Fiscal Year 2013 Recommended Budget Book - Lake County

July 12, 2012Honorable Members of the Board of County Commissioners:I am pleased to submit to you the Recommended Budget for Fiscal Year 2013. The proposed Fiscal Year2013 budget totals $379,822,392. The operating budget is $289,838,070. By comparison, the Fiscal Year2012 adopted budget totaled $420,320,269, with an operating budget of $317,832,922. The differencebetween the total budget and the operating budget is that the operating budget nets out inter-fundtransfers, capital project funds, and internal service funds.The Fiscal Year 2013 Budget will be the sixth year ofdecline in taxable property values. During the pastyear, countywide taxable values dropped an additional6.2 percent from $15.6 billion to $14.7 billion,contributing to a total 34 percent reduction over thepast six years. The total Fiscal Year 2013 budget issimilar in size to the Fiscal Year 2005 budget. Thesize of Lake County Government has been reduced tonear 2005 levels, while the population has increasednearly 20 percent.Starting in December 2011, the Board of County Commissioners had three Budget Workshops to reviewthe financial health of the County and in particular the General Fund, using a financial model developedinternally.There have been additional challenges including legislative changes that have made balancing the FiscalYear 2013 budget even more difficult. During the 2012 legislative session, a bill was passed regardingMedicaid that changed the way the State will collect Medicaid payments from the individual counties.Instead of billing counties and allowing them to disqualify discrepancies such as double-billings, wrongaddresses, or those incorrectly attributed to a specific county, the State will be deducting paymentsdirectly from shared sales tax revenues due the county. In addition, the State will be billing counties forthe estimated backlog of unpaid Medicaid billings going back 10 years. The liability for Lake County isexpected to increase from $2.7 million in Fiscal Year 2012 to an estimated $4.3 million in Fiscal Year2013. In addition, the transfer from the General Fund has been increased by $713,041 to help fund theTransportation Disadvantaged program. The program was being partially funded through fund balanceand a healthy reserve. The reserve has been depleted as fuel costs have steadily increased and Medicaidreimbursements have decreased.P.O. BOX 7800 • 315 W. MAIN ST., TAVARES, FL 32778 • P 352.343.9888 • F 352.343.9495Board of County Commissioners • www.lakecountyfl.gov