You got it? Commissioner Uteen, please take your seat. Michael in the back, can you raise this a little? Whoa. Monica, you ready? Yes, sir. Good evening, folks. If you guys can grab a seat, please. Can everyone grab a seat, please? We need to start our meeting. We're about to adjourn the meeting. All right, here we go. Thank you. It worked. Good evening. I have a script to read. I don't need to say my name. Tonight, the Broward County Board of County Commissioners will conduct public hearings on the proposed millage rates, budgets, and special assessments that will support county services during the fiscal year 2027. This is the first of two public hearings as required by law. The purpose of the hearing is to receive comments receiving the county's budget, tax rates, and special assessments, and to provide information on the budget and proposed amendments. The public hearings will be conducted in three sections. The first section will include public hearings on countywide and Broward municipal services district area millage rates and budgets, as well as the fire rescue and street lighting sub-district millage rates and budgets. The second section includes public hearings on the proposed special assessments for fire and garbage collection in the Broward municipal services district area. The third section will include public hearings on the millage rates and budgets for the county's dependent water control districts. An agenda listing all the items to be discussed and the order of the items is available at Monica's desk, at the entranceway. If you are interested in addressing the board of county commissioners about an item on the agenda, please register with the county staff member at the entrance of the commission chambers. County staff is also available at the entrance to answer questions about the county's budget and taxes. If anyone has questions about the property value assessment or exemptions, the property appraisers office, Marty Keir, staff is available at the entrance and can also be reached at 954-357-6830, martykeir at bcpa.net. Or in room 111 downstairs on the first floor of this building from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Marty's there waiting for you Monday through Friday. The last day to file an appeal with the value adjustment board to challenge your assessment is September 18th. If anyone has questions about the value adjustment board process, VAB staff is available at the entrance to discuss with that introduction, let's begin. Aggregate millage rate. The fiscal year 2027 tax rate certified for the notice of proposed property taxes result in a 5.02% aggregate increase in property taxes when compared with the taxes generated from the aggregate rollback rate. The rollback rate generates approximately the same amount of taxes as the prior fiscal year, plus taxes generated from new buildings added to the tax roll. The aggregate millage rate of 5.6998 as compared to the aggregate rollback rate of 5.4276 includes all ad valerum taxes levied by the county and its dependent districts except for voted debt service taxes. This aggregate millage rate is the basis for the state required advertisements concerning the budget and taxes. The rollback millage rates and the percentage change in property taxes are based on the assessment roll certified by the property appraiser. We're now going to give everybody a test to see if they were listening to what I just said. No, okay. County-wide millage and budget. The public hearing is open on the general county millage rate and budget. The proposed millage rate for general county purposes as advertised on the notice of proposed property taxes is 5.6658, which represents 5.03% increase in property taxes as compared to a rollback rate of 5.3946. I would like to introduce our county administrator, Monica Spero, in person to provide an overview of the proposed county budget and millage rate. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commissioners. The fiscal year 2027 budget is a fiscally responsible and strategically balanced financial plan that reflects prudent stewardship of public resources while advancing the county's highest priorities. This recommended budget substantially minimizes growth in departmental budgets to ensure that the county-wide property tax millage on the county's taxpayers is maintained at current levels. The budget was developed with careful consideration of evolving fiscal conditions and uncertainties, including potential future impacts on property tax revenues. To strengthen the county's financial resilience and preserve flexibility in the face of these challenges, reserves have been strategically increased, positioning Broward County to responsibly manage risk while continuing to deliver essential services. Today, we are presenting a budget for fiscal year 27, totaling $9.219 billion, which is $483.1 million more than fiscal year 26. The operating budgets reflect an increase in the amount of $185.2 million, largely due to increases in the constitutional officer's general fund budgets, primarily for BSO regional general fund services and the dispatch contract. The county-wide employee benefits fund to reflect increases in health insurance and the self-insured state-required reserve. The local provider participation fund, paid fully by private hospitals, and the transit operating fund to address cost increases in contracts and diesel fuel. It also reflects an increase in the capital budget of $332.7 million, largely due to the budgeting of the following major non-property tax-supported capital projects in fiscal year 27. Water systems improvements in the Water and Wastewater Enterprise Capital Fund, and the Broward Commuter Rail South Project and the Transportation Surtex Capital Fund. Finally, there is a decrease in the debt service budget of $34.7 million. The general fund budget proposed for fiscal year 27 totals $2.145 billion, which is an increase of $109.4 million. The general fund regional Broward Sheriff's Office recommended budget increased by $41.5 million and the general fund transfer to the dispatch contract fund for 911 services increased by $2.7 million, which includes funding for the third and final year of $8 million salary adjustments for the Broward Sheriff's Office detention deputies as originally proposed by the sheriff two years ago and reiterated as a priority by the sheriff in this year's budget request. This represents a $24 million total increase over the past three years for salary adjustments for detention deputies, coupled with an additional $15 million increase for a 5.8% salary increase inclusive of increases in benefits for FICA and FRS for the following BSO departments in the functional categories, general law enforcement, courts and fire rescue, and emergency services, in addition to an increase to BSO's special risk for the Florida retirement system, known as FRS, of $6.7 million, along with an increase of $19.1 million for BSO's health insurance and fully funding BSO's operating expense and capital outlay budget request for fiscal year 27. Those items combined with an increase of $5.8 million to fully fund BSO's request and operating expenses, along with a decrease of $10.4 million to fully fund BSO's request and capital outlay, overall increase in the fiscal year 27 BSO budget by $44.2 million, which is an increase of 5.3%, while the county general fund agency budgets have modestly increased by 3.4% when compared to fiscal year 26. The fiscal year 27 proposed budget provides the largest operating investment in public safety in Broward County's history. In addition, for the other constitutional officers, the property appraiser's office recommended budget increases by $1.5 million. The supervisor of elections budget increases by $5.9 million, primarily due to the different elections planned in fiscal year 27 compared to fiscal year 26. The clerk of courts budget increases by $0.3 million