If you wish to speak to any item on the agenda or during the public comment portion of the meeting, please fill out a speaker card. Each person addressing the board shall have three minutes to complete his or her comments on each agenda item for which he or she has filled out a card. The chair has the discretion to determine or alter the time limits on any agenda item. The Board of County Commissioners requests that speakers appearing under the public comments section of the agenda limit their comments or presentations to matters relating to county business that are within the board's control, authority, and jurisdiction.
I'd like to recognize Bishop Merton Clark, Truth Revealed International Ministries, for the invocation.
Good afternoon. Always counted an honor and a privilege to pray. Father, thank you for this moment and thank you for this time. Our nation needs prayer. We need prayer. This county from Meco to Mims needs to be covered with prayer, bathed and saturated with prayer. Tonight, we humbly ask that you would guide our steps and our conversation, that you will watch over those who have authority, who sits in seats or sits in seats of authority. Those who are here to discuss matters, even matters of the heart. Let there be chivalry. Let there be respect, one for another. Let us remember that we're one nation, under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. We give you praise for that. Bless our time together. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
That's a great honor to have you here, Bishop. Thank you. It's always a pleasure. Okay. I'd like to ask everyone to stand for the pledge. Okay. I'd like to officially call the meeting to order.
Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion so that Mr. Goodson, Commissioner Goodson, can join us via phone.
There's a motion. There's a second. A second to have Commissioner Goodson join us by phone. All in favor say yay. Yay. Carried unanimously. Thank you. Okay. We'll begin the public hearing process of passing the budget for Brevard County. We'll start with Agenda Item D1. Jim.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Item D1 allows for the reading of the tentative aggregate operating millage to fund the portion of the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget that is supported by property taxes. At this time, I'd ask the budget office to read into the record the tentative aggregate millage rate for the fiscal year 2026-2027.
The aggregate tentative millage rate for the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget is 4.7492 mils. This represents a 6.12% increase from the aggregate rolled back millage rate of 4.4753 mils. The tentative aggregate millage rate represents a 5.75% increase when compared to the current fiscal year 2025-2026 aggregate millage rate of 4.4909.
Commissioners, as approved by the board on July 21st, tentative millages have been set at rates required to fund board priorities including animal care center, roadway improvements, jail infrastructure, and other county facilities. Additionally, tax rates were set to mitigate the impacts of the newly mandated expenses while ensuring reserves are adequately funded. In Agenda Item D2, the board will hear comments from the public and then discuss millages and associated revenue and Agenda Item D3.
Okay, we'll move to Agenda Item D2.
Mr. Chair, if I may?
Yes.
Sheriff Ivey would like to say a couple of things regarding his portion of the budget and how it relates to safety.
Okay, great.
If we could let him do that. Absolutely.
Good evening, Commissioners, Mr. Chair. So, thank you guys for allowing us to speak today. I know I have Chief Waller up here with me and also we have with us our Chief Financial Officer, Brett, who may come up and if there's any questions or anything of that nature. So, I wanted to give a little information on the critical need of the animal shelter as well as the jail projects that are out there. Just to give a little history, in 1993, 34 years ago, Brevard County finalized construction of the current Brevard County Animal Shelter. The current facility is roughly 15,000 square feet. In October of 2014, the county asked our agency to assume responsibilities of what was then a failed animal control services. And if you guys remember, almost every meeting, people were lined up to complain about the conditions, to complain about the health and well-being of the pets there. And the commission made a decision to ask us to take over both the shelter side of it as well as the enforcement side of it, which we were glad to do. Within 18 months of assuming that extremely important public safety function, our mission transformed the shelter from a 55% annual live release rate to over 90%. And for those that aren't familiar with what a live release rate is, it is basically a count of how many animals are making it out alive. The average was 55%, so 55 out of every 100 animals was making it out of the shelter alive before we took over. Our team, under the direction of Joe Hellebrand and Dr. Sarah Boyd, completely changed the dynamic of that. And we're able to, within 18 months, move to a classification of over 90% live release rate, which makes us a no-kill shelter. Proudly, they have maintained that rate throughout our time. So, a great job by our team down there. The original shelter was designed for a total capacity of 80 dogs. Over the past year alone, we have experienced over 150, in fact, our max capacity was 154 dogs and over 200 cats that have been in that facility. And those come from everything from strays to abandoned to our team working puppy mills or animal cruelty cases and bringing those animals into the facility where they can be cared for and treated. The original design, as you probably know, was an open-air concept, which is not conducive to air conditioning, heating, or ventilation. We've been blessed, as a matter of fact. We've done everything we can to try and put air conditioning in there. Freedom Air, one of our local air conditioning places here, put in two 5,000 BTU units, and it did nothing to change the dynamic in there. It's just not conducive to it. The design of it is an outdoor design, which doesn't allow, as we said, for not only air conditioning, but heating or ventilation. In the winter, we are running every type of portable heater we can, anything of that nature, to try and keep the animals healthy and safe in there. The existing facility can no longer support major renovations or repairs. Even though significant attention has been applied to the roof, the septic, the sewage, the kennels, the exhaust and ventilation and fan repair, the current structure continues to fail and is in need of replacement. And I'll add to that by saying that the roof is leaking severely. Facilities has worked with us to the best they can to repair that, to basically, I guess the best way to say it, if we have put Band-Aids on everything in that building we possibly can and are no longer holding everything together, is the best way to put it. Throughout the years, roof penetrations for plumbing, appliance vents, ventilation ports, and fan fasteners have resulted in leaks that have displaced the insulation. Back when that building was constructed, the insulation that was utilized was extremely cost-effective and widely available when the facility was first designed. Years later, the leaks, moisture, and displacements have yielded an inefficient air and moisture sealing quality. It is no longer repairable. It has gotten to that point where, as I said, we've done everything we can trying to hold it together. Through reinventing the process, our efforts have proudly transformed what we were asked to assume was a failing animal services on both sides, both the enforcement and the shelter. And through commitment and our time and effort, we've been able to transform that. We've also added to it a 5,000-square-foot animal surgery center. Our vets and our vet team perform over 5,000 surgeries a year. Prior to the vet center being built or the animal surgery center being constructed, they were doing it in a room that was about this size right here behind me, doing all of it. We were able to do that through donations, through no additional tax increase from the county. We were able to pull that off and put together that building, which I'm extremely proud of. As you guys are aware, we've identified the replacement of the existing county animal care center as a critical public safety need requiring general fund resources. The