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BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS July 3, 2024 Board of County Commissioners Indian River County 180127 th Street Vero Beach, FL 32960 Dear Commissioners: I'm pleased to transmit with this message the recommended budget for Fiscal Year 2024/2025 (FY 2024/2025), as required by Florida Statutes. The proposed budget represents the general operating framework for providing all County services for the upcoming fiscal year. The budget has been developed collaboratively with a combination of guidance provided by the Board of County Commissioners (BCC), input from departments, direction from the Office of Management & Budget, requests from the Constitutional Officers, community needs identified by State agencies and community non -profits, and my evaluation and assessment of the needs of the organization. The budget was developed with an emphasis on customer service, employee training, development and implementation of the Strategic Plan, public safety, and ensuring adequate staffing levels while aligning pay with current market values through execution of the recently completed compensation and classification study. Major Issues & Priorities Impacting FY 2024/2025 Budget Development Employee retention, recruitment, and compensation continues to be at the forefront while developing the FY 2024/2025 budget. Position vacancies continue to challenge County operations and impact Divisions across all Departments. In an effort to retain and attract valuable employees, the proposed budget includes funding for the implementation of the Board approved Employee Compensation and Classification Study. Effective October 1, 2024, non-union employees will be slotted into the newly established pay grades using a methodology that considers time in position as well as pay grade penetration. The implementation of the salary study for Teamsters represented employees will be a subject of negotiations. Employees represented by the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) will receive the negotiated general wage increase. The cost associated with implementing the Employee Compensation and Classification Study and providing a future negotiated general wage increase for IAFF is $8,686,151. The restructuring plan that was included in the FY 2023/2024 budget has been fully executed and all newly created positions have been filled. With the addition of the Community Services Director, Natural Resources Director, Assistant County Administrator and Ombudsman positions, the County is successfully moving forward on its plans for focusing on the areas that need to be addressed. Furthermore, the proposed FY 2024/2025 budget includes the addition of another department, the Building & Facilities Services Department, which will be comprised of Building & Permitting, Fire Prevention, Facilities Management, and Capital Projects divisions. The goal of this department will be to provide more focused leadership to enhance our external and internal customer services related to