The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Chris Nocco

Pasco tax rates expected to remain steady

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Despite pay raises across the board, adding 45 full-time equivalent positions and even providing nearly everything Sheriff Chris Nocco asked for, Pasco County commissioners are expected to receive a draft budget Tuesday morning at the same general millage rate charged to property owners last year.

The proposed $1.21 billion budget is a little more than 3 percent higher than last year, but thanks to new construction and some increase in property values generating another $6.7 million, county budget officials were able to keep ad valorem millage at 7.3441, and the Municipal Fire Service Unit millage at 1.7165.

One mill represents $1 of tax on every thousand dollars of taxable property value. So a $100,000 home with $50,000 in exemptions would pay $367.21 for the year.

But there are still a lot of decisions that need to be made before the final numbers are complete, assistant county administrator Heather Grimes told reporters in a press briefing Monday. The biggest decision is how to fund capital improvement projects for Pasco’s roads — either through a 5-cent gas tax increase, a millage increase of more than 5 percent, or a combination of the two.

There has been considerable debate among commissioners on exactly how to do just that, with no clear consensus yet on which way they will go. Last year, the commission failed to pass an additional gas tax, falling a vote short.

If the county were to raise all $8 million through property taxes, it would mean an additional $20 a year to the typical homeowner’s tax bill. Proponents of a gas tax say those additional costs may not even be passed on to the consumer, since fueling stations operate more by volume than revenue.

The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office would see its budget increase more than $5 million under the proposed budget, providing everything Nocco had asked for except for $1.7 million he said he needed to switch healthcare coverage from fully insured to self-insured. Doing that could cut health insurance costs by around 2 percent, Grimes said, but the request came too late for the current budget cycle, and would likely create an additional tax increase to implement it.

To read more about Nocco’s long-range plans for the sheriff’s office, see the July 9 print edition of The Laker.

Spending on county parks will jump $571,000 to $8.9 million, but it’s still $1.1 million short of where Pasco funded them in 2008. That means park fees would remain in effect and staffing levels are still well below what they were nearly seven years ago.

Libraries also won’t get all they had hoped for. Part of the plan was to allow the libraries to once again open on Mondays, or at the very least extend hours on existing days. Even a plan to open just two libraries — including the Land O’ Lakes branch — on Mondays didn’t make the cut with its $279,000 price tag.

Pasco County is seeing an uptick in property values, which has allowed the government to fund additional programs without raising millage. However, it’s lagging behind neighboring counties in the region, which have experienced value increases of between 5.3 percent and 7.5 percent, Grimes said. The only county that didn’t fare better in value increases was Hernando, but not by much.

Some initiatives from last year already are paying off, Grimes said. The county’s conversion to a self-insured health plan saved the county nearly $1 million, or about $300 per employee annually. The current budget has made some room to implement wellness centers for county employees, which officials say could create even more cost savings in the future because of its preventive medical care.

The first public hearing for the budget is expected to take place Sept. 9 in Dade City, followed by a second one Sept. 23 in New Port Richey. Commissioners will hear details of the proposed budget for the first time during its regular meeting July 8 beginning at 10 a.m. at the Historic Pasco County Courthouse in Dade City.

Demands from sheriff, other departments, could raise taxes

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Pasco County is losing deputies and command staff at an alarming rate, Sheriff Chris Nocco said. It’s a crime he says can be solved only one way: more money.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco already commands more than half of the county’s taxpayer dollars, but he’s looking for more. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco already commands more than half of the county’s taxpayer dollars, but he’s looking for more.
(Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

About $6 million more, to be exact, bringing the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office closer than ever before to that $100 million budget threshold.

The Pasco County Commission, however, might not be ready to surrender those dollars just yet. But Nocco believes commissioners can’t wait any longer to get a handle on making salaries more competitive in his department with surrounding counties.

“I got two more letters of resignation today,” Nocco told commissioners in a meeting last week. “It is heartbreaking when you have people leaving, and they say it’s about the money. I know it’s a tough situation.”

Salary increases alone would require an additional $2.6 million in funding, and that’s money the county doesn’t really have — unless it raises taxes. But commissioners say they have other departments also expressing a legitimate need for more money.

“I know it’s expensive for you to train your deputies and have them leave. It is very frustrating to see that happen,” Commissioner Kathryn Starkey said. “But we have increased demand on our staff with development picking up, and it’s hard for us. We have to go out there in the market and compete with the private sector.”

Yet, it’s not new hires the sheriff’s office is watching depart, but instead people with experience, Nocco said.

“We are not losing the one- or two-year person to Pinellas, we’re losing people with six to seven years experience,” he said.

That may be enough for Starkey and other commissioners to warm up to the idea that a property tax increase may be needed to get everything paid for.

“I am for having a better-funded county government,” she said. “Local government is not the same as our federal government, where I think there is a lot of waste. We have no hidden money, we have no extra money. We are all scraping by barely.”

