Citrus County presents $544 million preliminary budget with cuts and a tentative rollback millage

County Administrator Steve Howard and Interim Management and Budget Director Barbara Luckum presented a recommended fiscal year budget totaling $544,000,000 and described work the administration said reduced the draft by about $11,300,000.

"I'm really proud of this budget that we're recommending," County Administrator Steve Howard said, listing core requirements and investments for constitutional officers and public safety. Luckum told the board the draft funds $75,000,000 for constitutional officers, includes $50,000,000 for state-mandated services and a CIP allocation of $65,700,000 that contains $15,000,000 earmarked for road resurfacing.

Luckum said the tentative tax revenue projection is $152,452,194 under a tentative millage of 8.9136 and that General Fund reserves are budgeted at $20,000,000 (about 13.09% of the fund). She also noted one-time FEMA reimbursements (about $1,500,000) would raise reserves modestly.

Commissioners debated the pace and timing of additional reductions. Commissioner Janet Barrick urged immediate line-by-line cuts so staff could return a revised budget by the tentative hearing, while other commissioners favored voting a tentative millage now and finishing reductions by September. "If commissioner Barrick has identified some things to cut today, we can talk about that as a board," the presiding official said when seeking direction.

The board later set the general fund tentative millage at the rollback rate (6.73882) by 4–1 vote and instructed staff to continue refining departmental budgets ahead of the Sept. 10 tentative budget hearing.