On May 4, the Town Council held the annual Budget Workshop, which is traditionally the first time the Town Council considers the budget for the next fiscal year starting October 1. The purpose of the workshop is to adopt a Proposed Millage rate, which is evaluated again in September at the Tentative Budget Hearing and then at the Final Budget Hearing about a week later. The Budget Workshop is when the dates for those two September hearings are set also, which may not take place on the same days as those selected for the School District’s and Indian River County’s budget hearings. Those dates have been selected to be the consecutive Mondays of September 12 and 19 with both meetings starting at 5:05 p.m. pursuant to Florida Law. The budget hearings, just like all other Town meetings, are open to the public and participation from the community is encouraged.
Due to the early timing of Orchid’s budget workshop to accommodate the seasonal nature of the Town’s population, this budget at this workshop stage was developed without updated assessed property values from the Indian River County Property Appraiser’s Office and without the estimated state revenues from the Florida Department of Revenue. The current year also has many months in it yet, most of which are in hurricane season, with revenues and expenses still to be realized. It is for these reasons that the budget worksheets in May are based on a variety of assumptions pertaining to current year and next year’s projected revenues and expenditures. More specific revenue and expense figures will be available by the September Tentative and Final Budget Hearings.
The adoption of the Proposed Millage, as well as the adoption in September of the Tentative and Final Millages and Budgets, must be achieved pursuant to the Truth In Millage procedures as outlined in Chapter 200 of the Florida Statutes. Failure to comply in even a small way carries consequences that are best avoided.
An important provision regards that the Proposed Millage sets the maximum millage level that can be adopted in September, if the Town is to avoid a potentially costly and time-consuming process. Therefore, it is highly recommended to set the Proposed Millage rate at a more elevated level than is anticipated to be necessary, in order to enjoy flexibility in September, when much more about the budget and the Town’s circumstances further in the year is known, and at which time it may turn out to be prudent to maintain a rate that earlier in the year appeared elevated. Of course, the Town Council can decrease the Final Millage Rate to the then actually most appropriate level should financial and environmental circumstances be favorable, as of course is desirable.
The Proposed Millage Rate determined at May's workshop is 1.4 mills, the same as the final millage rate for the current fiscal year (which was a decrease of 26% from the preceding fiscal year). To calculate the impact of a millage rate divide the assessed property value of a property by 1000 and multiply that figure by the millage rate.