FY 2010-11 Adopted Budget - Volusia County Government

Springs, closing the S. Cornelia Young Library in Daytona Beach, reducing the service hours at the John H.Dickerson Library in Daytona Beach, and the Orange City Dickinson Memorial Library.VOLUSIA ECHO (FUND 160)Budget Cross-reference Pages: E-22, F-187The ECHO Program was approved by the voters of Volusia County on November 7, 2000 and providesgrants in aid to not-for-profit organizations and municipalities of Volusia County as well as Countydepartments solely to finance acquisition, restoration, renovation, construction and improvement ofenvironmental, cultural, historic and outdoor recreation facilities for public use. The FY 2010-11 millagerate is .2000 mills, the maximum allowed per voter referendum. The County Council created the ECHOAdvisory Committee to develop the program procedures and application guidelines.Since the inception of this program, 94 awards have been approved and over $31 million awarded toconstruct projects throughout Volusia County. In addition, beginning in FY 2004-05 the County Councilearmarked $1 million annually from ECHO revenues to meet debt service requirements for thecountywide Master Trail Program. The cumulative percentages of awards from 2002–2008 for the threeeligible applicant types were distributed as follows: 36% to not-for-profits, 34% to municipalities, and30% to the County of Volusia. The FY 2010-11 budget totals $8,954,519.VOLUSIA FOREVER (FUND 161)Budget Cross-reference Pages: E-24, F-213The Volusia Forever program, created by a 61% majority of the County’s electorate in the year 2000,provides for the acquisition and improvement of environmentally sensitive, water resource protectionand outdoor recreation lands. The program is supported by a county-wide ad valorem assessment of upto 0.2 mills. This voter approved referendum included authorization for the issuance of generalobligation bonds up to $40 million. In accordance with this directive, the County Council, in October of2005, approved the issuance of $39.875 million in Limited Tax General Obligation Bonds to support theprogram.Volusia Forever is a voluntary program which relies exclusively upon participation by willing sellers. Thecurrently approved list of Volusia Forever programs includes 41 projects which are about evenly dividedbetween Groups “A” and “B”. This listing also includes project areas, such as the Volusia ConservationCorridor.The Volusia Forever program seeks to maximize the effectiveness of local tax dollars by using thesemonies to leverage available funds from other public and private non-profit sources. To date, theprogram has acquired, fee-simple and conservation easement, 43 properties and nearly 33,000 acres.The total value of these acquisitions exceeds $87 million. Of this amount, the Volusia Forever programhas contributed approximately $53 million, with the funding partners contributing approximately $34million.Volusia County Section D - 30