The amount of taxes collected equates to about $420 per resident, which ranks Pasco above just 12 other counties, according to one study cited by Starkey.

“Our libraries, our parks, the quality of life, all at $420 per person,” she said. “It is pretty darn tough to have a premier county at that kind of level of taxes.”

Commissioner Henry Wilson agreed.

“In 2010, when I ran for the first time, I said the millage rate was too low to sustain us, and I still agree to this day that the millage rate is too low,” he said. “I would rather the sheriff’s office be 55 percent of our budget than the tax collector or the supervisor of elections. Our No. 1 goal is public safety.”

All of that has created tremendous burdens on county employees from across various departments, burdens that many are looking to get lifted this budget cycle. But it could be difficult to accommodate everyone’s requests.

“We want to continue to support public safety, but a lot of our other departments have suffered because of the financial constraints that we have been under,” Commissioner Ted Schrader said. “The economy seems to be recovering … so we’re trying to facilitate that so that we can add tax base and continue to provide that funding.”

Only part of the money Nocco seeks would go to pay raises. The sheriff also wants to earmark $333,000 to overtime, and another $300,000 for maintenance on the department’s helicopter, and to purchase a $94,000 night-vision infrared camera.

Nocco has worked to lower costs in his department, primarily through privatization. And he said he’ll continue to look for ways to reduce costs as he moves forward as well.

“It’s hard to compete,” Nocco said. “We are not putting milk, bread and potatoes on the table for our families. When people are leaving to go to Pinellas, they are leaving strictly because of pay.”

Commissioners could see a first draft budget for the next fiscal year in July.

Published June 25, 2014

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Sheriff Nocco seeks 6.5% budget increase

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The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office is reducing its publicly paid staff by nearly 90 people, but Sheriff Chris Nocco says he’ll still need at least $6 million more than he got last year.

Nocco’s total budget request for 2014-15 is $96.4 million, up nearly 6.5 percent from last year’s approved budget, according to a release. Most of that increase comes from giving pay raises to long-term deputies and employees who right now are watching new hires come in at the same salary, or sometimes more, than what they are making.

The 86 positions affecting the budget are not being eliminated, but instead many have been privatized, spokesman Kevin Doll said.

Nocco wants to raise those salaries by 1 percent for every year each employee has worked, capping it at 5 percent. In order for that to happen, however, he would need to raise his budget request to the Pasco County Commission by $2.6 million.

The move, however, is necessary, to help keep veteran employees on the staff, and not leave for higher-paying jobs with other agencies, Nocco said.

Nocco also wants to get rid of “flexing,” described as sending employees home instead of paying overtime because the sheriff’s office doesn’t have enough funds to pay overtime. Doing that reduces the number of deputies patrolling the streets and investigating crime, the sheriff said. To do it, however, he would need an additional $333,000 budgeted for overtime.

The budget would have to be approved by the Pasco County Commission, who received the budget Friday. County administrator Michele Baker said in a release that her staff would “look carefully” at what the sheriff is asking for.

“We have had good discussions leading up to the sheriff’s budget submission today,” Baker said. “I am hopeful that the discussions moving forward this summer will be just as positive.”

Nocco did note that some other increases were out of his control. Retirement funding, for example, jumped $345,500 as mandated by the Florida Legislature. Another $300,000 would go toward the sheriff’s helicopter for maintenance and to purchase a $94,000 night-vision infrared camera.

The sheriff also wants to hire three additional school resource officers to address population increase in schools.

“We are in position for tremendous growth in Pasco,” Nocco said, in a release. “The time to begin planning and addressing public safety is now.”

Mourners brave rain to remember fallen officers

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It’s said that J. Edgar Hoover himself traveled from Washington, D.C., to Dade City, to remember prohibition agent John Van Waters.

Pasco County sheriff’s deputies salute during ceremonies remembering law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty during the last century or so. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
Pasco County sheriff’s deputies salute during ceremonies remembering law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty during the last century or so.
(Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

The 46-year-old U.S. Department of Justice officer was killed alongside Pasco County constable Arthur Crenshaw on Oct. 4, 1922, in an ambush soon after investigating an illegal distillery near Dade City.

They were just the second and third law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty at the time, but would eventually become a part of a list that now totals eight who paid the ultimate price in protecting the people of Pasco County.

And those same people who benefit from that protection refuse to let them be forgotten as the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies celebrated their lives during a memorial service May 2 in front of the Historic Dade City Courthouse.

“It is truly a special day for us,” Sheriff Chris Nocco told the crowd of spectators who stood in a steady downpour to honor the officers. “In a world where so many times we get wrapped up in the petty little things of life, this is a moment that we can reflect upon what is most important.”