and the fiscal year 27 budget for the tax collector increases by $4.9 million, which is driven by the 2% commission levied on the county from the tax roll, which includes the county paying the school board's share per state law and, as a result of recent legislative changes, now includes the school board's voted debt service. That will be withheld by the tax collector in the distribution of property tax revenue to the county. The board will also adopt the fiscal year 2027 personnel cap, which establishes the number of authorized positions for fiscal year 2027 at $6,657. This represents a reduction of 21 positions from fiscal year 2026, primarily due to position eliminations resulting from identified operational efficiencies. The budget proposes a fiscally responsible approach and a series of actions to restrain the county budget given the available resources, while protecting, to the greatest extent, essential services to those most in need in our community and continuing to invest in the county's highest priorities. There is a reduction in the county's overall number of positions by 21, identified through operational efficiencies. The recommended budget also increases reserves to strengthen the county's financial position and guard against future uncertainties, including an increase in reserves by $3 million for revenue fluctuations and an increase in reserves by $5.5 million for potential fluctuations in property tax revenues. To support the general fund, the certified property tax roll increases 5.40% when compared to the tax roll used for the adopted fiscal year 26 budget, but we do not anticipate this level of growth to continue. The fiscal year 27 total millage rate remains the same as fiscal year 26. It should be noted that county taxes make up approximately one quarter of the overall property tax bill. The increase in assessed value for homestead property owners is capped at 2.7% for fiscal year 27 and therefore, generally, homestead taxpayers will experience a slight increase in county taxes. For other properties, the change in the assessed value of each property will determine how much the property taxes will change. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commissioners. Thank you, Monica, for the unrehearsed speech. OMB, is there anyone from the public signed up to speak? Yes, Mayor. There are 12 speakers signed up for this item. Okay, 12 speakers. Who's first? The first speaker is Franco Maynata followed by Nancy Biasentino. Okay, come on up, please. Our animal guy. Yes, sir. Be ready. And we're in support of whatever you're going to say. Excuse me? We're in support of whatever you're saying. Thank you. My name is Franco Maynata. I'm a lifelong resident in Broward County, a U.S. Army veteran, and Broward County is truly my home. I have a question. Has a dog ever impacted your life? Mine sure has. When I came home for the military, I was dealing with PTSD. I was moments away from taking my life, and my dog is the only reason I'm standing here today. When she passed away from old age, I made her promise to help as many veterans and as many dogs as I can, and I've kept that promise, and I plan to continue doing so. I worked alongside Broward County Animal Care for a few years now. I'm an AKC certified dog trainer. I even helped fill for the behavioralist position before they could hire one. I was even nominated for Volunteer of the Year for the FATMO Awards, and that's an honor I truly don't take lightly. I even helped start the VA Bark Program, which is a VA program where we train veterans and their dogs to become service dogs, and I'm proud to say not only a dog from Broward County, but an urgent dog from Broward County has become a service dog and attends the Miami VA Hospital every single day with this veteran that works there, and I don't bring this up for the accolades or the attaboys. If you truly know me, that doesn't mean anything to me. What matters to me is the work, and if you ever had a dog that meant anything to you, please just take a second. Think of a dog scared in the back of a kennel and not being able to do that for you. That's the reality for some of these dogs every single day. And my second question is this. When was the last time that any of you walked through the shelter unannounced? In the military, we call that spot checks. You want to make sure that you guys are squared away at any given time with everything that they need to complete the mission. I'm asking the behalf of the kennel staff who manage these dogs for what they're given, and what they're given is the skeleton crew, which means the volunteers like myself unfortunately end up doing a lot of the heavy lifting. And that's not a failure in Broward County Animal Care. No. That's a math problem, and a math problem can be solved with the budget. So my ask is this. Raise the wages for the kennel staff who truly work with these dogs every single day and know these dogs. Staffs of the actual need and not the bare minimum truly funded enrichment for these dogs so they don't deteriorate because a deteriorating dog does not get adopted. A dog saved my life, and I know there's a dog in that shelter right now that could do the same for somebody else if they live long enough to meet them. So my ask is this for the committee. This is an opportunity not only for us to do better but to truly be better because these dogs deserve better. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Who's next? The next speaker is Nancy Biasentino followed by Laura Rand. My speech is not going to be that nice that well. I am a trapper. If it's not going to be nice then would you face that way then? I'm joking. Just joking. I get it. I'm just not a good speaker. Just say your name. Save me your name for the record. My name is Nancy Biasentino. I'm from Southwest Ranches. I am a cat trapper. You're a what? Cat trapper. Got it. So all the feral cats that are in Broward County I get calls. I got called yesterday 15 cats three different places need me to go help them to stop the feral population to stop the neighbors from complaining to stop everything to stop the sickness to stop the babies to stop Broward County to stop all the rescues from having to take in these hoarding cases to have to take in all these cats that need to be fixed stop the problem before it happens. I started this during COVID when I quote didn't have a job and it has consumed my life now. Real simple. I brought them because I'm a visual person. In 2025 I trapped 700 cats. I don't work for anybody. I work with a lot of the different rescues. So they know me. They help me try and get kittens adopted. Trying to get cats if they have to be euthanized because they're so bad. If they have to be fixed and returned because they have feeders. Because there are people that love them and care about them out there. The sad part is in 2025 out of my 700 cats Broward County helped me with 74. So out of 700 cats they barely did 10%. I spend every other month I am driving so much. Every other month I have to get my oil changed. I have to get my tires rotated. I do 500 miles a week in driving trying to help these people with the cats. So far in 2026 I've done 526 cats. Broward County has only helped me with 38. They're good when they help. Otherwise excuse me they're pretty pathetic. You get two appointments they're six weeks out. There's no drop off and return like there used to be. If you don't get on their schedule they just aren't caring about us. They aren't caring about the cats. They aren't caring about the community. And it's something that needs to be addressed on a higher level than just me trapping 500 and 700 cats a year. Thank you. The next speaker is Laura Rand followed by Kimberly Friedman. Folks we really can't have clapping in here if you want. You can wave your hands. Appreciate it. Thank you. Good evening Commission, Vice Mayor and Mayor. There are over 300,000 stray