Lake County Commissioners are lowering property taxes this upcoming fiscal year.

“It’s not huge, but it is a reduction,” says Chairwoman Leslie Campione.

The proposed general fund Millage rate is 5.0254, according to county officials.  Last year’s rate was 5.0364.

One mill equals $1. To figure out an individual tax bill, divide the assessed value by 1,000, then take that number and multiply it by the millage rate.

While the individual tax payer may not see huge savings, Commissioner Anthony Sabatini says it will decrease property taxes by about a half million dollars in total.

The total budget figure is 1,037,506.240.

County commissioners plan to adopt the final budget at 5 p.m., Sept. 23.

The reduction is remarkable in a way, because it comes at a time when there are some major challenges, Leslie says.

The state cut out the sales tax on commercial rental property, which will cost the county $2 million. The county also had to cough up more money to meet minimum wage requirements, she explains.

“The major, major thing is that we haven’t been reimbursed for Hurricane Milton expenses,” she says. That comes to $13 million. “We really want to protect our reserves.”

Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida on Oct. 9 as a category 3 storm, spawning tornadoes, flooding and high wind damage.

Included in the new budget is money for resurfacing some roads.  Failure to do so could force the county to completely rebuild a road, she adds.

There has been talk of raising gasoline sales tax by five cents, but that would require a 4-1 vote. That seems extremely unlikely. Campione, for one, is against the commission voting to raise the tax. She is in favor of a voter referendum.