estimated cost to construct a new county animal care center, 34,600 square feet. You heard me say earlier our current facility is 15,000, which is tremendously small for the volume of dogs and cats and animals that we encounter. The cost is $10 million for the new project. The new facility will replace the existing facility with a modern, efficient environment designed to improve animal welfare, operational effectiveness, and community services. We were blessed. The state of Florida has provided us a $5 million appropriation toward this critical infrastructure. And I know they're not here, but true credit goes to Tyler Soroy and Debbie Mayfield, who were the tip of the spear in getting us that money, realizing and recognizing how desperate this project was. And then, of course, Governor DeSantis assigned the appropriation for us. Our new animal care center will include specialized medical spaces, isolation, quarantine rooms, advanced ventilation systems necessary to provide a safe and secure environment for the animals, our staff, and our volunteers. The facility will also incorporate modern operational systems to improve tracking of adoptions, lost pet reunifications, and other performance measures. In order to make the new facility a reality, the sheriff's office and county attorney actually worked together to finalize the transfer of the adjacent property, the park and ride that the county had given to DOT many, many years ago. We were able to talk to DOT and show them that that property was not being used. And, in fact, the majority of the time, the volume of cars that were there were our employees that were parking over there because it was empty. DOT graciously worked with us, and, again, working with our county attorney, we were able to facilitate getting that property given back to the county so that we can build immediately adjacent to the animal surgery center. The primary goal of the new care center is to provide a safe temporary refuge for lost, abandoned, and mistreated pets while actively working to reunite them with their owners or find them a permanent, loving home. The mission extends beyond housing, though. Its core objectives include medical care, welfare, relieving overcrowded conditions, adoption, rescues, enforcing animal control laws, and, of course, the approach we take on animal cruelty for abuse and mistreatment. It also affords public safety protection and health concerns that relate to aggressive and dangerous wildlife, disease transmission, natural disaster relief, vaccination education, quarantine management, bite incidents, and nuisance abatement. As you can see, it's quite a broad spectrum of things that we work on and that we cover. And, again, I can't say enough about our great team down there, the conditions they are working in, but they're able to still be able to do the things we need them to do. Unfortunately, those conditions have become unhealthy for the pets, for our employees, and for the visitors to that place. As I mentioned, we are asking for that, those things, to be able to put together the new care center. And we believe that it effectively demonstrates the critical need that this commission needs to move forward. If you'll permit me, Mr. Chair, I'll talk about our jail infrastructure critical needs as well. Absolutely. All right. Approximately 50 percent of the county facility program's annual budget has historically been dedicated to county jail operations, reflecting the significant facility maintenance and capital needs associated with the aging jail facility, which is 40 years old. Currently, there are over 690 open work orders for jail facility maintenance or repair. 690, and, again, I'm going to say kudos to the facility team, to our county manager. They're doing everything they can, band-aids, splints, whatever it is. We're doing it with that facility out there. In the past, the county has supplemented the annual repair and maintenance funding with an additional $3.5 million annually from general government, a separate general fund account to support phased multi-year capital improvement projects necessary to maintain critical jail infrastructure. Due to budget constraints, the general government supplemental fund was not available during the previous two budget cycles, affecting the ability to maintain necessary jail maintenance. Although one-time correctional impact fee revenues provided partial funding support during fiscal year 25 and 26, those funds have been fully expended at this time. As a result of continued reduced capital funding, necessary infrastructure projects, they've all been deferred, increasing the risk of accreditation failure. As you guys know, our agency on both the law enforcement side and the jail side are accredited, and if we lose that accreditation, it changes the game. Lawsuits, insurance, everything else from it. Without continued capital improvement investment and ongoing repairs and replacements of at least $3.5 million annually, major end-of-life building systems at the county jail, including the roofs, HVAC systems, security fencing and cameras, water heaters, kitchen, the maintenance equipment, laundry services, and building security access controls will fail. There is absolutely no doubt about it. Again, we've done everything we can to avoid that. Again, same with the animal services. I think the things that we've listed, the things that the county manager and facilities are well aware of, certainly designate and determine this is a critical need for us. We house 1,700 inmates. We are responsible for not only keeping them safely housed, but also the medical side of it, mental health side, everything else that goes along with it. So there is no doubt that maintaining the safety and structure and facility is part of that program. So I'll entertain any questions you guys have. Okay.
Do we have any questions? Sheriff, I want to thank you for coming up and giving us this very insightful presentation and especially want to thank you for the job you do for the people of our county, and we're blessed to have you.
Yes, sir. As I've said many times, all I do is get out of good people's way. I watch them do amazing stuff. So our team does a great job. Yes.
Oh, I thank you, too, for all you do. Do you still have the lowest budget pretty much in the state of Florida for the amount of area you have to run as well as your staff?
The last time I knew we were like Brad or Doug, I want to say we were like. We're in the top ten population, bottom five funded.
Yeah, so we're actually kind of thankful you didn't come along and find a little bit of extra, but thank you for all you do. I really appreciate you.
And on top of that, you do animal control. I don't, that's not real common, is it?
How many sheriffs are? Well, believe it or not, since we took over animal services, a number of sheriff's offices have come and looked at our facility, looked at what we're doing. Their county commission has seen that that's the best way to handle it. And a number of sheriff's offices are now taking over animal services in their community. And our team, again, I can't say enough about the men and women that work down there. They have created a model that is being followed actually across the country. That's great.
That's fantastic. Can I say one thing, Mr. Chair?
Sheriff, I greatly appreciate you under Sheriff Waller, Brett taking the extra time to answer all my questions this year on the budget. I agree with everybody here. You do a great job for Bavar County, and it's appreciated. Thank you, sir. Thank you.
All right. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. Now, Jim? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Jim's keeping me. There we go. Yep. We rehearse this a lot. Yeah. Item D2 allows for the public to comment on the county budget for fiscal year 2026-2027. Before we begin public comment, I would ask that the budget office read into the record the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget.
The fiscal year 2026-2027 budget is $2,425,838,420. This budget represents a decrease of $161,915,446, or 6.26 percent less than the fiscal year 2025-2026 current budget of $2,587,753,866.
Mr. Chair, we are now ready to accept public comments on the budget for fiscal year 2026-2027. Okay.
Our first speaker, Dana Blinkley.
Excuse me. Morris, can I just clarify the comment section? Is it three minutes or five minutes?
Three minutes.
Thank you.
We'll give our constitutional office whatever time you need.
I appreciate that, Chair.
Okay.
