The millage rate charged to property owners won’t increase for fiscal year 2019.
The Pasco County Commission voted on July 10 to tentatively set the rate for the 2019 draft budget.
Commissioners agreed to maintain current rates, which are at 7.6076 for the county’s operations, and 1.8036 for fire services.
Commissioners cannot increase the rates prior to adopting a final budget, but are free to decrease them.
Still, county officials said some residents can expect an increase in their personal property tax bill if the value of property went up.
The proposed budget will have its first public hearing on Sept. 4 at 6:30 p.m., in Dade City.
Overall, the county’s 2019 revenues saw a healthier increase than expected, based on final data on property valuations provided by the Pasco County Property Appraiser’s office.
Property values rose from about $24.6 billion in 2018 to about $27 billion for 2019, an increase of about $2.3 billion.
That translated to about $11.3 million in additional property tax revenues. That is about $787,000 more than county officials had anticipated based on initial estimates.
With the extra revenues, the county’s budget will fully fund the sheriff’s budget requests and pay for county employee salary increases. The budget also includes expanded library hours and completing some deferred park maintenance.
In addition, the budget provides funding for special requests from county commissioners made at a June workshop, which include:
- A contribution of $50,000 to United Way, up from $15,000
- A contribution of $30,000 to historical museums, up from $20,000
- An allocation of $250,000 for Safety Town improvements
Published July 18, 2018