cats in Broward County and a free no appointment TNR program is the most accessible and cost effective way to reduce community cat populations. We have no drop off system right now. Broward County Animal Care has discontinued the drop off. They've gone to appointment only which means we're left to pay for our own trap, neuter, and release or rely on vouchers from people. Broward County Animal Care appointment two appointments booking six weeks out. They've given no reason for discontinuing the non-appointment system and cats don't do what anyone says. So an appointment system with cats how are we with families and jobs supposed to work with an appointment system when cats just aren't that kind of animal? It would decrease if you bring back just letting us drop them off we're still doing all the leg work. I work and I foster for Miami-Dade and Broward and Palm Beach counties and I find Broward County the most difficult to deal with so them discontinuing this with no acknowledgement of why doesn't surprise me. I just think that if you remove if free access removes the biggest barriers and cat population is a problem I think we can all agree with that and there are counties all over the nation getting the overpopulation crisis under control doesn't Broward County want to be one of those? Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker is Kimberly Friedman followed by Andrea Wirth. Hello. Welcome. Good evening. Thank you for having me Commissioner and Mayor. By a show of hands how many of you have cats? Does anyone have a cat? None of you have cats? Wow. Dog lover. We got dogs. Okay, dog. I've had dogs. Thank you. Thank you. So I am a resident of Broward County. I've lived in Sunrise since 1993. I am a physical therapist. I've been treating for 18 years in Broward County and I have four children who are all students in Broward County. The past 20 years I've seen a large increase in cat population with no real resolve or help. I've tried to reach out to many communities many cat colony people that trap them. I haven't really gotten much of an answer. Broward, I email and call and they don't respond. This woman Natalie here was nice enough to come to my house and help me trap three feral cats that were outside of my house with her time and through a donation of a close friend of mine. I think this is a growing problem because it's also a threat not only to each other but it's also a threat to the animals that live here. Birds, songbirds, cardinals their nests and those birds are getting injured and killed by the multiple cats that are out there in this county and not being cared for. I can't tell you how many times I've been in my bed sleeping and I hear cats fighting outside my door my window I hear them all the time. Anyways sorry I just wrote this we have to we have to find a way to solve this growing problem. I feel like they should have a better appointment system or more resources available for these individuals who take their time and effort and their own money out of their pocket to help control this population. TNR cats are also vaccinated against rabies which leaves them less of a threat to other animals in the community. If I didn't have the resources I'd probably still have feral cats outside fighting and getting pregnant and laying having babies in my peace lily in my garden. Okay. So I really would like you to consider this budget and consider helping those people who help the animals that can't talk for themselves. Thank you. Thank you. Who's next? Next speaker is Andrea Wirth followed by Leedy Maria Hoski. Good evening everybody. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I really want to reiterate what everybody else has said. I'm a person who tries to help. Can you please just state your name? Andrea Wirth. I'm sorry. Thank you. And by the changes in the system and the cutbacks I've already seen a larger boom in population in some of the neighborhoods that I try to help and reproduce and produce and more cats and it's not a good thing and it also it's just I would like you guys to consider to help us help you guys and help the rest of the residents. You know the older people who can't do this to ourselves I go help them. You know and by me not being able to help them because there's no I can't get an appointment or I can't do return to field or I can't drop the cats off because I've got to fit it into my schedule when I work there are now 20 more cats at this house so that's an example of how this is perpetuating the problem and I would appreciate if you guys would consider it. Okay? Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker is Lidi Marjohoski followed by Kathleen Sepilak. Good evening. My name is Lidi Marjohoska. I've been doing a TNR trap neuter release in Michigan for many years and I've been doing it in Florida since I moved here in 2022. I found the problem was a stray abandoned dumped feral cat it's just it's just horrible you know you cannot step you cannot do a step without seeing a cat abandoned starving I mean the situation is really bad and me as a volunteer using my own funds everything out of my pocket I am on a really edge of mental breakdown I can't function I can't see this I can't you know you can't get appointment to get a feral cat it's unpredictable so you never know when it's going to go in a trap when you're going to trap them so appointment system does not work when it used to be walk-in at least it was somewhat manageable but now with absence of walk-in appointment it just everything suffers and cat multiplies like this they get pregnant at four months old kittens and being kittens themselves produce even more kittens so they sick injured they don't look good I mean it's just out of hands something needs to be done okay to help volunteers more affordable services more free services because it's not my kids and I'm doing it out of my own pocket I have 22 year old car I mean it just I can't afford it's like I don't know what I'm going to do and it's getting worse and worse and it's like whole country problem I feel it it's not just in Florida it's everywhere but since I'm here in Florida we're talking about Florida something needs to be done it's very difficult especially on volunteers and people and we're trying to trap and we're dealing with all kind of jerks they're trying to prevent and trying you know they don't understand what's going on people killing cats people poison cats that's not the solution so I just basically agree with all everyone's saying and situation is really bad so I'm asking to make a system more affordable more funding so thank you thank you ma'am next speaker is Kathleen Sepelak followed by Deborah Hoya I don't have anything prepared try not to get emotional just state your name please Kathleen Sepelak thank you so I invite all of you who don't own cats to look at any of you can look up on your phone's cat reproduction chart you will see what I'm looking at right now is one unspayed cat has four kittens 18 months later there is well this one I'm sorry this one doesn't have the arithmetic done for me so let me go to another one because I need arithmetic this one has one cat and has in six years time 66,088 cats 66,000 one cat 66,000 cats within six years you have a catastrophe on your hands folks this is a catastrophe it's an epidemic and myself and these good people here and thousands of other people mostly women and no slight intended but it is mostly women we are your army your unsung heroes your you don't even know about us we're out there on the streets day morning noon and night some of us get up at four o'clock in the morning to go to places because if people find out that we're feeding cats in those locations they attack us and other of us like myself I'm on the street every night three hours multiple locations look at me folks I'm not a little spring chicken I get in and out of my car probably 40 or 50 times every night