As property appraiser, I must identify, classify, and divide all buildings in Brevard County into basic cost groups based on type of framing, walls, floors, and roof structure. Once that is done, the typical life of a building can be assigned. The typical life of a building is the total time of economic utility of a structure from its construction to teardown. And the end of a building should always be a teardown. It shouldn't be a falldown. I must also determine the building's effective age, which is defined as the actual age, lest any age taken off by facelifting, structural reconstruction, removal of functional inadequacies, et cetera. What's left is to determine the remaining economic life of the structure so any applicable depreciation can be assigned. The remaining life is the difference between the typical life and the effective age of a building. It's the length of time the structure may be expected to continue to perform its function economically and as it was intended to do as built. The Brevard County Government Complex North, commonly referred to as the six-story in Titusville, is a Class A government office building with a typical lifespan of 60 years. It was constructed in 1968, which makes that building 58 years old until we celebrate Jesus' birthday and then it will turn 59. Absent any structural reconstruction, the remaining economic life of the building is two years, at which time it will reach teardown. For informational purposes, the primary feature of a Class A building is to be fireproofed, protected structural steel frame. The floors and roofs are normally reinforced concrete on steel decking and exterior walls will be curtain walls of masonry concrete, studs and masonry, or those types of panels of materials. In this case, our building has concrete walls with panels of glass or windows, as you can see from the exterior. In 1988, this building was shut down. I tried to find out if it was an administrative order or a court order. The clerk contacted me and said, actually, the late Tom Jenkins, God bless his soul, actually shut down that building in 1988 due to the presence of asbestos. As a result, the building's interior was removed and the asbestos was either removed or encapsulated. I'm not sure which. It's my understanding that none of the building's major mechanics, structural or fluid, were upgraded or replaced. Now, the building was almost 30 years old at that point. And please, ladies and gentlemen, county manager, county attorney, members of this audience, we had no tax cap back then. There was no charter cap. The only limitations we had to performing needed structures on this was a lack of priorities. And that continued for many years and still exists today. As a result, the interior was removed and the asbestos was taken care of. It's my understanding that none of those systems were replaced. Structure or fluid were upgraded or replaced. There have been some changes. We did just install new chillers, which we had to. We were paying $20,000 a month to have a temporary chiller until new chillers could be installed. But just so you know, the chillers do not communicate with the train controls. So anytime we have thunderstorms or power surges, the chillers go down and the controls do not automatically reset the chillers. So that means that the air conditioner goes off. That has happened almost every week since the chillers have been installed. We've talked to facilities about it. They did explain the chiller control situation to me, and I was told that the reason that we didn't replace the chiller controls is because they are tens of thousands of dollars. This weekend, the power went out. The building got to a temperature of 91 degrees. My emergency ACs and my server rooms kicked on. The condensation created almost 30 gallons of condensation. And luckily, Monday morning when we got there, we had one inch before we would have flooded the server room. I have no documentation of any other changes that have been made to the building. The county manager who has been completely transparent as we've had these discussions indicated that he wasn't aware that anything else was done other than the asbestos removal. While it may be unlikely and we are hopeful that we are not at risk for immediate structural integrity, the age and condition of the building carries notable operational fire and health safety hazards and concerns. No commercial mechanical system can function safely and efficiently for 58 years without comprehensive replacement or localized multi-component overhauls. A breakdown of why a 58-year-old building with little to no upgrades is an extreme outlier, and the risk it poses includes mechanical realities and true system lifespan issues, fire hazards, air quality and respiratory health issues, and water contamination issues. If you just Google the subject matter, the what you should do litany recommends three things. In a building such as ours, number one, do not drink the water until you verify that the building has a modern filtration system network or has passed recent water safety checks. Monitor physical symptoms of the building's occupants. Are they experiencing headaches, coughing, throat irritation, etc. for signs of poor indoor air quality? Number three, inquire with HR or facilities management. Ask about the preventative maintenance and the air quality verification protocols. As an occupant in this building for almost 40 years, I have both experienced and or witnessed issues with all of the major mechanics of this building. Outside of the embarrassing appearance, I am honestly humiliated to admit I am fearful I have over 70% of the staff in the property appraiser's office working in a building that we refer to as the sick story, not the sick story. I can blame the poor decisions and lack of concern for the infrastructure and the safety of the people that have to work in this building on the five of you or the combination of the five of you before you, and I could repeat that 30 years over. It does not change the fact that I feel personally responsible to provide a safe working environment for the people that choose to work for the office of the property appraiser, which is defined in the Constitution as an office of public trust. You have a statutory responsibility to provide my office with facilities in the county seat, but unfortunately the statute does not speak to the condition of what you must provide of those facilities. I am currently working with facilities to glean information needed to have structural air and water quality inspections completed to ensure we are not working in a sick building. While I'm an expert maybe in appraising property and components of building construction, I am not an engineer that can make those assessments. I appreciate your time today. I have brought issues with this building before, this board before. I have brought you videos, pictures. I've contacted your office as we have constant communication with the county manager who has been completely cooperative in understanding how defeated we feel in this building. This is not a speech to ask you to breach any voter-approved cap that was ever done in this county. This is a plea. I am asking you, please, do something with this building. Before we have an integrity catastrophe, our people are sick. And maybe that will come at a time when there are no longer occupants in there. But I don't know what else to do. You know that we're getting ready to spend $60,000 to move our servers out of that building because we have to. We don't have a choice. And where I might have to displace people on a dime's notice, which would be very difficult to do in the Titusville location. I just had to do it in Melbourne. But to do it in Titusville, that's 70 people, not four, which is who I had to displace in Melbourne. But I cannot lose a half a million dollars of server equipment. Again, thank you for your time. I appreciate the cooperation of the county manager, the county attorney, if this is needed, and the continued help from Brevard County facilities as we embark on these much-needed inspections.
And I'm here to answer any questions you may have.
Mary? Yes.
Ms. Blickley, I'm not trying to put you on the spot, and I don't think you'll even know this, but you might because you have a lot of data. Do you know how many people are in there working on a daily basis, I guess?
Oh, I've got 70, Lisa's got about 70, Tim has four, not sure what the state attorney, public defender, county commission district one, four, three, so less than 400, but more than 275.
I know you're working with the county manager. I'm not going to be here very long, but I'm hoping someone's going to support it. But I would recommend we get busy on a study of priorities, what has got to be done for safety, and if not, we need to probably find a place to put people if we have safety things. There are some parts of it that are very beautiful, but the things you're talking about in there, those are very serious for health reasons. So, county manager, do we have something going on right now as far as somebody really looking this over? And first of all, seeing if we have a health situation, from what I'm hearing from you, we do, and seeing what we have that we can do maybe moving forward with this, because we have a lot of county staff there, and that's important for people's health. So, I'm guessing you guys have been working on this, but I don't know anything about it yet.
But we're not working—I am just now deciding that I am going to take the money, and the tax collector has agreed to pay half of whatever those inspection fees are. They've estimated they would be somewhere between $30,000 to $50,000. We're going to pay for those. We're going to have to have your help with that. There's going to have to be, you know, access from facilities so testing can be done. And a lot of this testing has to be done when there's not occupants in the building, so, you know, the integrity of the testing isn't spoiled. This is out of my bailiwick, I have to tell you, but here's something I know everything about. I know everything about the economic life of buildings, because if I didn't, I couldn't do this job. And I have to perform this task on every building in this county. So, it's something that is very familiar to us. Commissioner Feltner, we lost everything in the office that you used to occupy. There was a leak on the sixth floor. The water pooled in your old office, and it happened on a Friday. We didn't figure that out Friday evening until Monday morning. Once these ceiling tiles come down and sit with tens of hundreds or thousands of gallons of water on them, they turn to cement. So, we lost all of the electronics. I refused to put new furniture in there, because obviously that's a low spot, and that's where water is going to pool. So, Amanda's desk is half functional. Half of it is warped and still has chalky white residue on it. You know, it's, I don't mean to sound desperate, but it isn't the sky is falling. It's Blackwater. You know, Commissioner Altman, you were there when we had literally sewer, water, Blackwater pouring into the lobby and into the areas where my staff works.
