Wakulla will receive an additional $625,500 over last year in payment as fiscally constrained county
By WILLIAM SNOWDEN
Editor
Property Appraiser Ed Brimner put out a news release this week noting that the county will receive an additional $625,500 from the state, monies received by fiscally constrained counties.
The county is facing a $2.4 million shortfall in the budget because of a $307 million valuation error by the property appraiser’s office for a vacant lot in Lake Ellen. The additional money from the state would appear to be enough to plug the $600,000 hole still in the county budget.
Anticipating a larger budget this year, county commissioners had approved nine new positions in the sheriff’s office – most of them road deputies – as well as additional firefighters and other county employees. Those positions were immediately frozen by commissioners when they realized they faced a major hole in their budget.
Brimner’s release appears as a column on this week’s Opinion Page, page 4.
At a recent county audit committee meeting, Brimner noted that property tax values in the county were up $142 million so far this year – from $2.046 billion last year to $2.187 billion as of Jan. 16. That too will relieve some of the financial strain faced by the county.
