May 19, 2013
Wakulla County will not be seeing local tax increases during the 2012-2013 fiscal year. Commissioners approved the finalized budget on Monday night.
"We managed to keep the cost of government low in Wakulla County while we're still protecting our essential local services, which is an exciting place to be during this hard time," said Alan Brock, Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners.
The millage rate will stay at 8.5 mills. The total budget is just under forty two and a half million dollars. Commissioners hope these numbers stay the same for the next five years.
"It's that consistency that I think is going to continue to make Wakulla County more desirable for local businesses to either start up or move to our community," said Brock.
Even without a budget increase, changes are coming to the county.
"We will replace an old fire station with a new fire and EMS facility that will be located on Trice Lane," said County Administrator David Edwards.
The new facility is expected to be completed within a year. Also included in the budget is the purchase of several new public safety vehicles.
Commissioners are also setting aside an additional one million in their reserve fund in case the county is faced with another storm like Tropical Storm Debby.
"FEMA has become increasingly hard to deal with, therefor we need more of a fund balance to be able to handle cash flow storms," said Edwards.