because I'm going to different locations because the cats will not understand if I say hey can you meet me at this intersection they will not get it they do not comprehend you must please give us support we are the arm there is a huge army out there all these people this is coming out of all of their pockets okay all of us are in debt up to here and beyond you have to help us now what I would like to ask the question please I would like to ask the question ma'am I got to have you close I got to keep with the time is there someone here that we could work with please we'll address that once everyone is done speaking okay okay thank you the next speaker is Deborah Hoya followed by Linda Ashby is Doug here by the way Doug is on his way and Lenny is here we will have him here okay let everybody have their say hi ma'am what's your name good afternoon sir mayor and commissioners thank you for letting me speak my name is Deborah Hoya I'm a resident of Pompano Beach for well I've lived in South Florida mostly in Broward County since the 1980s okay while Palm Beach but mostly Broward County and I've now lived in Broward County for over 15 years at the same location same address in Palm Air and I'm not sure I'm in the right order I'm not you know I kind of said I want to speak and she said what and I said taxes and she said okay here's where you sign and all these people are talking about other issues I listened to what Monica Caprero said to us in the beginning about the budget but unfortunately since there was no paper given where we could follow like you know she was saying a lot of numbers really fast in a very monotone voice that didn't give you any kind of indication like how to even follow what she was saying I really didn't get an answer to my question and what is happening to me is my taxes are only $1,600 a year my house is paid off I owe no taxes I have no liens on anything this is part of my retirement plan okay and now you are proposing between you and my city and according to the proposed taxes I got it is for the city commissioners want $800 a year just for I guess your pay and it's not clear to me it says right on it Broward City Commission wants $800 more a year and Pompano City Beach wants $800 more a year and then the fire department wants like $25 and you know a few a couple dollars here and there but $800 to Broward County and $800 to Pompano which makes it a 110% increase for me on living on social security my answer will be I will be homeless if you increase you approve this budget I just we're not raising taxes this body is not raising taxes ma'am I don't know what your city is doing I just I literally called I said where do I talk to the people and they gave me this address and this meeting I didn't show up here by mistake I was directed here about these issues listen we're not raising taxes here I don't know what your city is doing we need the next speaker we're not raising taxes sorry well we were sent an $800 proposed increase Broward County Commission if the value of your property went up then your tax will go up but we didn't raise those taxes we have not raised the millage rate we did not raise it there's a cap on homesteaded people so it couldn't possibly go up 100% I'm sorry I can't get into your specific facts we got people here waiting I'm sorry I didn't get answers here and I know it's going to happen Mr. Mayor if I can offer there are representatives from the property appraiser's office outside okay okay they're right outside they can help Pompano she lives in Palmere he's got it the next speaker is Linda Ashby followed by Natalie Shin hi Linda hi my name is Linda Ashby good evening mayor vice mayor and commissioners my name my I'm a North Lauderdale residence taxpayer former Broward County sheriff and also worked in the communications division for many many years and also currently now a senior citizen and a communicat advocate I purposely allowed all these ladies to come forward to present concerns I am here to present a solution with every problem there has to be a solution so tonight I'm asking the commission to appropriate funds for a six months TNR on patrol pilot program not merely to study the idea but to fund implement and measure it the scale and urgency you've already heard Broward animal care leadership has estimated approximately 800,000 community cats may living in Broward County if you take that number and just take half of that that have kittens every year that's over two million cats a year although that's not a formal census the lack of reliability reliable mapping and trapping is part of the problem just 1,000 unsterilied female can produce at least 8,000 in one breeding season while residents wait for appointment cats and cats continue reproducing why the current system is unsustainable an appointment only clinic is not a complete county wide TNR systems cats do not enter traps according to a government calendar residents may finally trap a pregnant or trap savvy cat when no appointment is available volunteers then carry the burden of trapping traveling transport return fuel equipment and follow up Broward also lacks dedicated TNR intake and field coordinated to document colonies prioritize cases coordinate transportation or assign assistance preliminary funding requests because county staff has not provided current TNR operation costs I'm requesting that the commissioner reserve up to 600,000 subject to staff verification for six months pilot to two high need zones a preliminary allocation would include approximately 200 I need you to close up okay well I sent all of this to all of you the email is in your inbox so I'm hoping that we could create a program that could accommodate the current system is failed so I'm hoping that we could do a pilot program and perhaps create a TNR on patrol like we have community officers on patrol so that we can handle this problem we do need a program thank you I sent that to all of you it's in your email the next speaker is Natalie Shin followed by Cashel Anderson hi my name is Natalie Shine and I'm a resident of plantation due due to the constant warm climate in South Florida cats are constantly reproducing hair we're in the throes of a cat over population crisis and if it weren't for the dozens of volunteers offering their time and own money and hours to try and curb this problem it would be exponentially worse but in the last two years we've seen the county's TNR services dwindle down to nearly nothing it is shocking and insane that the funding for TNR service is dependent on the sale of dog rabies tags that's bananas and it's offensive that our own county shelter is currently only taking six TNR appointments a day with a waiting list of two months away two months is the gestation period for a cat to give birth babies are born just to die from diseases anemia from fleas or parasites multiple times a day people are posting free cats online and when there aren't enough adopters for the cats already in shelters and rescues the ones raising their hands to take them are likely to have ill intentions at best they want a free cat but they themselves will not get fixed or vaccinated and will reproduce later on or end up as a throwaway on the street or they want them for dog fighting bait snake food or to live stream kill them online for money because those people exist here other counties have imposed a small annual tax on homeowners which can generate millions for their county's animal services I don't know if that's what you guys can do if this is a time or place for that suggestion I don't know but we need money allocated for the program at BCAC we are doing this all on our dime I don't sleep probably three or a shelter in my house so it's I want my life back I'm I've only lived here eight years and I've been doing this for three and a half and I'm ready to move back north so I can get away from this problem but you can't look away from this