Collier budget for 2007 tops $1 billion

Collier County’s budget will pass the $1 billion mark for the first time in fiscal 2007.

The county’s preliminary budget for next year is $1.19 billion. That is a 20 percent increase over the fiscal 2006 budget of $984 million.

The budget will increase, but county officials expect the county to keep the same property tax rate as 2006. That rate is $3.90 per $1,000 of taxable property.

That means the owner of a $500,000 house, which is about the median sales price in Collier County, after exemptions would owe $1,950 to county government.

County Budget Director Mike Smykowski said the increase in property values is allowing the county to increase spending while simultaneously keeping the same millage.

“Taxable values increased by 25.6 percent countywide (in the past year),” Smykowski said.

Commissioners will hold hearings on the 2006-07 budget today, Friday and Monday. The workshops are scheduled for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, but the Monday hearing probably will not happen unless there is an issue that bogs down the commissioners today or Friday.

Today’s hearing will be a general overview of all county departments.

Friday will focus on the constitutional officers and the county’s list of unfunded projects.

The preliminary budget sets aside $3.9 million for the County Attorney’s Office, about $100 million for administrative services, $47.5 million for public services, $56.9 million for transportation services, $61 million for community development and environmental services and $119.2 million for public utilities.

The property appraiser is requesting $7 million, the supervisor of elections wants $2.9 million, the clerk of courts wants $26 million and the sheriff wants $163 million.

Commissioner Tom Henning has been pushing for a decrease in the tax rate so people pay the same amount in property taxes each year. He is expected to renew that call during the workshops this week.

A majority of commissioners didn’t go along with Henning’s proposed tax cut last year. They disagree with Henning’s view that keeping the budget millage at the current level is essentially a tax increase.

On Wednesday, Henning tweaked the other commissioners during a regular commission meeting when he asked them if they were prepared to raise taxes. He posed his question during a discussion on whether the county should approve a straw ballot that would go to the voters later this year.

In response, Commission Chairman Frank Halas said no one was talking about raising taxes.

Henning has argued most of the money the county has collected has gone into road construction.

Since the many roads have now been widened or built, it’s a good time to scale back, he’s said.

The other commissioners have said they want the county to retain the present millage. They argue that doing so isn’t a tax increase. But people do end up paying more because property values increase each year.

Property values in Collier County increased 31 percent during 2005 to more than $102.2 billion, according to preliminary 2006-07 estimates released by Collier Property Appraiser Abe Skinner. That increase represents the largest one-year percentage jump since 1982.

That puts the county’s taxable value at $77 billion — a 25 percent increase over the previous year’s taxable value of $61.4 billion. That tax base increase will translate to $60 million more for Collier County’s general fund for the coming budget year, tax roll analyst Kevin Lilly said.

Lilly said there might be some minor changes to those numbers around July 1, but nothing major.

Workshops this week aren’t the end of the budget process. The commission will have two more public hearings before approving the final budget in September. The new budget year begins Oct. 1.

The county also has $21.3 million in a fund that has not been set aside for any specific purpose. Commissioners could choose to keep that money in reserve to deal with unanticipated expenditures, or they could use it to pay for projects that have not yet gotten money.