Government
The Escambia Children’s Trust board voted Wednesday to keep its property tax rate exactly where it was last year and tentatively adopted a $12,855,672 budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. However, the routine part of the meeting nearly stalled when Commissioner Lumon May refused to sign off without a commitment to Escambia’s most vulnerable teenagers.
The numbers: The board set the proposed operating millage rate at 0.3661 per $1,000 of taxable value, a 0% increase over the rolled-back rate as required under Florida’s Truth in Millage law. The board will hold a second and final hearing on both the millage rate and the budget on Sept. 21 at 5:01 p.m. at the County Board Chambers.
- Total revenues: $12,855,672, down about $128,000 from the current year’s amended budget
- Grants and aid to programs: $10,489,171—still the overwhelming majority of the budget, though down roughly $386,000 from this year
- Employee salaries and benefits: $793,268, up about $39,500
- Contracted professional services: $319,474, up about $123,000—driven largely by a jump in “other professional services” and external training
- Reserves: $606,784, set at 5% of taxes collected
Why the rate isn’t moving: Escambia’s property values keep climbing. The county’s gross taxable value for the Trust’s purposes hit $34.5 billion this year, per the property appraiser’s certification. Therefore, a flat millage rate still generates more money than last year: $12,641,325 in proposed ad valorem taxes, up from $12,528,140.
Commissioner May’s Stance
Before the board got to its roll call vote on the tentative budget resolution, Commissioner May pressed Finance Director Tammy Abrams for specifics on how much cash the Trust actually has sitting uncommitted:
- Answer: Reserves of roughly $2.4 million, plus about $3 million in unobligated funds that’s expected to grow to around $4.5 million once several out-of-school-time grant “clawbacks” finish closing out. Clawbacks are funds returned by providers who didn’t complete their contracts.
Of that $4.5 million, Abrams told the board $3.5 million is already earmarked for the Bright Beginnings early-learning program, currently out for RFP, and another $1 million is being eyed for a reissued CARES grant. That left May unsatisfied.
“I would hope that a part of this is that we could at least commit to putting a million dollars for those young people between ages of 15 to 18, which is the highest risk of population that we can have,” May told the board.
Executive Director Lindsey Cannon told the board her staff has been working on the issue for several months, following data that shows juvenile delinquency and recidivism running highest in the Trust’s three target ZIP codes compared with the rest of the state.
- “We are also working with legal services in North Florida, which is trying to pull together a large focus group,” she said. “We have a significant issue there that we need to look at. It may be truancy, we’re not quite sure. So we are getting some more data, but as far as programs for kids, we can pull it together.”
Cannon, however, would not commit to allocating $1 million for at-risk teens. She said the program committee is launching Cares grants for $1 million and another 20 new contracts, totaling as much as $5 million.
“If we’re looking at doing large-scale youth, it’s going to be a lot to stand up. So we may need to just prioritize what this board wants to see. We’ll do whatever programs we need to do. We just want to know what your priorities are.”
Not Good Enough
Commissioner May pushed for a firm commitment before the budget passed, not just a promise to “talk about it” later. He specifically invoked campaign promises he said he’d heard board member and former coach David Williams make about launching a middle school football program, and asked that funding for at-risk teens between 15 and 18 be built into the budget directly.
- Williams didn’t dispute the characterization, telling the board he’d already raised the idea with Executive Director Lindsey Cannon and suggesting the board’s Program Committee take it up.
Bottom Line: May said he’d vote for both the rollback rate and the budget, but made clear his support came with an expectation attached: that the board follow through on dedicating real dollars to programming for Escambia’s teenagers before the money gets spoken for elsewhere.
The final public hearing on both the millage rate and the budget is scheduled for Sept. 21, at 5:01 p.m. in the County Board Chambers, 221 Palafox Place.