Last year, the death toll for law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty dropped to its lowest numbers in more than 50 years. And while those are statistics that should be celebrated, Dade City Police Chief Ray Velboom warned that work to protect officers is still needed.

“While this number is gratifying somewhat, one life is still too many,” he said. “We as leaders continue to work hard to provide our officers with the awareness and training they need to confront the many dangers they are facing. We must strive to create a new culture of safety in law enforcement that addresses the elements of our job that we can control, such as driving habits.”

Two of Pasco’s deaths were from automobile accidents, including the most recent, Hernando County Sheriff’s deputy John Mecklenburg, who was killed during a high-speed chase on U.S. 41 in 2011 that crossed into Pasco County.

Pasco County Sheriff’s deputy John McCabe also died on U.S. 41, but in 1948, while responding to a call about stolen grove heaters.

“On this day, let us remember these men not by how they died, but how they walked among us, and whose lives they enriched in a thousand ways by their very existence,” said U.S. Circuit Court judge William Burgess III, after reading the roll call of the fallen officers.

Those officers honored also included Lt. Charles “Bo” Harrison, who was killed June 1, 2003, while doing surveillance near a Dade City nightclub. A sniper, whose only goal reportedly was to shoot a police officer, hid in the nearby woods, and shot Harrison in the back. Harrison, who was 56, was just 15 days away from retirement after 31 years of service.

Also remembered was a member of the Florida Highway Patrol, Trooper James Bradford-Jean Crooks, who was just 23 in May 1998 when he was slain by a man who had earlier killed two Tampa Police Department officers and a young boy. Brad Crooks, as he was known by, never had a chance to get out of his car, was shot and killed on the off-ramp of Interstate 75 into Wesley Chapel.

And then there was the first officer ever killed in Pasco in the line of duty. Sheldon Nicks was working with his father, Fivay town marshal H. Robert Nicks, to serve a warrant. When the man they were serving realized he was being arrested, he pulled a gun. The younger Nicks jumped in front of the bullet, saving his father, but died on May 8, 1909.

“None of whom we honor today can be defined by their deaths,” Florida Highway Patrol Capt. Kristina Quenneville said. “But by what is forever imprinted on the lives and hearts of those they have touched.”

Published May 7, 2014

Sheriff’s office to honor fallen officers

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The public is invited to remember and honor law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty during a memorial service May 2 at 8 a.m., on the north lawn of the Historic Courthouse, 37918 Meridian Ave., in Dade City.

The memorial recognizes eight offices killed in the line of duty in Pasco County, from 1909 with Deputy Shelly Nicks, to 2011 when Hernando County Sheriff’s Office deputy John Mecklenburg was killed in Pasco while pursuing a suspect on U.S. 41.

Nicks, according to historians, was killed when he stepped in front of a bullet meant for his father, during an arrest attempt in the Fivay area. Despite the offer of a reward of $1,025 — around $25,000 today — the shooter was never apprehended.

“Once a year, we in Pasco have a formal memorial to remember those that gave their ultimate sacrifice,” Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said in a release. “We should, however, every day think about those heroes and their families that have sacrificed so much to protect others.”

In previous years, multiple federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have participated in the memorial, including groups like the Dade City Police Department, the Zephyrhills Police Department, the Florida Department of Transportation, Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Officers killed in action, according to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office website, also include:

• Pasco Sheriff’s Lt. Charles “Bo” Harrison, 56, shot and killed while on surveillance in Lacoochee on June 1, 2003.
• Florida Highway Patrol Trooper James Bradford-Jean Crooks, 23, shot and killed while chasing a suspect who had killed two Tampa police officers on May 19, 1998.
• Pasco Sheriff’s Deputy John Herbert McCabe, 24, in a car accident on U.S. 41 in Land O’ Lakes while responding to a call about stolen grove heaters on June 26, 1948.
• Pasco Sheriff’s Deputy William Henry O’Berry, 36, shot and killed while investigating a felony where a suspect resisted arrest on Jan. 1, 1926.
• Pasco County Constable Arthur Fleece Crenshaw, 31, during an ambush after visiting an illegal alcohol distillery near Dade City on Oct. 4, 1922.
• U.S. Department of Justice Prohibition Agent John Van Waters, 46, during the same ambush with Crenshaw, on Oct. 4, 1922.

Burglaries down, but murder, rape on the rise

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Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco is crediting his “intelligence-led policing” program for a nearly 26 percent crime rate drop in the county over since 2011.

Robberies, aggravated assault and car burglaries all dropped in 2013 compared to the year before, according to Uniform Crime Report data, while murder, rape and residential robbery all ticked up.

Pasco had 20 murders last year, up 82 percent from both 2011 and 2012.  Rapes jumped 26 percent to 122, continuing a growing trend from 76 reported rapes in 2010.

Nocco explained in a news release that of the 20 murder cases, 17 of them were closed, and half of them were drug-related. For rapes, 72 percent of them were closed, while 34 rapes were considered domestic.