It's defeating at this point. So, I think pretty soon we need to get some data. Number one, my question would be, is it worth restoring the building, or do we need to look for other facilities? So, we have a lot of questions we need to answer, but we need to start getting very aggressive on this. So, County Manager, you're going to have to lead on this. I'm an accountant, so, you know, these things are like, that's interesting. We've got to figure it out. So, County Manager, do you have any ideas of where we can start on this, or?
Ms. Blinkley, excuse me, Ms. Blinkley is correct. She's, because Skip informed, sorry, Skip is our facilities director, assistant department director, informed me that they were talking with them last week about whatever the health studies, so I'm going to get the title wrong, but the health studies. So, we'll be working with that. To be honest, I spoke to a few of you over the last few weeks. After this budget's done, we're going to try to call everybody together to talk about space uses, county-wise. I've spoken to a few of them. I call them the five families. There's seven constitutional officers, if you count the state's attorney and the public defender, to get together and start talking about space. And then, actually, to add to it, we'll look at putting, because with your decision you made with the lifeguards, we could talk about fixing those controllers then, too. At least that's a short-term answer, so.
Okay, so maybe you can get us some data back so the board will be able to make decisions on whether we need to completely relocate you or if this is worthy of a fix.
I will say the construction of this building is, and, Commissioner, you know this, the first floor is underground. That seemed like a good idea to somebody back in 1968. It is full of mold. We know that. We see it. We smell it. We live in it. We pressure wash it periodically. We wipe it out periodically. But I'm not sure we can put any more lipstick on this pig at this point. And I'm not sure that the type of construction, given that close to the river and salt intrusion and whatever else would be going on on something constructed underneath ground level, is a smart move financially.
Well, I think you guys are going to have a lot of work to do in the next few years. So, thank you. Thank you.
I have a couple questions.
Yes, sir.
So, I want you to be very clear so we can understand, because it sounds like a very serious problem. Do you think that building needs to be torn down?
As a property appraiser? Yes, sir. If I were a commercial investor and I were going to be invested in a commercial Class A building, I promise you that the only interest I would have in that building would be the location of the geography, location, location, location. And, yes, I would demolish the building.
And build a new one?
I would. I would. And I certainly wouldn't build that type of construction, you know, with an underground, you know, first floor. I think that, you know, there's a potential to, you know, bond out a new building, construct it where the parking lot is, demo the building that we're in now, since you already own the property, and make that the parking lot, you know, I mean, that would be the most prudent in terms of what we already own. You know, there's not governmental usage zoning everywhere in the county seat for this large of a facility. So, you know, that would be one possibility. But it costs money. And nobody here tonight is here, you know, if they're here to talk about the budget and they're not in support of busting the cap, I know this is terrible information. But I'm at the point now where I have a hard time looking my employees in the face and knowing that I'm powerless other than to show up and try to mitigate whether or not they're going to have sewer running in their work areas or whether or not they're going to have plumbing, whether or not the elevator is going to be working. You know, many times when we come in, we only have one elevator. Sometimes we have no elevators for a while. That's a typical occurrence in that building. Not a once in a while, but pretty typical. So that can make ingress and egress and getting customers, you know, to the fifth and sixth floor a problem. So it's not a once a month. It's a sometimes once a day, almost always now once a week issue for at least one of us that have offices in this building.
Okay. Well, thank you for coming and sharing that with us. Thank you. Joe Pinovich, our next speaker.
Commissioners, I come, I guess, as a resident of Brevard County, but I've been a tenant of Port Canaveral since 1994. And what's happening out there is just, it seems like it's a wild west right now. I, you know, I've benefited from being in the port for 30 years, 32 years, but it's been frustrating for me as a tenant and what I've seen happen that there's been no oversight to that body. It seems like the original idea was that we elected commissioners there to do the right thing, but it seems like it just has been separate from the county issues and they've just kind of acted on their own. And that's really caused some huge problems and a lot of waste. And what's happening out there now, it's just really concerning to me. I plan to speak at the Port Commission meeting tomorrow, but I don't know if that's going to do any good. And that's really irritating. I've got some ideas here that I'm going to share with the commission. I've got some, an outline I'll give to all of you. But there's some huge things happening. And the biggest thing is the meltdown of 528, right? We've seen what's happening. We've got three major projects slated for that road. We've got the Bright Line coming. We've got the Ballin Aquarium that the whole community, I think, is behind. And we've got a 580-room Weston hotel going to open on Cocoa Beach. That's going to tax 528 beyond the limit that it's already at. But nothing adds to the impact that a 3,500 parking place cruise terminal puts on that road. That 7,000 cars is turned in one day. And it's worked kind of so far so good. But at this point, without coordination with the county, their projects, and more importantly, FDOT and the projects they have planned, I think we're really missing a huge opportunity. So hopefully some of you political-type people can put some pressure and get the port to step up. I'm going to recommend that they charge a $3 impact fee to the 10 million passengers they expect to come through the port next year. $30 million will get the bonds issued to get those road projects started that they can interface and work this new terminal in a lot better than I think they're currently allowing for now. I hope you guys can take a look at it and maybe talk to some of those people. I know we have some commissioner interchange, I guess. So maybe something can get done that needs to get done. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.
We had a very similar conversation at the last TPO meeting about this very subject, too. Richard Webb. Good evening.
Please join me in thanking my commissioner, Feltner, for being the lone opposition to busting the cap. It's time to doge this county. Instead, you're trying to bust the tax cap and instill fear of Amendment 3 into voters who approve 3% tax caps twice by near 75% margins. The Bible instructs us to take care of widows. Instead, we're throwing elderly seniors out of their homes with astronomical taxes. We paid Jim Lissenfeld $300,000, Ted Kalkin's $200,000, and Jim Hayes $200,000. That's $700,000 for managers running a county that looks like a trash dump compared to Volusia, Orange, and Indian River counties. Yardway sits on major thoroughfares in front of multimillion-dollar homes, piled high for months on end because bureaucrats failed to renegotiate the waste management contract with efficiencies that would benefit both sides. Do you have a kickback problem? I'm asking you to listen to Commissioner Feltner. We discussed several really good ideas on improving trash pickup, not allowing the vendor to increase fees 15% as they're about to propose. Another point. You just finished a 52,000-square-foot Rockledge crown jewel of fortified emergency operation centers for $35.6 million in July 24, replete with state-of-the-art communications. We were originally told it would be $15 million. That's more than double. Why do you now build a hurricane-proof traffic operations center at Pineda for another $17.1 million? Do we have a management problem? Another issue. For several years, I've asked at budget meetings why we don't follow the example of Hialeah Fire Chief Paul DeYoung 25 years ago. He eliminated a fire truck and crew going to every heart palpitation by adding one extra person to the rescue truck. He saved money and decreased response time 25 years ago. It's time to doge this county. Don't bust the tax cap. And, yes, we're voting to increase the homestead exemption on Amendment 3. You're not going to scare us. Edward Newman.