problem it's bad thank you thank you ma'am the next speaker is Cashel Anderson followed by Alberto Rojas my name is Cashel Anderson I'm not going to be too long just a little bit about me I'm actually a new resident here at Broward County in Florida I've been a kennel technician for three plus years I am a pet care business professional forever Paul fans pet care and rescue is my passion I love cats and dogs and basically it is a lot that needs to be done financially I'm not here to put up a fight or anything but definitely to emphasize the need here with the animals I know y'all tired of hearing about animals but it's serious around here everywhere you look you see a cat or a stray dog definitely a stray cat though for real it's also not enough pay with rescue rescue has always been something that I really wanted to do in my life but need to go to the vet we need to go to the doctor in case it's that much of an issue but if it's not enough pay to pay for insurance then how can we be seen because the bills at the doctor is super expensive as well but also the rescue centers need money too it'd be cold it'd be it's a lot going on they run out of food the donations are not enough from the community and just definitely the rescues more people want to help but because it's not enough money in that field then it's not enough people don't want to help if they're not going to get paid but the problem is still there the more we ignore the more babies they're going to have the more death we're going to see on the side of the street because people hit a cat and just kept going and just the more issues is going to come financial support is severely needed here and trap neuter release services is very important too because the cats are still going to keep coming regardless of us if we keep taking them in they still going to have babies so if we can go and take care of the trap part neuter them or spay more babies won't keep being made thank you thank you next next speaker is alberto rojas followed by noemi hermita alberto going once next noemi hermita actually good evening good evening just say your name please okay well we live in say your name please will you just say your name please I'm speaking on behalf noemi hermita what's your name please her and castello okay yeah well we live in nor lauderdale and until 2024 we have 100% homestead exception so we pay taxes like $3,000 last year my kids they move out so I came to the office and say that they move out so we didn't get 100% homestead last year but to our surprise we pay over $6,000 last year 2024 we paid $3,000 and I know when you get a homestead 100% you don't pay more than 3% but if you don't have homestead what's the percentage that you can be charged because in this case we're talking about plus to 90% so I would like to know what can I do in this case Monica you want to take that yeah so from what I understand you're saying it would be something that you really the people in the hallway from the property appraiser's office can help explain that but when you lose a homestead exemption then you no longer have the cap of the maximum of 3% of the valuation on your home each year it can be up to 10% if there's not a homestead on your home but again for your specific situation individuals from the property appraiser's office are outside in the hallway we can walk you over there and with your tax bill they can show your trim notice that you have in your hand they can explain it to you exactly we'll walk you out there we have two speakers remaining Christine DeMond and Roberto Arroyo Christine welcome how are you Mark Bogdan we've spoken before Tina DeMarco is the name I'm a 30 year resident of Broward County I've been involved in animal rescue for about 35 years I have started a TNR program in the Bahamas I have rescued in Cleveland Ohio and I've rescued here for 30 years I've also run Saving Sage Rescue which is a very reputable rescue on the weekends when the owners couldn't be there just to give you some information and a 10 year study stating that the only thing that works is TNR trap neuter and release they have done a 10 year study with veterinarians and bird people with cubbing with removing cats other cats have moved in so that being said we have a people problem in Broward County people are abandoning people are rehoming people are dumping their cats and dogs because they can't afford it immigration whatever the situation may be our budget has actually been cut the past few years however our population has more than doubled this is the problem to make matters worse we now need appointments for TNR like it was previously stated cats don't come on the government's time it's impossible to get these cats fixed I've been going to a private vet and getting them fixed it's costing me $250 a cat and that's a low cost spay and neuter place you trap three cats and I you can do the numbers so that being said Linda Asby has presented you all with a new phenomenal idea that in the long run will actually save Broward County money that's right save money we need to get together Doug needs to look at this and we all need to bring our heads together and do something different the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over and over thank you thank you to do I have to say something to all of you women who have come and thank you for what you do it is thankless I have a daughter who did it for years and years in Los Angeles she did the TNR and took them to the vet and to the other places wherever they were able to take them but I know that it's it's just a painful thing for all of you to be doing and then realizing that maybe you're not getting the support you need so I think we're all up here feeling that we need to work with you and are you announcing that there's going to be a meeting please in fact Mr. Vialpondo if it's appropriate I can ask him to address you all quickly thank you Lenny so Doug does have a meeting set up on 917 at 2pm to meet with members of the community about TNR and we'll invite everyone that's here I know some of the people that are here were in that email well I understand we just so that meeting will be set up and he'll be here in 5 minutes and I'm going to invite all of them to come to 430 and they can chat with him a little bit about it and then of course we can continue the conversation you know Doug is very committed very talented animal care director and I'm sure they'll work something out so Lenny the meeting on September 17th where is it located At Animal Care at 2pm at the animal shelter at 2pm and people who are here are invited to attend that's exactly right and like I said I'm going to but today we have the head of our shelter will be here soon he'll be here in less than five minutes in fact he's in the parking garage and we're going to meet with him in 430 right now me and Doug and everyone so whoever wants to then go we have a room just down the hallway 430 where our animal shelter director will be there and he's his boss and we'll be there so you can talk about it thank you Mr. I'd like to go please do we have dollars in the budget yes how much do we have so this year in the proposed budget there's a $50,000 increase for the TNR program it's going to be at $379,000 so in the year that $329,000 and we're going to $379,000 what was the year before I have to pull that we've been told it's been cut has it been cut no it's not been cut the dollars for TNR have not been cut has been the same for over the years or has gone up it's going up this year I'll get the couple years back now you're talking about going up nearly 20% that's a good 16% 15 16% yes correct guys I'm not allowed to take questions but you're going to be able to have all your questions and everything answered in room 430 in a few minutes with the head of our department yes sir yeah the just so you all know the animal advisory board who we've appointed people on that they