Overall, however, crime dropped more than 7 percent in Pasco since 2012, led by a 20 percent fall in car burglaries. More than 1,230 cars were broken into in 2013, down more than 36 percent from more than 1,900 in 2010.

Nocco’s intelligence-led policing includes detailed analysis of crime trends and other data in an effort to identify crime hotspots and reduce the number of victims through education and prevention. It is based on a U.S. Justice Department program introduced in 2005.

“We are still finding new ways to implement intelligence-led policing to enhance our crime-fighting ability to protect our community and families,” Nocco said, in a release. “Although statistics do not always paint the whole picture, this information is indicative that we are moving in the right direction.”

Public has chance to weigh in on taxes

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The public will have a chance to tell Pasco County commissioners what they think about a proposed property tax hike and a nickel-a-gallon gas tax at a public hearing on Sept. 10.

Commissioners are likely to get an earful.

The county’s proposed property tax rate is 7.49 mills, up from last year’s rate of 6.86 mills. Its proposed municipal fire rate is 1.71 mills, up from 1.54 mills last year.

Each mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value. That means the owner of a $100,000 house, assuming a $50,000 homestead exemption, would pay $33 a year more.

The 5-cent tax would affect anyone who buys gas in Pasco County.

Commission Chairman Ted Schrader and commissioners Pat Mulieri, Kathryn Starkey and Jack Mariano voted in favor of advertising the proposed tax rate in July. Commissioner Henry Wilson voted against it, and said recently that he was still trying to find places to cut the budget.

The proposed property tax hike has drawn criticism from taxpayers who think the county should cut its spending, as well as pleadings from people who don’t want commissioners to cut their programs.

Commissioners have also heard from opponents to the proposed gas tax hike.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Chris Nocco has not given up on his bid to seek more money in his budget. On Aug. 27, however, commissioners passed a resolution allowing a portion of the Penny for Pasco to be spent on unmarked detective cars and other vehicles for the Sheriff’s office. They took that action because the language included in the Penny for Pasco referenced marked cars, but did not specify unmarked cars could be purchased with the tax proceeds.

Commissioners are set to have their public hearing on the taxes at their 6:30 p.m. meeting on Sept. 10 at the Dade City Historic Courthouse, 37918 Meridian Ave. in Dade City.

The board will cast its final vote on the property tax rate at its 6:30 p.m. meeting on Sept. 24 at the government center in New Port Richey, 8731 Citizens Drive in New Port Richey.

Pasco residents expect 9 percent tax hike

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Sheriff’s budget won’t grow

Pasco County commissioners spent hours whittling away at different portions of the county’s $1.16 billion budget last week, but didn’t make a dent in a proposed tax hike.

Based on the county’s proposed millage rate, officials say the owner of a $100,000 house, assuming a $50,000 exemption, would pay $33 more a year.

Scores of taxpayers have contacted commissioners voicing opposition, but commissioners continue to move forward with the proposed increase.

The proposed property tax rate is 7.49 mills, up from last year’s rate of 6.86 mills. The proposed municipal fire rate is 1.71 mills, up from 1.54 mills last year. Each mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value.

Commissioners did not reduce the proposed rates, despite rejecting a request by Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco to increase his $91 million budget by $500,000.

The sheriff initially proposed a $93 million budget. County officials recommended a $91 million budget, then Nocco came and asked commissioners for $500,000 more. However, commissioners noted the sheriff’s budget has continued to go up, while other county departments absorbed cuts.

“I think he’s got to learn to live within his budget,” Commissioner Pat Mulieri said. “I just think there is a limit.”

While rejecting the half-million bump, commissioners agreed to Nocco’s request to use Penny for Pasco funds to purchase unmarked detective cars and other sheriff’s office vehicles.

While they didn’t lower the proposed tax rate, commissioners made about $700,000 in cuts in the proposed budget to plug an unexpected revenue gap. The changes were needed because Mike Fasano, the county’s newly appointed tax collector, informed the county that it had overestimated the amount of money his office would return to the county by about $720,000.

Fasano recently assumed the office that was held by Mike Olson, who died suddenly in June.

To help balance their proposed budget, commissioners trimmed an allocation for a master facilities plan, eliminated a proposal to beef up code enforcement, reduced the amount of funding for a communications office among other things. They’re still about $52,000 from where they need to be.

Commissioner Henry Wilson, who voted against the tentative tax rate in July, remains opposed. “I still can’t support this,” he said.

Commission Chairman Ted Schrader told Wilson that he’s being disingenuous, unless he can recommend specific budget cuts.

“I have not completed looking at the book,” Wilson said. “I’m still trying to figure out places to cut.”

Commissioners are set to have their first public hearing on the proposed budget on Sept. 10, with a second and final hearing on Sept. 24.