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to reduce expenditures to adjust for this substantial drop. As a result, in Indian River County the current situation has required the use of County General Fund dollars to fund a service previously funded from the designated revenue source. This places an additional burden on ad valorem taxes at a time when the County has cut taxes by 33%. Other Service Area Expenditures Reduced Virtually every other service area has seen a reduction in expenditures since 2006 in Indian Riv4er County. This includes law enforcement, fire rescue, libraries, parks and recreation, road construction and maintenance, etc. For example, the Sheriff's Department budget has been cut from over $44 million in 2008/09 to $37.9 million this year. This is a reduction of over $6 million or about 14%. Additionally, the County's Emergency Service District budget has decreased from $32.2 million in 2007/08 to $25.6 million in 2012/13, a drop of $6.5 million or over 20%. During this same time period, the County has been unable to reduce funding for the court system. Even worse, the County has had to make up for the shortfall in designated revenue sources from the General Fund. In short, we have had to cut other departments, like the Sheriff's Office more to fund an increase in ad valorem funding for the court system. Indian River County's Ad Valorem Reduction Indian River County has reduced ad valorem taxes by over $33 million since 2006/07. This was a reduction of about 33% (from $103 million to $69 million). The County was able to pass substantial tax savings on to the citizens only by reducing expenditures accordingly. We would not have been able to deliver such a large reduction if a requirement similar to Section 29.008(4)(a), F.S. applied to other County expenditures. w.. f:\budget\jason\legislative\county funding of court related functions.docx 11/27/2012 224