have made a proposal on this and it's and I know we're not going to do what they asked entirely but there's a formula where this gets where we get our funding from and it's based on the tags and right now the way it works is 21 out of the $25 goes to the general fund for the first 100,000 tags and after the 100,000 tags the fund goes to TNR exclusively we may want to think about instead of the first 21 we might be able to shift that and you can go down anyway and bring in a couple hundred thousand pretty easy by doing maybe the first ways to switch this around where's the first money batch go the first money batch goes to the animal control but it's set so it almost it's heavy that way instead of it being going to TNR I really do I mean I think first of all I want to thank you all for what you do and I do think the only way to do this get out ahead of this we're getting caught left behind and the only way to do that is to put some money up front and do that and just get ahead of it otherwise we're going to be in so I think what the question is then we ask Monica if we do it what's being hurt by taking money away from it would be the general fund which is what funds the positions and the people so it's not cutting any other service it would be going it would be cutting from the general fund which would be partially from the actual animal care division as well that's how they're funded so because we supplement obviously it's not fully self supported the one thing that we have not been doing and we should have been doing all along and I know our auditor pushed for this a while saying this is a place where money could come is we haven't been advertising and pushing really hard and getting people to register their animals because that's where the money comes from they don't know where that money goes if people knew this is keeping the cat population down go in register your dog this is where the money goes we're not doing that we need to be doing that you put it you do PSAs you do all kind of commercials you do everywhere you can yeah yeah we that yeah yeah so we're not we're not we're not doing our part I don't think of getting that kind of word out because there I would say and I have no idea how many but I I bet only 5 to 10 percent of the animals are registered in this county I mean they're not registered and that's where the money can we have Kim assigned to get the word out on what he was just saying on social media about the tags and the education yes we will because I don't think there's anybody assigned to that well animal care has a whole public information campaign and folks to work on that it's usually about adopting animals but what he's talking about is different what he's talking about is the public doesn't know about by registering your animals you need to register and that way it'll drive more revenue for what we're talking about so can we get somebody else to like Kim yeah well we will work with our own public communications office which includes Kim in that office as well as the other side of that is that we don't have enough cooperation from the vets themselves the veterinarians because that's the ones who should be saying that and they're not doing that they're not being proactive on that because it's a little bit of a pain for them to have to go through all that paperwork and so they're just letting it slide if there's a way of tweaking this formula maybe we charge more maybe we charge $30 for a tag and that extra $5 goes that's $500,000 right there anyway there's some other thoughts we should be able to do this can we bring this back after the 17th meeting because Senator Rich is going to be in that meeting she can bring us back more information and get a better hand on it also we now have Lenny you have Doug here why don't we all go you guys would like to go please sorry you got the powers to be over there over our animal care division in room 430 it's out that door to the left right up the hall would you meet with everybody and bring back some suggestions on what we can do Mr. Mayor I do have a question as far as what we're currently doing to Commissioner first point working with our veterinarians to get them to submit the names and the lists of folks that come in to get their vaccinations you know their rabies shots and all of that are we collecting the data is there an ordinance that requires them to submit it to you and if they don't or the repercussions so we do have partnerships with the vets for transmitting the data we actually had this discussion multiple years ago because the county staff used to do the renewals and there was the thought that a private company perhaps could be more efficient so we do have a vendor pet data that specializes in this type of work to try to increase the participation in the tags unfortunately for a lot of the vets they there are issues with how they want to be managed and what our authority over them is and as far as the way that they would you know they don't want to be the one when the person comes in for an appointment basically telling them you're in trouble because you didn't get a tag that sort of thing and there are a lot of people that they have issues affording their pet care as people here mentioned and so we did look at the proposal commissioner was mentioning and with the proposal that was submitted to divert more of that $21 it would result in like six to eight animal care employees having to be cut in order to put that money over there or the board would have to come up with the money from somewhere else there is no free money it would have to come from something and so that's sort of our dilemma but Doug has been working on this and he does have a meeting on the 17th and we can certainly do whatever the board's will is and come back and present whatever you would like in that regard and thank you Mr. Vialpondo if I may add something so in light of this meeting that's occurring tonight as well as on the 17th what we can do is bring back some proposals to you all we can send a memo to you all and then we could talk about an agenda item or what have you if someone would like to sponsor you I can bring back an item to talk about we certainly can address this if there's a will to add additional dollars to this initiative and effort we could do a mid-year budget amendment when I say mid-year it could be October 6th the first day after the fiscal year so it wouldn't necessarily hold up the adoption of the budget this evening so but right now there's a 50,000 increase that's correct okay also we could I would like unless you have objections start the social media and start yes sir yes sir all right thank you just let people know why they're doing it do we have any other speakers yes sir we have Roberto Arroyo followed by Nancy Diaz Santino okay I thought we had two left yeah another one to sign up to request to speak again are we allowed to have that you say someone that's already spoken before is asked to speak again yes I don't know if that's councilor is that allowed they're only permitted to two minutes each person gets two minutes listen you guys can speak as much you want you got a meeting at 430 we got to continue the meeting we're advised by council that we have to move on next speaker is Roberto Arroyo no did he already speak no sir this person does not spoke Roberto if you do not speak you come on down is roberto here okay roberto excuse me roberto is not here yes okay good any other speakers that we did not call on not for item a okay he was another tax person we just gave him information I will now take comments from the county commission thank you I will now take comments from the county commission seeing that there's no more comments from the county commission now that commissioner comments are complete the board will vote to adopt the tentative millage rate and budget is absolutely essential that you vote audibly on each of the items so the