also opposed taking money away from Conservation Collier, even if temporary, for a one-time fix.

"I'm not trying to be offensive, but there is nothing that I find appealing in that proposal," Saunders said.

A rolled-back rate represents no tax increase. It's the rate needed to raise the same amount of money as this year (not including new construction).

For fiscal 2024, commissioners reduced the aggregate tax rate to about 4 mills, down from more than 4.43 mills this year. A mill is equal to one dollar for every $1,000 in taxable property value.

If property values go up, as they have in Collier County, the millage rate must go down to keep revenues and taxes constant. Values countywide have risen to $138 billion, a 13.5% increase from a year ago.

Despite strong opposition, commissioners cut the millage rate for Conservation Collier from 0.25 to 0.2242, trimming its tentative budget by more than $3.57 million.

A few years ago, voters approved the renewal of the program, which allowed for a tax levy of 0.25 mills a year, for another 10 years. So environmentalists and others who support the program say it's clear what residents wanted.

At 0.25 mills, an owner of a home assessed at $300,000 would pay $75 a year for the conservation program. Voters have approved taxing themselves at that rate three times, first in 2002, then in 2006, and again in 2020, to support Conservation Collier, a willing-seller program designed to protect land, water and wildlife for generations to come.

The cuts to Conservation Collier didn't sit well with supporters, including the many environmental groups that see it as beneficial and necessary to maintain the right ecological balance that's not only good for nature, but people.

Representing Audubon Western Everglades and Audubon Florida, Brad Cornell said the shift of the majority of Conservation Collier funds to other programs came as an extreme disappointment.

"Citizens did not vote to offset tax cuts at the expense of Conservation Collier land acquisition and management," he said in an email. "The board all said they supported the program, so Audubon Western Everglades and Audubon Florida expect the County staff and commissioners to work hard to find ways to avoid harming the vital work of Conservation Collier this coming year."

He hopes to see the county charge the full levy and to restore the funds in fiscal 2025.

"We're still analyzing the impacts and details of last night's shocking actions affecting the entire county," Cornell said. 

County commissioners saw the rate as flexible.

Conservation Collier funds to be diverted

While the tax rate for Conservation Collier will be lower next year, it will still generate another $31 million for the program, which has a surplus in both of its funds. However, nearly twice the amount of its funds will be diverted to other uses next year, to avoid cuts to county projects and services, such as libraries and parks.

"They may not like it, but we are up against some difficult things. And they could get zero," LoCastro said of the program and its supporters.

After staff worked out the new numbers, Ed Finn, a deputy county manager, told the board that the program's maintenance reserves would drop to $10 million, and $27 million would still be left in the acquisition fund after the money transfer. He described it as a "pretty creative idea."

Several commissioners have expressed the need to "cut the fat" from the overall budget, with a desire to make the government leaner and more efficient.

At the hearing, they questioned why Conservation Collier continued to operate at a surplus, and whether the program needed to be revised, to speed up or encourage more purchases.

Through the program, the county has acquired more than 4,200 acres of land for conservation since 2003.

Seventy-five percent of the money that's collected is earmarked for land acquisition, with the remainder reserved for perpetual maintenance.

As one of the newcomers on the board, Commissioner Chris Hall has expressed his desire not to stick to "business as usual" at the county, and to look for ways to roll back or reduce taxes.

During the hearing, he reiterated that he wanted to stop the growth of what he dubs "the government monster."

A 'deeper dive' into the budget

Commissioners plan to do a much "deeper dive" into county spending and operations, possibly hiring an outside consultant, to help evaluate how the government runs, how it might do better, and how it can transition to zero-based budgeting, a method of budgeting in which all expenses must be justified every year.

LoCastro said he didn't want a repeat of this year in the next budget process. Others agreed that changing budget policies, or guidance, so late in the game wasn't a good or easy way to go.

The board started talking about rolling back, or significantly reducing tax rates, during the first of two final budget hearings a few weeks ago, changing course on their earlier guidance.

In March, commissioners signaled support for keeping rates the same, allowing the county to increase its budget and benefit from higher property values.

Based on early direction, the tentative budget proposed for fiscal 2024 totaled roughly $2.85 billion, a 5.5% increase over this year. It remains the same, with the use of Conservation Collier money to fill in the gaps for the other funds, created by the cuts to millage rates.

County Manager Amy Patterson said county government isn't bloated in her eyes, with many unfilled positions and many unfunded projects, including required maintenance at parks. She pointed out the county is still getting back on its feet from Hurricane Ian last year and still awaiting more reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the money the county has spent on recovery.

She also noted Collier County is facing increased costs, just like its residents, and warned that plugging the conservation program's money into next year's budget may lead to a millage rate increase in the following year, without significant cuts or efficiencies identified by turning over every stone.

McDaniel acknowledged as much.

"It's forcing us to dive into these budgets, and to squeeze, if it's in fact possible," he said.