2018 Budget Workshop – Tallahassee Reports

City Staff Proposes Cut to “Honor Flight Tallahassee” Donation

Staff — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 12:42:35 +0000

The staff at the City of Tallahassee has proposed to city commissioners that the $10,000 donation made to Honor Flight Tallahassee in 2017 not be included in the 2018 budget. This cut comes as staff recommends other groups like the Capital City Chamber ($9,700) and the Village Square ($20,000) remain funded at 2017 levels.

TR was told by representatives of Honor Flight Tallahassee that they would ask for the donation be included in the city’s 2018 budget.

According to their website, the mission of Honor Flight Tallahassee is to transport North Florida and South Georgia veterans to Washington, D.C. to visit those memorials dedicated to honor their service and sacrifices.

Listed below is the proposed 2018 city funding for outside agencies.

City Trolley Cost Taxpayers $18 per Rider

Staff — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 00:08:54 +0000

An analysis of costs and ridership of the City of Tallahassee’s complimentary trolley service shows that taxpayers paid $18 for each trolley rider over the period from February to May, 2017.

According to the city’s website, the trolley service was developed to make it “convenient to take a break from your daily routine and support our local economy while expanding your dining options and making new connections.”

The lunch-time service provides routes that connect the Downtown to Midtown, College Town and Cascades Park. The night-time route runs continuously between Midtown, Downtown and College Town. The launch of this service also included signage, free Wi-Fi on the trolleys and a real-time map of each trolley’s location accessible through a smartphone.

The operational information, included in the city’s budget workshop presentations, shows that from February (service started February 2oth) to May of this year, operation costs were $210,285 and the total ridership was 11,753. The cost per rider is calculated to be $17.9 per rider.

Breaking the numbers out for lunch and dinner service, the analysis shows that each rider cost taxpayers $31 during the lunch service and $7.1 during the dinner service.

These calculations are based on $50,000 per month in costs for the lunch trolley service and $14,400 per month in costs for the dinner trolley service.

The city provided a monthly break down of the lunch time riders. Those numbers are provided below with cost information.

Month           Riders       $/Rider
February           484      30
March              1,931    26
April                2,415 21
May        478      105
Total           5,308                31

Not surprisingly, the numbers show a significant spike in readership during months when the Florida Legislature was in session.

TR will have an update after the budget workshop on June 14th, 2017.

Despite $3 Million Increase in Taxes and Fees, City Staff to Present $4.5 Million Budget Deficit for FY2018

Staff — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 16:46:55 +0000

Less than two years after voting for a 13% property tax increase and a year after a 2.3% property tax decrease, the City of Tallahassee professional staff will present the City Commission with a proposed budget that is $4.5 million in the hole for fiscal year 2018.

The budget workshop presentation, scheduled for next week, will also include projections that show budget deficits of approximately $4 million for the next five years.

The proposed budget deficit for 2018 comes after taking into consideration a $3 million increase in property taxes, fees and utility transfers for fiscal year 2018.

The largest contributor to the general fund budget shortfall in 2018 is personnel services, with an increase of $4.9 million, which is 5.8% over fiscal year 2017.

This increase is driven by 3.0% merit increase ($1.8 million), increases in the pension cost for employees ($2.5 million) and an estimated increase of 5% in health costs ($520,000). When comparing revenues to expenditures, expenditures exceed revenues by $4.5 million.

The agenda item states:

Based upon a broad set of assumptions that are described in this item, preliminary estimates for the Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) currently estimate that general fund expenditures exceed revenues by $4.5 million. Staff is seeking guidance and direction from the City Commission regarding conceptual approaches and options available to close this gap while continuing to look at efficiencies that have been gained from the two City Manager reorganizations, while maintaining or improving upon service levels and priorities.

However, the city staff informs the elected officials that the “efficiencies implemented in FY 2016 and FY 2017 already provided opportunities for cost savings, and these have been included in projections for FY 2018.”

The city staff reports that property taxes will increase $1.4 million and utility taxes on electricity, water and gas will increase by $500,000. Also, utility revenues transferred to the general fund will increase by $1 million.

At the budget workshop the elected officials will be provided with options to address the shortfall. These options will include functional consolidations and workforce reductions, in-sourcing and outsourcing, and employee benefit cost sharing.

The city’s review of community priorities found that police and public safety continues to be the highest priority where citizens want to see their tax payer dollars invested.

Also, the report states that “overall, residents are happy with the quality of services provided.”