Good evening. My name is Edward Newman. I live at 3699 Lake Adelaide Place in Vieira. I want to acknowledge the position you're in. None of you ran for office to raise taxes. None of you want to be the board that lets the county deteriorate. I'm asking you to adopt the county manager's rate of 2.8625 instead of the 3.0942 you set in July and still take care of the issues that are actually critical. And I'm going to tell you how we do it. The animal shelter. $5 million. Originally, it was under the understanding it was towards $10. Not enough. But the simple answer is we should be financing that. That should be on a revenue bond. About $300,000 a year. We'll keep you well inside the cap. Get the building. Get it built now. Let's talk about the roads. Looking for $1.6 million on top of a $9.7 million already budgeted for road resurfacing. For a network that your own budget team rates 84 out of 100. Significant improvement. So we're in decent shape. Page 271 says impact fees can fund sidewalks, widenings, intersections, and ITS. Yet gas tax is paying for Sheraton and Aurora Road sidewalks as well as the Hollywood Boulevard widening. $3.4 million. While $65.3 million sits in the transportation impact fund fee. Growing another $14.5 million this year. Fund the capacity work properly with the impact fees you collected for it and put the gas tax on the pavement. You'll be able to do double tonight's paving plan with the money and no tax increase. Facilities. For the record, there is a, I believe, $1 million contract for evaluating all the facilities countywide that should be in place already and being done shortly. Facilities, the same story. You're asking for $3 million, while $5.2 million from last year is sitting unspent in the government center north fund. And $11.5 million sits across the rest of the facilities program, unspent. Plus $8.7 million in jail capital, unspent. You're on budget. Documents say why. Vacancies and turnover are making project delivery challenging. Higher millage rate doesn't fix that. It just parks more money next to the money you're already not spending fixing the problem. Money isn't the problem. And the last two items are emergencies at all, which raises the obvious question. If this is emergency, why aren't we using the emergency fund? Well, we're trying to fund that in an emergency. You've got $29 million sitting in operating revenues, reserves, that your own budget defines as money set aside to respond to emergency, emergencies. If it isn't an emergency, then the charter finding doesn't apply. It can't be both. It can't be urgent enough to override the budget cap, but not urgent enough to use the money set aside for urgent things. Either way, you don't need the override. And remember what you're actually voting on. On existing properties like mine, you'll raise revenue by 10.9% compared to a charter cap of 2.63. Finding is good for one budget year, but that year's cap is calculated from the prior year, and this will continue. $17 million becomes $89 million over five years. This is a permanent decision. And I ask before a vote that you ask the county attorney to state on the record whether next year's cap will be calculated off the base, including this year's excess. And I have five pages of documents to back everything up, multiple copies for everybody.
I appreciate that. You can hand them directly. Why don't we... You can hand them directly. I'd like to have it. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker is Kristen Yantz.
Hello. I am Kristen Yantz, here tonight as a Palm Bay resident and a nearly 20-year employee of the Palm Bay Aquatic Center, and someone who has watched generations of youth come through that facility. I am one of them. We are all aware of the city of Palm Bay's discussions regarding the pool's future operations. It's been made very clear there are budgetary constraints that every municipality and government agency and department is operating under, however, when we hear that everyone is essentially saying, we don't have the money, sorry, it just doesn't sit well with me. When the public filled Palm Bay City Council chambers a couple weeks ago, council discussions specifically raised the possibility of the county providing some funding associated with the South Brevard referendum to be used towards the maintenance and operations of the Palm Bay Aquatic Center. Since Palm Bay residents are contributing to the South Brevard Recreation Special District through ad valorem taxes, and the county identifies that district exists for the operation and maintenance of recreational facilities and provides recreational facilities and programs, then keeping the Palm Bay Aquatic Center open seems like a great use of those funds. So my question is, what responsibilities does the county have to ensure that those recreation dollars continue providing meaningful recreation opportunities in South Brevard, particularly with our only public access pool facing closure? However, how much revenue is currently being generated by the South Brevard Recreation Special District through the ad valorem taxes? Where is the Palm Bay generated revenue currently being spent? What recreational facilities and programs in South Brevard are currently receiving funding in that district? This county commission board was involved in building the Palm Bay Aquatic Center for the benefit and enjoyment of citizens of all ages in South Brevard. We have children who still depend on it for basic water safety education, students who require the lab lanes for competitive swimming, families who depend on it for recreation, seniors and veterans who use it for therapy. I myself was once a kid swimming in that pool, a high school student practicing and competing in those lanes, a lifeguard keeping the water safe, a swim instructor teaching anyone who needed to learn to swim, and to coach developing the next generation. Today, I am asking you not to close that door for the next kid. By taking the initiative to work with the other founding organizations, the City of Palm Bay, the Brevard County School Board, Eastern Florida State College, and working together to find a path to save the pool for the next generation. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for your input. Okay, I think that concludes the cards.
Mr. Chair and Commissioner, since the board must adopt the millages and related budgets separately, comments and motions concerning the individual tax levies can also be made at each time, excuse me, the time each millage is adopted. I can go on item D3 if you're ready, sir.
Yeah, I don't think we required for a vote on item D2. No, no vote, no. Okay, so we'll move to D3.
Okay, D3. Commissioners, item D3 allows for public comment, discussion, and adoption of the final millages for fiscal year 26-27. If there are any public comments on item D3, now would be appropriate time to hear those comments.
Okay, we have one card. Judy England.
It's good to see all of you. I'm not here to complain. I want to thank you, really, for all that you do. I know you're not always very respected or considered about everything you have to go through, and you get picked at a little bit. So my concern is simply, and I'm going to read it to you because I'm not a public speaker. You're going to adopt your final budget on your millage rates tonight. Think about what you're doing. Think about where you can cut sometimes. But remember that we're not an ATM. And the reason I say that, I'm not being ugly. I'm a widow. I live on a fixed income. And my taxes are high. And that gets to be a burden sometimes. So anyway, just think about some physical restraints. It's not hostility, but it's respect for your constituents and your voters. But think about it. And I want everybody that's upset and in arms, I want you to stop and think about our quality of life we have right here in Brevard County, which is really pretty awesome. When you think about all the amenities that we have and all the places we get to go, the zoo. And we've just got a lot to be thankful for. You guys have a good evening.
