Dear Court Clerks and Comptrollers:
The Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR) wants to remind counties to complete the annual reporting requirement for county and municipal budget officers.
The statutory deadline is October 15, 2023. Since the October 15th deadline falls on a Sunday this year, EDR will continue to accept submitted forms through Monday, October 16, 2023. As of Friday, October 6, 2023, 52 counties and 306 cities had not yet submitted the statutorily required financial data (attached).
Legislation enacted in 2019 (i.e., Chapter 2019-56, Laws of Florida), amended ss. 129.03 and 166.241, F.S., to require each county and municipal budget officer to submit certain information regarding their respective government’s final budget and economic status to the Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR) by October 15th of each year. School districts and independent special districts are not subject to this reporting requirement.
Using data submitted by county and municipal governments as well as data collected from other publicly-available sources, EDR will calculate the following six statutorily-required metrics.
- Government spending per resident, including the rate for the five preceding fiscal years;
- Government debt per resident, including the rate for the five preceding fiscal years;
- Median income within the county or municipality;
- Average county or municipal employee salary;
- Percent of the entity’s budget spent on salaries and benefits for the entity’s employees; and
- Number of special taxing districts that are located, wholly or partially, within the county or municipality.
Furthermore, legislation enacted in 2020 (i.e., Chapter 2020-27, Laws of Florida), added to this reporting by requiring the reporting of the government’s annual expenditures providing for the financing, acquisition, construction, reconstruction, or rehabilitation of housing that is affordable, as that term is defined in s. 420.0004, F.S. The reported expenditures must indicate the source of such funds as federal, state, local, or other, as applicable.
County and municipal budget officers can find the reporting forms, instructions, and supplemental information for the 2023 Reporting Cycle, via the following link.
http://edr.state.fl.us/Content/local-government/local-govt-instructions/index.cfm
For those that might be interested, the county and municipal government data collected, and metrics calculated from all prior years’ reporting cycles (i.e., 2019-2022) are available via the following link. Reporting forms from these prior cycles are no longer being accepted.
http://edr.state.fl.us/Content/local-government/local-govt-reporting/index.cfm
Steven O’Cain, Senior Legislative Analyst
The Florida Legislature
Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR)
111 West Madison Street, Suite 574
Tallahassee, FL 32399-6588
Office Phone: 850-717-0470
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://edr.state.fl.us