Town officials begin initial budget discussions
The Town of Fort Myers Beach staff and the FMB Town Council recently sat down together to begin crunching numbers during the initial phase of
its budget discussions for the fiscal year 2009-10 (Oct. 1, 2009 through Sept. 30, 2010).
The town officials are collectively feeling the impact of the local economy which has seen a “significant devaluation of real property values” on the Beach. Consequently, the values have reduced property tax revenue in the amount of $365,294 from last year. On July 20, the council is expecting to adopt a tentative millage rate.
“This budget has been designed with fiscal constraint in mind,” said FMB Town Manager Scott Janke. “Because of fiscal constraint, the budget has been designed to hold the line from this current budget cycle. We go through a process where each department is given the history that we have available from the prior year. (The department heads) are asked to develop a budget for departmental operations. Those are then submitted to (Director of Finance) Evelyn (Wicks) and I, and we sit down with each department head and go through their requests.”
Janke said that most requests were denied or received cuts due to the constraint, but a gap in the budget still exists.
“We have less money in revenue than we have identified in expenditures in the budget,” he said.
Before the two groups began hashing out each department’s budgets in hopes of closing the gap, Wicks compared forecasted numbers in general fund revenues and expenditures from 2008-09 to 2009-10.
The discussion moved to individual departments starting with town council; town committees; town manager and his executive assistant; town clerk; general services for the town; legal council including the town attorney; finance director and coordinator; six entities of the public works department; four entities of community development; and three entities of cultural resources. The budget then focused on revenues.
“At one time, all the employees -with the exception of the town manager- were lumped into (one category),” said Wicks. “We pulled (individual departments) out and put them all into a more recognizable format.”
First day report
During the first day of the preliminary discussion on the budget, the total general fund revenues expected for the 2009-10 fiscal year were projected to be at an $858,614 deficit. That initial shortfall includes revenue deficits totaling more than $135,000 in 2008-09 from three grants that were either not offered during 2007-08 and/or will not be renewed for the 2009-10 fiscal year. Couple that with inconsistent, one-time sums of $476,867 transfer-from-fund balance monies (added to the 2008-09 budget but not budgeted for 2009-10); $35,000 Mound House kayak/other events (same reference); $25,000 WCIND vessel removal (same reference); and a $52,000 deficit in other miscellaneous revenue to total $723,876 and the deficit shrinks to $134,738.
Some of the larger expenditures that town officials say they would like to eradicate fall under the general services category. They include the lease for town hall ($122,500) and an animal control fee ($66,312).
“Animal control is through an interlocal with the county,” said Janke. “It increased from last year’s expense of $44,000.”
Town officials are looking to close the budget gap by looking into implementing certain fees such as the electric franchise fee.
“This is a potential new revenue stream for the town,” said Janke. “We have had some discussion on it. Based on information provided by Florida Power and Light, this is an authorized revenue stream.”
An electric franchise fee is an up-front entry fee that is usually payable upon signing a contract for the right of use. In this case, the right of use would allow FPL to use the right of ways on the Beach.
The town would levy a fee upon FPL who, in turn, would charge the individual electric customer a “tax.” For example, if the franchise fee is one percent and your electric bill is $100.00, then the bill would be $101.00.
The town already implements a solid waste franchise fee. That fee is budgeted to bring in $21,649 for the upcoming year.
For a complete viewing of the Town of Fort Myers Beach preliminary budget for fiscal year 2001-10, go to the home page at www.fortmyersbeachfl.gov.