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to move forward, it was assumed that the sale would be concluded by the end of the current fiscal year <br />and that the lower rate structure would be in place effective October 1, 2018 (all of FY2018/19). Any <br />delay in the implementation of the rate reduction would require an adjustment to the budget. The impact <br />to franchise fee revenue from FY18 projected levels is a reduction of $560,000 in the MSTU Fund, offset <br />by a $350,000 decrease in budgeted electricity expenses across all funds. Overall, electric franchise fee <br />revenues are only decreasing by $60,000 due to FY18 actual revenues exceeding budget. It must also <br />be noted that in FY 2019/20, the value of transmission lines and related infrastructure will be added to <br />the tax roll, as FPL is a private entity and the government exemption previously provided to Vero Beach <br />Electric would no longer be valid. This will have a positive impact on the taxable value in all taxing funds. <br />Indian River County has taken a conservative approach in funding OPEB expenses, rather than simply <br />identifying the liability in the financial statements. Every other year, there is a full actuarial study to <br />identify the financial status of the OPEB trust fund, as well as quantifying future funding requirements. <br />Due to stronger than expected investment earnings and a decrease in projected health costs, the <br />proposed budget reflects savings of $502,100 from FY18 OPEB funding levels. This highlights the <br />prudence of the conservative approach that the County has taken for several years. Rather than facing <br />rising costs for retiree health insurance, we are experiencing a decrease in OPEB costs for FY 2018/19. <br />A major issue affecting both governments and corporations alike is the threat from cybersecurity <br />breaches. Baltimore's 911 Emergency Dispatch System and the City of Atlanta are two examples of <br />government agencies that have recently fallen victim to ransomware attacks. These types of <br />cybersecurity attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent among government agencies and therefore <br />the need to protect against them has become a priority. Today's society is highly connected and <br />dependent on information technology, which makes all organizations more vulnerable to cybersecurity <br />threats. A Cybersecurity Technician position is being added to Computer Services to ensure that County <br />facilities are protected, to the extent possible, from hackers. Additional investments in capital and <br />operating costs have also been included in the budget per cybersecurity best practices. <br />A looming challenge lying ahead is the Constitutional Amendment that would provide an additional <br />$25,000 homestead exemption on non -school taxes. Assuming passage of this referendum, the <br />estimated impact on county tax revenues is potentially over $3 million. If adopted, the additional <br />exemption.would shift a greater portion of the tax burden to non-homestead properties and businesses. <br />In recognition of the potential impact, staff is planning ahead to prepare for a reduction in FY 2019/20. <br />For example, there are a number of one-time items funded in the budget. This will ease the impact of the <br />tax revenue loss, should the additional homestead referendum pass. <br />The Development Review Committee, consisting of Board appointed stakeholders in the <br />building/development industry and citizens, was created to help streamline the development review <br />process and evaluate development review fees. This effort has been underway since October 2017 and <br />one of the remaining tasks is to evaluate the existing development review fee structure, which has <br />remained unchanged since 2004. As such, there are no recommended increases in development review <br />fees in the proposed budget. Staff will bring forth any recommended fee changes once the Committee's <br />work is complete, which will likely occur sometime in FY18/19. This is another means that staff is <br />planning to address expected revenue reduction due to the additional homestead exemption. <br />4 <br />