When a majority of Collier’s Board of County Commissioners voted last month to raid two voter-approved conservation trust funds of $61 million, it did so without any meaningful public discussion on if it even had the authority to so.
And depending on who you ask, the board may not have had the authority after all.
The Conservation Collier program collects up to .25 mill in property taxes to purchase and preserve environmentally sensitive lands. On three occasions since 2002, a super-majority of voters have said yes to the modest tax which represents $100 in taxes from a homeowner who has a property with a taxable value of $400,000.
Conservation Collier was founded on the notion of acquiring, protecting and managing environmentally sensitive lands that contain natural upland or wetland communities; native plant communities; rare and endangered flora and fauna, endangered species or aesthetic or other natural features maximizing the protection of Collier County.
These lands, the ordinance outlines, are intended to offer the best human value. The ordinance also mandates that a certain percentage of the funds collected must be maintained in a separate trust so that the acquired lands can be cared for.
None of guidelines explicitly grant the county the ability to strip the account of tens of millions of dollars in funds so it could balance its budget. But that’s what all the commissioners — with the exception of Burt Saunders — voted to do at its the Sept. 21 final budget hearing.
Of note, the county was not anticipating a budget shortfall because increased property values could have provided county coffers with an additional $62 million in new tax dollars. But the majority of the commissioners voted to not collect those additional dollars and instead collect the same amount of money as collected the previous fiscal year.
This late in the evening, last-minute decision could have left various departments under-funded. To make up for that, the majority voted to take the funds out of the two conservation trust funds.
And that’s not right, Lonnie Groot, a veteran municipal attorney in Central Florida, told WGCU News.
“If they're actually using the quarter mill as additional revenues, the clerk that cuts the check has a recourse to say, ‘I'm not going to do it, because it's supposed to be in that trust fund, and you're not using it for the right purpose,’” said Groot.
Groot spent 15 years as a staff or assistant attorney for Seminole County. He is now in private practice though represents smaller municipal governments.
The person in charge of doling out the funds, Clerk and Comptroller Crystal K. Kinzel, could not be reached for comment. However a spokesperson provided this statement to WGCU News:
“Clerk Kinzel's office always reviews payments to ensure they comply with Florida statutes and Board ordinances prior to payment. This is standard policy.”
According to records obtained by WGCU, Collier County government’s attorney Jeffrey Klatzkow is proposing a retroactive amendment to the Conservation Collier’s ordinance that states the county can do as it sees fit with the tax funds collected for conservation provided a majority of the commissioners give the nod to do so.
“It is the opinion of the county attorney that the board had the implicit ability to do this as part of the board’s broad budget powers,” said Klatzkow in the executive summary behind his proposal. “The proposed amendment to the ordinance simply makes it an explicit power.”
Broken down, explicit describes something that is very clear or without ambiguity, whereas implicit refers to something that may be understood, but is less clear.
Amendment or not, Groot believes there are grounds to challenge the board’s decision especially since the origination of Conservation Collier began with the issuances of a bond to jump start the purchasing and protection program.
“You have to honor a true trust. You have to honor the truth, that's the reason the money was put in trust,” said Groot.
Board Chairman Rick LoCastro and Collier County Attorney Klatzkow did not return phone calls and emails seeking comment.
The proposal is set to go before the Board of County Commissioners when it meets Oct. 10. If last month’s budget hearing is any indication, the ordinance will likely draw scores of voters upset about the raid.
At the budget hearing when voters feared the program would be short-changed $14 million and not the resulting $61 million, a majority of the 70 or so people who spoke during public comment did so on behalf of Conservation Collier.
WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.