The Children’s Trust of Alachua County (CTAC) approved its final millage rate and budget for the 2026 fiscal year during a final TRIM hearing on Monday evening.
CTAC’s set millage rate of 0.45, the same as last year’s adopted rate, is expected to generate a tax revenue of $815,789, an increase of 8.1% over the fiscal year 2025 budgeted tax revenue.
“The proposed millage rate provides for future programming needs, adequate staffing and planning for future facilities,” CTAC Executive Director Marsha Kiner said while reading from prepared remarks.
Kiner added that the rollback calculation for the 2025 tax year is .4218 mills.
The board unanimously approved the final millage rate, with member Susanne Wilson Bullard abstaining from voting due to Florida statutes.
At the conclusion of the board’s first TRIM hearing on Sept. 8, CTAC Chair Ken Cornell told Mainstreet that as a judge for the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida, which includes Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy and Union counties, Bullard cannot vote on millage.
The CTAC budget for FY 2026, meanwhile, totaled $17,747,676, a 0.82% increase over the FY 2025 amended budget.
“This budget reflects the board’s recommendation to increase funding to grants and aids by 5% and a 3.7% increase in operations and administration,” Kiner said.
The grants and aid budget has increased from $12,027,891 in FY 2025 to $12,639,820 in FY 2026. Additionally, the personnel budget has risen from $2,060,257 to $2,229,067.
The fiscal year 2026 budget also includes a 5% cost-of-living hike to address the inflationary growth impacting the community.
The board approved the budget, 6-2, with Bullard and member Lee Pinkoson dissenting. Neither board member offered remarks after the vote; however, at the Sept. 8 TRIM hearing, Pinkoson expressed his concerns with this year’s budget, particularly the $6 million difference between revenue and spending.
“This year, we’re taking about $11.4 [million] in revenue. We’re spending about $17.3 million,” he said at the Sept. 8 hearing. “We’re going to have to prioritize, as you’ve heard, but that’s a big chunk of money. What my concern is, there was a time when there were people out there bad-mouthing the [Children’s] Trust. As we come up for renewal, as we make these decisions, some people are not going to be very happy with us.”
Meanwhile, during the Sept. 8 regular board meeting, Bullard expressed concerns about the amount of money being awarded to the gun violence initiative.
It was noted during the meeting that $500,000 was originally allocated to the initiative through the city of Gainesville. However, it has been reduced to $150,000.
Bullard asked if the $150,000 being allocated is to the Violence Interrupters Program through the city.
“The board voted to allow them [the city] to use the dollars that we had already provided for them out of this year’s budget to roll over,” Kiner replied, adding that for the fiscal year 2026 budget, the CTAC will be giving the city $150,000, less than the $500,000.
Bullard asked if the city could confirm whether the Interrupters have any certification through a program or training.
“The answer would be no, because we did not ask them about their certification,” Kiner replied.
Bullard said she would be interested in learning what training and certifications the Interrupters have.
“It’s a lot of money. I mean, I understand there is a reduction, but there is still $150,000 committed to this program,” she said.
Kiner told Bullard that they can request the information from the city and provide it to the board.
During Monday’s regular meeting, the board unanimously approved sending a drafted chair letter to the city about the gun violence initiative.
“We’ve asked for them to have us back the answers to this by October 3 so we can include it in our next meeting on October 8,” Cornell said. “We can invite the city if they’d like to come present [on the initiative].”
Bullard asked how this would affect the budget.
“We have a budgeted item, which we will approve, or we’ll make adjustments to, at the next meeting [the TRIM hearing] that starts at 5:01 [p.m.],” Cornell said. “If we approve that [the budget] at the next meeting, and then we want to make changes to that budget after we hear back from them [the city], then we would propose that into a budget amendment.”
Kiner also added that there hasn’t been an updated contract signed yet.
“So, there is always [an] opportunity to make changes,” she said.
Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.