Okay. Jim? Commissioners, the budget office personnel will now read into the record the millage and its related ad valorem revenue for each taxing authority. Following the reading of each tax levy, it is recommended that the chair entertain a motion for the approval of that millage. Any changes to the millage rates under this item will affect the aggregate millage rate, which will be recomputed and announced under item D4. And if the board's ready, you have...
Yeah, I'd like to just say a few things before we read through and start voting on the individual millages. Just to address some of the points and to clarify. And I certainly appreciate what everyone has said and some good input. One was that Brevard County needs to be doged. The state did a doge, and as a matter of fact, the state had a doge report, and they did call out Brevard County. They praised Brevard County as being probably the most responsible county in the state. I'm sorry? Oh, okay, we have a record. We praised how good we have done in keeping our millage rate down. Yes?
Commissioner, if you wanted the direct quote from the doge report. They said, among Florida's largest counties, only Brevard lowered millage rates by 20% or more between fiscal year 21 and fiscal year 25.
Out of 67 counties of the large counties. So we've been very responsible here. The other thing I'd like to point out, that this budget is a reduction. It's a 6% reduction in the county budget. We are shrinking the size of government with our budget. What we're faced with is some critical emergencies. And we're able to address those emergencies at the same time, keeping our millage rate at one of the lowest, if not, I think we're the lowest or second lowest.
I believe our general fund millage rate is the second lowest in the state of all the counties.
That's of all the counties. Correct. And when you look at some of the large urban counties.
I believe that was last year's millage rate.
Okay. So we've been very responsible. I understand what you're saying. But I just want it to be said, let it be discussed, that we are lowering the size of government. We have the second lowest millage rate in the state and actually have been praised. There was a comment earlier about a cap only existing from a certain period of time. Actually, Bavard County, since I've been here, I think since elected here, probably since the 70s, I think, 80s, we've had a, prior to our charter cap, we had a local bill, a statutory cap. So we've lived under a cap for quite a long time, and we've had to address some real significant and severe problems. And I just wanted to bring that to the attention. Yes.
I was going to save this for my board report, but it seems like an appropriate spot. I just wanted to share with everybody some of the cost-saving efforts that the county has actually done. So 100% of the ocean rescue funding, we shifted to the tourist development tax, so that freed up almost $2 million in general funds. We eliminated 44 positions. 18 of those were filled, so those are actual humans working for the county who have lost their jobs. The employee health insurance premiums have increased, so that's, you know, over $2 million back into the general fund. So, and other things, so the county has been tightening its belt in lots of places. Plus, we have a new requirement. Our tax collector, now we're paying commissions to the tax collector for voted school board millages, so that's something we didn't used to have to do before. And I think there's a lot of things that people don't realize, and people wonder, you know, do we talk to our constituents? Yeah, I have been. I've been talking to friends, family, neighbors, friends. I've been going to different groups and telling them what this is all about because people have questions. Just so that everybody knows, some of the things that the county has mandated to pay for that you don't really think about is Medicaid. We don't have a choice. Pre-trial juvenile detention, Baker Acts, Legal Aid, East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, Child Protection, Indigent Burials, VAB Board, Health Care Act, Inmate Medical. There's lots of stuff that people don't really realize, but I came out with a cut list some months ago, and it was pretty unpopular. But I will say that the county did hear some of those things, and they've acted on them. So we have been doged, and we have also cut some stuff.
Thank you.
Yes.
I believe you guys have brought up really good points. I think this is $161 million less than last year's budget. And I went through the budget. I didn't have as much time as I would like to have had, but it's hard meeting all these needs. Part of it was the state mandated an increase of everybody's salaries over the last few years, which were probably necessary. But we are in a service industry, and you have to pay people because they have to be able to support their families. So it's just tough. I think Brevard County does do a very, very good job. And I don't know how to meet some of these needs. I think I've watched cycles through my life, and I'm getting old enough now. I've seen a few. There's always been a reset, and this one's been a while. I don't know if one's coming or not. If Amendment 3 goes through, I'm interested to see how that will kind of fix itself down there, because you have to have funds if you want to have the core services. You have to have those. And then there's parks. There's going to be a lot of decisions you guys are going to have to make in the next years. But it's a tough one. I look through it. I try to find funds. We talked about doing a gas tax. Everybody goes to a service tax, and that's not going to be popular right now. But I get it. I watch the grocery bills coming in. I work in ministry. And people have a hard time right now trying to support their families. And it's not as bad as where I think it's going to be probably next year because inflation is starting to go higher, too. And I use my peanut butter analogy. It went from like $3.89. I'm spending $7 on that same thing of peanut butter now. So I don't know how families are paying their bills right now. It's tough. But I do know that this is right now a very responsible budget. And I'm glad the sheriff came with all of that information because it is important to be able to safety of animals. I mean, even animals being on the streets. So that was a very good thing that he is providing there. And he took it over a while ago. So anyways, I'm not going to go through that. He did such an excellent job. But then the property appraiser came up. We've had a building we haven't been able to get to with taking some care of some critical safety issues. So, I mean, it's tough. We're in a day. It's tough. And you guys, I know you're going to do a great job next year of coming back and trying to figure out ways. I don't know where you're going to cut much more of a budget unless you do personnel. But then you don't have everybody doing the job. So this is a tough thing you all have going. And I'm going to be praying for you to have a lot of wisdom.
Thank you for that. And I do want to say I want to appreciate all the comments that we've had. I don't think anyone differs with what you say. I think we just want to communicate some of the challenges that we've had to deal with. And not to mention getting close to a point where we could not even respond to emergency medical. We've had to really address some real challenges there in providing the most basic of service, public safety, law enforcement. And now we know we've got some serious issues related to county facilities. So it's a tough job. But I know we're committed to not only this board but our staff to doing it in the most cost-effective and efficient way possible. Okay. I think is there any more comments? All right. Let's go to the next action item. And after reading each of the tax levy, the chair will entertain a motion of this millage and revenue of any discussion concerning either the millage or the budget.
All right. The Brevard County BCC operating fiscal year 2026-2027 millage is 3.0942, which is a 10% change from the rolled-back millage of 2.8129, generating $236,406,228. Okay.
Any discussion or motion? I think we do these individually. Okay.
Motion to approve.
Okay. Motion is there a second?
Second.
Motion is second. Any discussion? All in favor say yay.
Yay.
Yay. Opposed? Opposed. Nay. Message.
Motion carries 4-1, with Commissioner Felton are voting against. All right. The Brevard County Free Public Library District fiscal year 2026-2027 millage is 0.3240, which is a 2.27% change from the rolled-back millage of 0.3168, generating $24,866,758. Okay. Any discussion?
