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BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS vER \\LORD% July 9, 2021 Board of County Commissioners Indian River County 1801 27th Street Vero Beach, FL 32960 Dear Commissioners: As required by Florida Statutes, transmitted with this message is the recommended budget for Fiscal Year 2021/2022 (FY 2021/22). The proposed budget represents the general operating framework for providing all County services for the forthcoming year. As presented, it reflects the County Administrator's plan of implementing and funding the recommended service levels. The budget has been developed with a combination of guidelines provided by the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) throughout the year, critical input from all departments, Budget Department guidance, the Administrator's perception of needs, responses from the community, and requests from the Constitutional Officers. Major Issues Impacting FY2021122 Budget Development As the COVID-19 health crisis has improved, the County has continued to see recovery of revenues initially impacted by the pandemic. Although there was some initial uncertainty regarding how the pandemic would impact the community, the local economy and real estate markets have rebounded quite well, with record real estate sales reported in 2020. The County received a CARES Act allocation in 2020 that helped to offset costs related to combating the COVID-19 virus, and to provide funding to municipalities, constitutionals, local agencies, small businesses and individuals. In addition, the County received a $31 M allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) which will reimburse the County for expenses incurred as a result of responding to the pandemic, provide community assistance, and funding for water/sewer and broadband infrastructure. Because 50%, or $15.5M, in ARP funding will not be distributed until May of 2022, the FY 2021/22 budget will need to be adjusted accordingly. Another recent concern has been an increase in prices of various goods and services over the last few months. This has impacted construction costs, but also the cost of many supplies needed to provide services to the public. Many experts have stated that these price increases are transitory. The proposed budget includes funding to address these increases, but there remains uncertainty regarding longer-term price levels.