record of the vote is clear is there a motion on motion on resolution number 2026-561 establishing the tentative millage rate for general county purposes I move it moved by vice mayor mackenzie seconded by commissioner gellar all in favor say aye it's the tentative millage rate general county administrator described during the presentation as part of the presentation no no commissioner you guys I need audibly you all in favor say aye aye any opposed show one opposed at eight to one let the record show motion passes eight to one is there a motion resolution number 2026-562 adopting the tentative budget for general county purposes establishing the personnel cap and approving the travel budget report for fiscal 2027 second commissioner gellar moves it seconded by vice mayor mackenzie all in favor say aye aye any opposed all that you passes unanimously that's just a figment of your imagination i mean i want to be able to comment on it we're cutting positions in county commission some of the other constitutional agencies aren't cutting anybody um we we haven't even had a chance to discuss it all on some of this there's a three million dollar stabilization fund i want to be i want to take some of that and i want to figure out a way to give some taxpayer relief um i think that there could be some more dollars put in the spay and neuter out of that three million we went up fifty thousand we could certainly go up another few dollars we have multiple millions of dollars set aside for facilities at some areas where we're taking facilities back from some of our constituency black commission some of our cities from the bill too relief back to our residents that's why I'm voting no but you can continue that is correct passing eight to one pain in the neck commissioner yuddin mayor the public hearing on item a i'm just the general countywide millage rate and budget is now closed brower municipal services district millage and budget the public hearing is open on the proposed millage rate and tentative budget for the brower municipal service district to provide funds for the municipal level services in the unincorporated area the proposed millage rate for this purpose is 2.3353 which represents an 8.886 percent increase in property taxes as compared with the rollback rate of 2.1453 the county administrator will give an overview of the millage and budget for the brower municipal services district the brower municipal services district millage rate remains the same for fiscal year 27 the county continues its investment in the brower municipal services district which is reflected in a 10 percent growth in the property tax roll the average homestead property owner will pay approximately ten dollars more than the prior year based on the increase in property values capped by save our homes is there anyone from the public signed up to speak yes mayor there is one person signed up to speak leanne baber is leanne here right there good evening my name is leanne barber i am secretary of the roosevelt gardens civic association in the brower municipal services district we formed about two years ago to bring our residents together and help advocate for services we meet monthly with our county liaison bso solid waste and other agencies we are very happy with the support we have received from our commissioner vice mayor robert mckenzie and the bmsd management lorette gene and willistine lawson especially with respect to installing speed tables and solid waste activities such as improving litter and bulk pickup although there are many needs in our community these two items particularly contribute to public safety and the perception of a well cared for community we hope that you will continue to support the civic association as we work together to make our community a desirable place to work and live thank you thank you ma'am we got you anybody else that here to speak nope yes sir okay i'll take comments from the county commission leanne thank you for that and uh we're going to continue to support you you guys keep up the good work and let your voices be heard so we know who the voices are from that community like we stated four years ago here in this commission thank you seeing that there's no other comments um is there a motion on resolution number 2026 i have to finish this sir motion on resolution number 2026-563 establishing the tentative millage rate for the broward municipal services district moved by commissioner geller seconded by vice mayor mckenzie all in favor say aye aye any opposed look at that it passes 90 90 second is is there a motion on resolution 2026-564 adopting the tentative budget for the broward municipal services district moved by commissioner geller is there a second second by commissioner utin unbelievable all in favor say aye any opposed show it passing unanimously 9-0 the public hearing on item b the broward municipal services district millage rate and budget is now closed c fire rescue municipal services district millage rate and budget the public hearing is open on the proposed millage rate and tentative budget for the fire rescue municipal services district to provide funds for fire rescue services in the unincorporated area the proposed millage rate for this purpose is 2.6191 which represents an 8.86% increase in property taxes as compared to the rollback rate of 2.4060 the county administrator will give an overview of the fire rescue municipal services district tax rate fire rescue municipal services district millage rate remains the same for fiscal year 27 the average homestead property owner will pay approximately 11 more than the prior year based on the increase in property values capped by save our homes thank you for that unprepared speech is there anyone from the public signed up to speak no okay is there anyone take comments now from the county commission seeing none is there a motion on resolution 2026-565 establishing the tentative millage rate for the fire rescue municipal services district this is a record all in favor say aye aye any opposed show that passing 9-0 is there a motion for resolution 2026-566 adopting tentative budget for the fire rescue municipal services district to provide funds for street lights in portions of the unincorporated area the proposed millage rate for the fire rescue municipal services district municipal services district moved by commissioner geller seconded by commissioner utin all in favor say aye aye any opposed show it passing 9-0 the public hearing on item c the fire rescue municipal services district millage rate and budget is now closed street lighting sub-district millage and budget the public hearing is open on the proposed millage rate and tenant budget for the street lighting sub-district to provide funds for street lights in portions of the unincorporated area the proposed millage rate for this purpose is 0.3743 which represents an 8.71% increase in property taxes as compared with a rollback rate of 0.3443 the county administrator will give an overview of the street lighting sub-district tax rate the street lighting sub-district tax rate remains the same for fiscal year 27 the average homestead property owner will pay approximately one dollar more than the prior year based on the increase in property values capped by save our homes is there anybody from the public on this no sir okay bringing it back to the county commission anybody who have any comments seeing none is there a motion resolution 2026-567 establishing the tentative millage rate for the street lighting sub-district second moved by commissioner geller seconded by commissioner davis all in favor say aye aye any opposed show passing 9-0 the public hearing on item d the street lighting sub-district millage rate and budget is now closed e fire assessment for broward municipal services district brought to you by the the evelyn wood speed reading the public hearing is open on the proposed special assessment