On February 5th, 2013, Tallahassee City Manager Anita Favors-Thompson made a presentation to the Ethics Advisory Panel. The ethics panel was created by the city commission to look into the recent ethical issues surrounding the city commission. The Panel is gathering information and looking at various options from creating an ethics commission, an ethic officer […]
When the City Commission meets and votes to implement a policy, more times than not the policy has been vetted through a Target Issue (TI) committee. The City has five Target Issue committees and two city commissioners set on each of the committees. The committees meet on a regular basis and commissioners and city staff […]
The County and City Commission approved the Leon County Sales Tax Committee’s recommendation to enter into public/private partnership with Imagine Tallahassee to conduct a community visioning exercise for the economic development portion of the proposed sales tax. On February 1, 2013, the Committee approved a proposal lead by Karen Moore and Jim Murdaugh. The proposal […]
The City of Tallahassee Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Board met on Monday and one of the issues discussed was a recommendation to appropriate $50,000 to the Riley Museum. On July 13, 2011, the CRA Board approved a $125,000 grant to the John G. Riley Center/Museum for African American History and Culture (Museum) to assist in the […]
The Capital Regional Transportation Planning Agency (CRTPA) met on Monday and the issue drawing the most attention was the proposal to place a median on North Monroe between 7th Avenue and Tharpe Street. CRTPA board members heard a presentation form a transportation consultant and the opinions of business owners affected by the construction of a […]
During the January 28th, 2013 City Commission Financial Viability Target Issue Committee Meeting, city staff informed city commissioners Gillum and Maddox that fuel costs for the electric utility would decrease by approximately $10.5 million in 2013. However, the commissioners were also told that base rates would have to be increased by approximately $8.0 million. Base […]
To understand where you are, sometimes it is useful to look at where you have been. With the recent approval of a 15% property tax increase to plug the hole in the COT’s General Fund, Tallahassee Reports decided to take a look back. The first task was to look back at the budgets over the previous […]
Tallahassee Reports has completed an analysis that indicates that the COT government spending has increased as a percentage of the Tallahassee’s Gross Domestic Product from 2005-2008. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the measure of all goods and services provided. Using Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data on Gross Domestic Product and City of Tallahassee expenditure data, the analysis indicates the COT GDP grew 11.6%, while […]
During a recent public hearing on the COT budget, a number of citizens criticized Mayor Marks for having four aides. Each time a citizen leveled the charge, Mayor Marks shook his head as to say no that is not the case. A quick perusal of the budget for the Office of the Mayor indicates there are […]
Tallahassee Reports has written about the $172 million in reserve funds the City of Tallahassee has tucked away. Part of the $172 million includes approximately $95 million in a “rate stabilization fund.” During an informative discussion with Assistant City Manager Raoul Lavin, he detailed the parameters regulating the use of the rate stabilization fund. The uses […]