Motion to approve.
There's a motion to approve. Is there a second?
Second.
Second. Debate. All in favor say yay. Yay. Yay. Yay. Opposed? Aye. Opposed. Opposed. That passes 4-1, with Commissioner Getson voting against.
The Brevard County Mosquito Control District fiscal year 2026-2027 millage is 0.1339, which is a 2.29% change from the rolled-back millage of 0.1309, generating $10,276,725. Okay. Any discussion?
Debate? Is there a motion?
Motion to approve. Second.
A motion and a second. All in favor say yay. Yay.
Aye.
Opposed? Motion carries unanimously. The fire control MSCU fiscal year 2026-2027 millage is 0.6431, which is a 2.47% change from the rolled-back millage of 0.6276, generating $23,444,504. Okay.
Any questions or discussions? Is there a motion?
Motion to approve.
Motion. Is there a second?
Second.
Motion. Second to approve. All in favor say yay. Yay. Yay. Opposed?
Motion carries unanimously. The recreation District 1 fiscal year 2026-2027 millage is 0.4123, which is a 2.08% change from the rolled-back millage of 0.4039, generating $3,903,986.
Motion to approve. Second.
Motion and a second for approval. All in favor say yay. Yay. Yay. Opposed?
Motion carries unanimous. The recreation special district operations and maintenance, District 4, fiscal year 2026-2027 millage is 0.5212, which is a 10% change from the rolled-back millage of 0.4738, generating $4,136,828. Okay. Is there a motion?
Motion to approve.
I'll second. Motion and a second for approval. All in favor say yay. Yay. Yay. Yay. Carries unanimously.
Thank you. The law enforcement fiscal year 2026-2027 millage is 0.8504, which is a 2.08% change from the rolled-back millage of 0.8331, generating $28,367,730.
Motion to approve. Second.
Motion and a second for approval. All in favor say yay. Yay.
Yay.
Motion carries unanimously. The road and bridge maintenance D1, MSTU, fiscal year 2026-2027 millage is 0.4756, which is a 1.95% change from the rolled-back millage of 0.4665, generating $2,893,273.
Motion to approve.
So motion for approval.
Second.
Second. All in favor say yay. Yay. Yay. Opposed.
Carries unanimously. The road and bridge maintenance D2, MSTU, fiscal year 2026-2027, is 0.1641, which is a 0.92% change from the rolled-back millage of 0.1626, generating $1,333,268. Is there a motion?
Motion to approve. I thought Mr. Goodson would. Sorry. I can't wait long enough.
Yeah.
I'm with you.
There's a motion to approve. Is there a second? Mr. Goodson. Second. A second by Commissioner Goodson. All in favor say yay. Yay.
Yay.
Opposed carries unanimously. Thank you. The road and bridge maintenance D3, MSTU, fiscal year 2026-2027, millage, is 0.1858, which is a 2.54% change from the rolled-back millage of 0.1812, generating $643,316. Okay. Is there a motion?
Motion to approve. Second.
Motion for approval and second. All in favor say yay. Yay.
Good.
Carries unanimously.
The road and bridge maintenance D4, MSTU, fiscal year 2026-2027, millage, is 0.2183, which is a 2.25% change from the rolled-back millage of 0.2135, generating $2,282,084. Make a motion.
Second.
There's a motion and a second for approval. All in favor say yay. Yay.
Yay. Opposed? Nay. Carries unanimously. The road and bridge maintenance D4, MSTU, fiscal year 2026-2027, millage, is 0.2866, which is a 2.54% change from the rolled-back millage of 0.2795, generating $750,417. Motion for approval will be in order.
Motion, sir.
Motion for approval. Is there a second? Second. Second. All in favor say yay. Yay.
Carries unanimously. The road and bridge maintenance D4, North Beach, is MSTU, fiscal year 2026-2027, millage, is 0.1862, which is a 3.22% change from the rolled-back millage of 0.1804, generating $191,957.
Motion. Motion to be in order.
Motion to approve.
Motion to approve.
I'll propose something. In an alternative, if we don't have a second, I will propose in the alternative that we adopt the roll-back millage of 0.1804.
This is your district, correct?
That's my district.
Okay. Is that what you would like to do, sir?
I'll make that motion.
Okay. The first motion died for lack of second. Could you repeat that motion again, Commissioner?
Oh, I'm in the alternative to the millage read in. I will propose the roll-back millage of 0.1804.
I'll second.
So, motion and second. Any discussion?
All those in favor, say yay. Yay. Opposed?
Carries unanimously. Okay. The road and bridge maintenance, District 4, Merritt Island South, MSTU, fiscal year 2026-2027, millage, is 0.0932, which is a 2.87% change from the rolled-back millage of 0.0906, generating $28,155.
Ms. Scherz?
Yes. Do you want a motion?
Is there a motion?
You want one?
I don't hear a motion. Is there an alternative motion?
Would you like a motion?
If you will.
I'll make a motion to approve it. To approve it? Yeah.
Okay. Is there a second?
If there isn't a...
There's no second. I don't hear a second, so then I'll turn on a motion.
Okay. I will adopt the... I'll make a motion to adopt the roll-back millage of 0.0906. Okay. There's a motion for the roll-back millage. Second.
There's a second. All in favor, say yay. Yay. Yay. Opposed?
Carries unanimously. The environmentally endangered lands 2024, fiscal year 2026-2027 millage is 0.0457, which is a 2.01% change from the roll-back millage of 0.0448, generating $3,507,441.
I'll make a motion. There's a motion and a second for approval. All in favor, say yay.
Yay. Carries unanimously. The Port St. John, Canaveral Groves Recreation, fiscal year 2026-2027 millage is 0.3826, which is a 10% change from the roll-back millage of 0.3478, generating $951,037.
Motion to approve, sir. Second.
Motion for approval and second. All in favor, say yay.
Yay.
Yay. Carries unanimously.
The North Brevard Recreation, special district, fiscal year 2026-2027 millage is 0.3337, which is a 9.99% change from the roll-back millage of 0.3034, generating $2,090,244.
Motion to approve, sir. Second.
There's a motion and second for approval.
All in favor, say yay. Yay. All in favor, say yay. Carries unanimously. The Merritt Island Recreation, MSTU, fiscal year 2026-2027 millage is 0.3824, which is a 10% change from the roll-back millage of 0.3476, generating $2,396,883. Okay. Is there a motion?
Motion.
For approval.
Yes, sir. I'm sorry.
Is there a second?
Second.
All in favor, say yay. Yay. Yay. Carries unanimously. Thank you.
Okay. I think we have one more, don't we? This will be the last operating millage, and then we'll have one debt levy as well. Okay. The South Brevard Special Recreation District, fiscal year 2026-2027 millage is 0.3144, which is a 7.16% change from the roll-back millage of 0.2934, generating $14,379,437.
