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Buttoning up the budget

By Staff | Jul 18, 2018

Budget season has been a tense time for Fort Myers Beach in the past, but this year’s may be different.

Town Manager Roger Hernstadt doesn’t expect much drama for the 2018-2019 budget talks.

“I don’t see it being difficult,” he said.

He’s building the budget for council review in July while the council members are in recess. The millage rate will remain at .87 mills, the same as last year. The millage rate is the assessment rate at which property taxes are collected; at .87 mills, 87 cents will be collected for every $1,000 of assessed property value. A homeowner with a house valued at $350,000 will pay $304.50 in annual property taxes.

Property values increased less this year than last year, but the town will still be getting about $90,000 more in revenue from property value increases, expanding the existing budget by that amount.

Other than that, Hernstadt said the budget this year should be much the same as last year; council will have a list of “add ons” to consider financing and will discuss those at the budget workshops.

“The budget was in good shape when I inherited it,” Hernstadt said.

He is putting in some of what he considers to be best practices: balancing the budget to be sure recurring revenue funds recurring expenses, for example. The town manages several separate entities within its jurisdiction; Bay Oaks Recreational Campus and Pool, The Mound House and Newton Beach Park, the Municipal Mooring Field. He’s trying to make sure the budgets for these individual entities covers the costs it needs, but not to increase support from the general fund.

“We’ll give them x number in tax support, and they have to make up the balance,” he said. “We’re not going to fill the shortfall.”

If the entity needed to spend $5,000 more than their budget allows, their budget next year would be decreased by $5,000, Hernstadt said, adding that The Mound House and Bay Oaks now both have fundraising Friends groups they can go to when they need to get additional funds if needed.

“They’ve done well not increasing funding support, but I asked them to increase their incomes,” he said.

Hernstadt’s got his eye on operational efficiencies in the budget – and making choices to follow the town’s environmentally-aware policies. He’s been leasing rather than buying when it’s more cost-effective and replacing fossil fuel vehicles with electric ones, where possible.

“Beach Patrol and the Mound House have electric now,” he said. “It’s not purely a dollar and cents thing.”

Electric vehicles, besides not burning diesel, are quieter, which is good for both shorebirds, beach goers, and residents.

He does have one equipment acquisition he’s hoping the council will approve: an approximately $36,000 back-hoe that would allow the town to dig out or reclaim drainage swales.

It could help the town solve some smaller, localized stormwater drainage issues where in-ground pipes either don’t fit or don’t make sense.

“We need to have it in our tool box,” he said.

The 30 percent plans completed by Tetra Tech for an island-wide stormwater solutions showed the town wouldn’t be able to go down every single street, and forced the town to pick some priority “hot streets” to address before moving on to less-severe flooding problems at some time down the road.

“Since we’re not doing the whole thing right now, we may be able to mitigate” with the backhoe, Hernstadt said.

Another initiative Hernstadt started in last year’s budget season was to set up a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget, or a setting a fund from revenues to plan for for town assets that need replacements and updates or new projects the council wants to fund. This year, the Town Hall roof and Bay Oaks gym floor were replaced as part of the CIP.

Department heads are gathering their items for the CIP this year; but Hernstadt is working on a shortlist for the council’s “add ons” to consider.

Times Square renovations have been talked about for years; its waterlines still have to be replaced as well. The waterlines were skipped at the time so a renovation could be done all at once and scheduled at the least disruptive part of the slower season. It is something that may not get started until the end of next the fiscal year, but it’s something for council to think about and it could work on the design over the next year, Hernstadt said.

The town’s fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.

“I’ll give them an add-on list, they will pick priorities,” he said. “The millage rate is one of the lowest, and it’s a credit to this council that it’s the case.”

The first budget workshop is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 9. From there, council will decide if it needs additional workshop dates to be set.

The tentative budget hearing dates are Monday, Sept. 10 and Monday, Sept. 24.