within the fire municipal services district this non-ad valerum assessment provides funds for fire services in the unincorporated area the county administrator will give an overview of the proposed fire non-ad valerum assessment rates fire assessment rates remain the same for fiscal year 27 as detailed in appendix c to resolution number 2026-569 are there any public speakers no sir bringing it back to the county commission any of you would like to speak on any of this seeing none is there a motion on resolution number 2026-569 establishing the special assessment rates within the fire municipal services district moved by senator rich seconded by vice mayor mckenzie commissioner fisher commissioner commissioner fisher commissioner fisher commissioner fisher all in favor all in favor any opposed showing none passing 9-0 the public hearing on item e the fire special assessment is now closed garbage and trash collection assessment for the broward municipal services district the public hearing is open on the proposed special assessment within the garbage and trash collection municipal services district the county administrator will give an overview of the proposed non-ad valerum assessment rate the single-family homes and multi-family complexes with nine units or less that pay this assessment will not experience any change for fiscal year 27. look at that commissioner eudin huh isn't that great and anybody from the public wishes to speak on that no sir bringing back to the county commission any other comments besides commissioner eudin saying he loves it all right well now is there a motion resolution number 2026-570 establishing let me finish here let me finish let me finish establishing the special assessment rates within the garbage and trash municipal services district moved by the municipal services district moved by commissioner furrer is there a second by commissioner fisher no no second by commissioner fisher yes okay i need vocal i need you guys to vocalize your vote all in favor say aye any opposed show a passing 9-0 the public hearing on item f the garbage and trash special assessment is now closed water control district number two millage and budget the public hearing is open on the millage rate and the tentative budget for water control district number two the proposed millage rate for this purpose is 0.1163 which represents a 0.00 percent increase in property taxes as compared with the rollback rate of 0.1163 is there anybody to speak on this publicly no sir okay bringing it back to the county commission any comments okay never minding us never minding senator geller is there a motion on resolution 2026-571 establishing the tentative millage rate for water control district number two commissioner geller moves approval seconded by vice mayor mackenzie all in favor please say aye all opposed show passing 9-0 is there a motion resolution 2026-572 adopting the tentative budget for the water control district number two moved by moved by commissioner geller seconded by vice mayor mackenzie all in favor please vocalize your eyes aye aye okay any any any opposed seeing none they're hearing none i should say that passes 9-0 the public hearing on mg the water control district number two millage rate and budget is now closed we're now talking about the water control district number three millage and budget public hearing is open on the proposed millage rate intended budget for water control district number three the proposed millage rate is 0.1215 which represents a 0.0000% increase in property taxes as compared with the rollback rate of 0.1215 any public speakers no sir okay bring it back to the county commission anybody like to speak on our zero rate okay commissioner rogers moving moving it seconded by we're going to make make the motion for the resolution oh i'm sorry see i was getting so excited is there a motion on resolution number 2026-573 establishing the tentative millage rate for the water control district number three moved by commissioner rogers and and seconded by commissioner geller all in favor please vocalize eyes any opposed hearing none passes 9-0 the council is just keeping you on your toes making sure you are following me is there a motion resolution number 2026-574 adopting tentative budget for the water control district number three moved by senator geller seconded by commission rogers sorry she got in there already all in favor please vocalize by saying aye any opposed hearing none showing past nine zero the public hearing on item h the water control district number three millage rate and budget is now closed oh my god water control district number four millage and budget the public hearing is open on the proposed millage rate intended budget for water control district number four and three sub districts the proposed millage rate for sub district four a is 0.0115 which represents a zero percent increase in property taxes compared with a rollback rate of 0.0115 the proposed millage rate for sub district four b is 0.0312 which represents a zero percent increase in property taxes as compared with the rollback rate of 0.0312 the proposed millage rate for sub district four c is 0.1200 which represents again a zero percent increase in property taxes as compared with the rollback rate of 0.1200 are there anybody here looking at all the people that may want to speak from the public no sir okay you sure bring it back to the county commission any commissioner comments no commissioner comments seeing none is there a motion resolution 2026 575 establishing the tentative millage rates for water control district number four and its sub districts moved by commissioner geller seconded by commissioner rogers thank you all in favor please vocalize by saying aye any opposed show it passing 9-0 is there a motion on resolution 2026 576 adopting the tentative budget for the water control district number four and its sub districts moved by commissioner geller seconded by commissioner rogers thank you all in favor please vocalize by saying aye aye any opposed show it passing 9-0 the public hearing on item aye water control district number four millage rates and budget is now closed next unit area number one of kokomar water district millage and budget kokomar water district control what district millage and budget okay you got it the public hearing is open on the proposed millage rate intended budget for unit area number one of kokomar water control district the proposed millage rate for this purpose is 0.1290 which represents a 0% increase in property taxes as compared with a rollback rate of 0.1290 is there anybody from the public to speak no sir bringing it back to county commission any comments i think it's in orlando didn't know that okay it's between coconut creek and market okay hearing no other comments is there a motion on resolution number 2026-577 establishing the tentative millage rate for unit area number one of kokomar water control district moved by commissioner eudin seconded by commissioner fisher all in favor vocalize by saying aye any opposed show that passing 9-0 is there a motion resolution 2026-578 adopting tentative budget for unit area number one of kokomar water control district moved seconded by commissioner eudin seconded by commissioner eudin seconded by commissioner eudin all in favor please vocalize by saying aye any opposed showing hearing none passing 9-0 last page the public hearing on item j unit area number one of kokomar water control district millage rate and budget is now closed there will be a public hearing to finalize the county's millage rates and budgets at 5.01 pm on tuesday september 22nd at the brower county government center east room 422 at 115 south andrews avenue in fort lauderdale this concludes the brower county public hearing to adopt tentative budgets tax rates and final assessment rates for fy 27 thank you all for attending come on was that fast this meeting is adjourned