Polk County officials approve $2.4 billion budget
Despite lowering the county's millage rate, Polk County residents should still expect to see a slight increase in their property taxes as commissioners adopted a $2.4 billion budget for 2022-23 Monday.
For the second straight year, County Manager Bill Beasley said the county's adopted budget reflects on "unprecedented times."
"While the public health focus has diminished in a post COVID era, increase demands born by rapid continued growth remains a significant challenge," Beasley said.
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Polk County is the fastest-growing county in Florida, which is having a strong impact on the county provided services, particularly public safety and health, according to Beasley.
"This budget is expanding in direct relation to service demands generated by continued growth," he said. "The growth dynamic continues to drive citizens' expectations of the types of services we provide, the quality of services and the cost of those services."
To help meet these needs, the county's budget sets aside $94 million in one-time capital investment projects.
Improvements in '23
Polk will spend roughly $26 million to move forward with phases 2 and 3 of its fire station plans. The county has a $68-million plan to build 17 cancer-fighting stations over the next few years to improve its response time and protect the health of its first responders.
Polk leaders have also set aside $26.7 million to extend Thompson Nursery Road about 10 miles from U.S. 27 near Lake Wales to connect with U.S. 17 at State Road 540 near Winter Haven. It would give motorists an alternate east to west route in their commute and looks to reduce traffic on U.S. 27.
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Phase 2 of the Thompson Nursery Road project involves an area running from Rifle Range Road east across Wahneta to the CSX railroad line.
The budget has $10.5 million dedicated to the North Ridge Trail, an envisioned two-lane road that would connect Deen Still and Sand Mine roads in Davenport. County officials say it would provide a local alternative to U.S. 27.
Other items in the capital improvement fund include $13 million in a project inflation fund to help provide a cushion to inflation and cost overruns in other projects and $6.5 million for an agriculture and equestrian center.
Growing payroll
Polk seeks to add 35 new positions in the next year to keep up with growing demands for services. Nearly half of the new personnel will be for public safety and health needs.
They are:
Nine in fire rescue
Six for utilities
Two in code enforcement
The county looks to add 15 positions to address infrastructural needs the majority of them 9 in parks and natural resource jobs. There will be three positions added for various support services.
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These added positions would bring the county's total payroll to 2,251 employees, it's largest since 2007-08. Christia Johnson, the county's director of budget and management services, said the overall county staffing remains lower despite a growing population due to advances in technology and generally "doing more with less."
Current Polk employees will receive a 5% phased-in pay raise starting with the new fiscal year in October. Beasley said there will not be any increase in health care premiums for those employees who participate in the county's plan.
Service fees
Residents of unincorporated Polk should expect to pay 5% more for fire services. The county's surging population growth is a driving factor to these costs. In recent years, the county has not been collecting enough money from the fire fee to fund fire rescue operations. Hence, it's the second year residents see a 5% increase.
The fire service fee will be partially offset by a one-time reduction of $17.21 in waste collection fees. Johnson said this was provided in effort to make up for the "chronic disruptions in service" residents experienced.
Lower tax rate, but bills will bump up
The county commissioners voted this week to adopt a tax rate of $6.69 per $1,000 of taxable value. That's about 20 cents less than the current rate.
For a Polk homeowner with a assessed value of about $188,600, after homestead exemption is applied, will pay about $1,044 in property taxes to the county next year - about $10 more than last year.
That's 8.25% more than it would be if the county had decided to implement the rollback rate of $6.18 per $1,000 of assessed value. The rollback rate is the millage rate necessary for Polk to collect the same total amount of tax revenue from one year to the next.
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The rollback rate is lower because Polk County saw a 17.75% increase in its property tax rolls from 2021 to 2022. This is largely driven by new home sales and the construction of large commercial developments.
There were 4,033 new homes sold in unincorporated Polk in 2022, according to Polk County Property Appraiser's Office. The average sales prices was $301,437.
Three housing complexes built in Davenport — but outside the city's limits — substantially contributed to the growth of Polk's tax base. These are Thrive Luxury Apartments with a new construction value of $58 million, Artisan Living Bella Cita at $47 million, and The Pointe at Siena Ridge at $21 million.
This and the housing market demands in the area increased the average value of homes. Polk homeowners with a homestead exemption in place are capped to a 3% increase to their home's taxable value. This helps keep their annual taxes low, ranging from a $9 to $11 increase if the tax assessed value is under $257,000.
Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on Twitter
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk County officials approve $2.4 billion budget
