At the September 11th Tallahassee City Commission, elected officials held the first of two statutorily required public hearings on the City’s FY 2020 budget. Commissioners voted to adopt the proposed millage rates, operating and capital budgets, for the City and Downtown Improvement Authority.
The $161.4 million general fund budget – which is partially funded by property taxes – is part of a $740.7 million citywide operating budget and a $158.8 capital budget
The property tax rate will remain at 4.1 mills. However, based on state statues, the $2.8 million increase in ad valorem tax revenues – due to an increase in property values – is a tax increase.
The proposed general fund budget is set to increase from the FY2019 level of $158.8 million to $161.4 million in FY2020.
Based on information provided by the City of Tallahassee, the FY2020 budget includes the following:
- $2.1 million investment in police technology.
- $1 million increase to police salaries.
- Provide a $12 living wage for employees.
- $14.3 million in FY20 funding for 10 new sidewalks, and a commitment to fund 10 new sidewalks a year for the next 5 years.
- $1 million investment in sidewalk maintenance.
- $6.5 million investment in road maintenance to accomplish paving 60 to 80 road miles.
- $12 million funding for Airport facilities to drive economic development efforts getting us ever closer to our goal of a $1 billion impact on the local economy in the next five years.
- $93 million investment in utilities infrastructure to enhance reliability.
- $1.5 million increased investment in the City’s County-wide Fire Services program.
- Expansion of Fire ALS coverage area to address the 58% increase in EMS calls since 2012.
- $1.1 million of outside agency direct grant funding, roughly $800K of which is devoted to human service providers.
In addition, the budget will include salary enhancements and minimums for general employees which are the same as the prior year at 3% with a $1,000 minimum for general employees. The City of Tallahassee will also pay a living wage of $12/hour to all full-time employees, and seasonal/part-time employees with a consistent full-time schedule, impacting approximately 24 city employees.
The final public hearing and vote on the budget is scheduled for September 25th, 2019.
Now people comment and not a single person showed up at city hall to speak out against the constant increase in property taxes!
"The final public hearing and vote on the budget is scheduled for September 25th, 2019"
Here let me fix that:
The final public dog and pony show to make citizens think we care, and the already decided vote on the budget is scheduled for September 25th, 2019.
Paying for routine maintenance is not an "Investment"!!
You have THOUSANDS of New Homes being built in the city and all of them Start At $249,900 or MORE. WHY cant you go down on the Millage Rate?
Because the city has a retirement program that is very expensive.
Also we need a constant flood of much more money than is required to run a city twice the size of Tallahassee in order to cloud the finances which makes self serving graft, corruption, and kickbacks so very easy.
Hey thanks for your leftist, socialist, Democrat voting addiction sheeple...err...people of Tallahassee.
Thanks a lot!!!
Because the city has a retirement program that is ridiculously expensive and a truck load of bonds that go into the future as far as the eye can see.
Tony:
Because when you live in a city run by libs, there is NEVER enough money.
I urge the sheeple to WAKE UP & stop buying the propaganda disseminated by the PRESSTITUTES ("We'll pay you $10,000 for 10 positive stories, Skippy!"
OK, Dustin.")