Motion to approve. Second.
Motion and second for approval. All in favor, say yay.
Yay. Yay.
Yay. Yay.
All in favor, say yay.
Yay. Yay. Tally.
Cares unanimously.
Yeah. Thank you. Okay.
I want to note that the following, following the adoption of the individual millages, there may be a recess. Do you want to listen? Yes. We request a recess, Mr. Chair. Staff needs to do some recomputing of the aggregate millage rate. So, let's have a 10-minute recess. We'll come back here at 6.30. Thank you. That'd be 11 minutes. Staff has done the recalculation.
The budget office will announce the recomputed millage rate. Excuse me. Let me start all over. Oh, sorry. The budget office will announce the recomputed aggregate millage and the change represented by the recomputed millage from the aggregate rollback millage.
The aggregate millage rate for the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget is 4.7491 mills. This represents an increase of 6.12% from the aggregate rollback rate of 4.4753.
The budget office will read into record the resolution establishing the county's final millages for 26-27. Following the reading of the resolution, it is recommended that the chair entertain a motion for approval of the resolution.
A resolution to adopt final millages pursuant to Chapter 200 Florida statutes authorizing the Board of County Commissioners to adopt final millages for fiscal year 2026-2027 and providing an effective date. The Board of County Commissioners, Brevard County, Florida, has taxing authority for the taxing entities identified in Exhibit A, which is attached hereto and made a part hereof by this reference, does hereby levy the millages specified in Exhibit A, and does hereby state the percent by which the aggregate millage to be levied is a change from the rolledback aggregate millage.
Okay. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the resolution. Is there a second? Second. Motion second to approve the resolution. All in favor say yay. Yay. Opposed? No. Motion passes 4-1. Agenda item D-4.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. For agenda item D-4, the budget office will read into the record the resolution adopting the county's total budget for fiscal year 2026-2027. Finally, in reading of the resolution, it is recommended that the chair entertain a motion for approval of the resolution.
A resolution to adopt a final budget pursuant to Chapter 200 Florida statutes authorizing the board of county commissioners to adopt the final operating and capital budget for fiscal year 2026-2027 and providing for an effective date. The board of county commissioners, Brevard County, Florida, as taxing and governing authority, does hereby adopt an operating and capital budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026 and ending September 30, 2027 in the amount of $2,425,831,993.
Okay, I'd like to entertain a motion on the resolution. A motion for approval. Is there a second?
Second. Second.
Motion and a second. All in favor say yay. Yay.
Yay.
Opposed? Nay. Passes 4-1. Okay. Item, agenda item D-5.
Commissioners, item D-5 requests that the board adopt the attached resolutions establishing final millages for fiscal year 26-27 for those dependent special taxing districts for which the county levies a millage and authorize the chair to sign the resolutions. Florida statute 200.065 allows the board to adopt tax levies for all dependent special taxing districts by a single vote unless separate votes are requested by a member of the public.
Okay, I'd like to entertain a motion to approve all resolutions. Motion for approval.
Is there a second?
Second.
Can I ask a quick question? Was there, because of the, any of the change in the millages affected this one? I just wanted to be clear.
The percent change over the aggregate rollback, because it was such a minor change, didn't affect that. It was still 6.12%, but it did decrease the total aggregate millage by .0001 mills. Okay. Thank you.
Okay, all in favor say yay. Yay. Yay. Opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Okay, agenda item D6.
Commissioners, item D6 requests that the board adopt the attached resolutions adopting the final budgets for the fiscal year 2026-2027 for the county's dependent special districts and authorize the chair to sign the resolutions. Florida statute 200.065 allows the board to adopt budgets for all dependent special taxing districts by a single vote unless separate votes are requested by a member of the public.
Okay, there's a motion. Can I clarify one thing? I'm sorry, sir. Since we changed the, were there any changes to this item?
No changes to this item because the road and bridge districts don't fall under the dependent special district category. All right. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. Okay. There's been no requests for us to break these down so we can hear them in aggregate. Set that out for the record. Is there a motion for approval? Is there a motion for approval? Is there a second?
Second.
Second. All in favor say yay. Yay.
Nay.
Opposed? Chairs unanimously. Agenda item seven.
Commissioners, item D7 requests the chair entertain a motion to authorize the county manager or designee to execute all letters and exhibits necessary to establish that Brevard County has complied with Florida sections 200.065 and 218.63, Florida statutes, the truth in millage law. I make a motion. There's a motion for approval.
Second. All in favor say yay. Yay. Yay. Nay. Chairs unanimously. Thank you. All right. So we'll move on to new business. New business E1. And I just want to thank the staff for their incredible job. And it's a great honor to be a part of this commission. I think we've really had to make some tough decisions for the people of Florida and their future. Okay. E1. Hey. Good evening.
So mosquito control's final budget was just approved in item D6. So we request item E1 here that the board authorize the chair to approve the same budget but on the state forms so that we can submit it to the Florida Department of Agriculture. Sure. So this is required by the Florida statute to maintain our status as a certified mosquito control district.
Okay. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion to approve. Motion. Motion is second for approval. All in favor say yay. Yay. Yay. Carries unanimously. Okay. That concludes our agenda. We'll move to board reports.
County manager. Thanks, Mr. Chair. You'll tolerate I have some words I would like to say. I just want to thank you to all the commissioners and your staff. You know, we started early this year. We had three budget workshops. We started in July, which is a little earlier. Yeah. We put you through extra briefings. We appreciate everybody sitting down and working with us listening. I want to thank the constitutional officers and their staff, the judicial staff and all the out-of-state agencies to provide timely information, accurate information to help us meet all our deadlines. Thank you to the budget office department directors and all the staff throughout all the departments for their hard work. I appreciate everybody's effort and the successful work that went into the budget. A new thing I want to point out, I went through this morning, we passed the budget. If you look at our budget book, there's 38 separate budgets in our book. So there's 38 different ways we have to work together to make sure everything's balanced. So I want to thank everybody for that. We're going to continue our hard work. We have a lot of big efforts in front of us. Just a couple I was jotting down. We have sorrel projects in front of us. We've got to work on utilities. We have landfill. At the same time, we've got to keep maintaining our parks, operating transit, libraries, issuing permits. So as we're working on the big projects, we also have to keep in mind that we have to do day-to-day. So I thank the board for all their support in improving this year's budget and allowing us to continue trying to do the best we can for the citizens.
Thanks. Thank you. Thank you. And thanks to all the staff. Excellent work. County Attorney? I have no report, Mr. Chair. Okay. Commission District 1. District 2?
No report, sir.
No report. District 3?
I already said my keys. Thank you, sir.
Okay. District 4? District 5, I have no report. That concludes the...