Marco support dwindles for community events under proposed budget

Maintaining the island’s bridges are taking priority in 2009, but community events might be feeling the pinch as Marco prepares the fiscal year budget proposals.

The topic of conversation is not the Judge S.S. Jolley Bridge this time around. The bulk of the upcoming capital expenses to be considered by City Council Monday will be $1.8 million for repairs to the island’s smaller bridges, including the Smokehouse Bay Bridges on Collier Blvd.

The city is responsible for 15 bridges on Marco Island and 10 of them are in need of significant improvements; $500,000 is being set aside for the Smokehouse Bay dual span bridges on Collier Boulevard, near the Esplanade. These two bridges are scheduled for replacement in 2013, a $13 million project.

Significant renovations are not being planned for these bridges in 2009 as their replacement draws near, said Finance Director Bill Harrison.

“As of now, both (Smokehouse Bay) bridges are in decent shape and should only require minor repair work prior to replacement in 2013,” he explained.

The city is setting aside $1.5 million in 2009 for repairs to the city’s 10 other bridges.

As for cutting expenses, the 2009 fiscal year’s budget doesn’t appear to include many cuts from this year’s budget, at least not yet. Monday’s meeting will be the first to specifically address spending.

As of now, there are about $180,000 in cuts in the proposed budget.

City Manager Steve Thompson said that in addition to those cuts, maintaining operating expenses at last year’s level requires staff to look for ways to compensate for some increased costs such as higher fuel prices.

Some cuts will be to city events in the Parks and Recreations Department. However, the vast majority of the cuts are in the area of community-created events such as Fourth of July fireworks and sponsorship of Christmas Island Style. These activities will receive a 75 percent reduction in funding next year, according to the operations budget prepared by Thompson and Harrison.

City Clerk Laura Litzan said the cut leaves $40,000 for community events sponsored by the city this upcoming year. The cuts will save the city approximately $120,000.

“The $40,000 is enough for the fireworks, but it will be up to City Council if that’s what they want the money to be used for,” Litzan said.

Christmas Island Style organizers say the cuts won’t cancel Christmas on Marco.

Chairman Steve Stefanides said he “saw it coming” and did not expect contributions from the city in 2009. “It won’t affect us at all,” he said.

Christmas Island Style used to receive $15,000 from Florida Water Services before the utility company was purchased by the city, according to organizers.

Former chairman for Christmas Island Style David Rice said most of the other sponsorships come from Lee County Electric Cooperative. Rice said he believes when the city takes over a business, it should also take on the community sponsorships that business provided.

Stefanides said he is pleased with the city’s contributions of police officers, swaps and land-use.

Rice said he would “be discouraged” to learn the city no longer sponsored the community events with financial backing.

“I would never have asked the city for money if it came out of the general fund, but this comes from the business which the city purchased and makes money off of ... And the community reaps the benefits of it,” Rice said.

Stefanides on the other hand said he is not disappointed.

“I think Council will be trimming a lot more than just community events,” he said.

So far the only other cuts are in similar events, but are events put on by the Parks and Recreation Department, as opposed to civic events.

Parks and Recreation Director Dana Souza has recommended $60,000 in cuts to his department, which is the only department which has a decrease in the proposed budget. Souza is proposing $26,000 for recreational programs, down from $86,000 last year.

Reductions are proposed in the city’s support of outside events such as the Art League and authors and artists programs, YMCA swim lessons and reductions in funding for the Halloween party and Silly Celebration, he said.

These are “nice to have items, but not mandatory,” Harrison explained.

Many taxpayers say that more cuts would be a good idea. Resident Bill McMullen said cuts to community events are “reasonable, but not when that’s the only place they cut” and added it appears “superficial” with an amount saved being “chump change” out of the approximate $19.8 million budget.

While the cuts may be small to some, there may be indication that there is more to come.

City Council perhaps set the tone for the upcoming expenditures budget meeting during their last gathering by putting a short-term hiring freeze in effect July 24 through Aug. 4. The hiring freeze was not to include the hiring of the Marco Island Police Chief with interviews taking place Friday.

The city currently has four open positions and only one position for a wastewater operator was advertised, said Litzan.

“There wasn’t anybody in the pipeline who was affected,” she said. That could change, she added, if the hiring freeze were to remain for several months.

The week-long hiring freeze came after Council reviewed department heads’ requests in the operating and capital budgets for several new employees including a new Human Resources Department with two employees, three new firefighters, a new accountant in the finance department, an information technology professional in utilities and a code enforcement officer.

“We are not recommending an additional Code Enforcement Officer at this time. We recognize the need for increased enforcement, but feel that we can use existing available time of building inspectors in lieu of hiring an additional person. We will monitor to see if that program is effective in meeting community needs,” Harrison said.

Thompson is recommending council to consider hiring six new people, but said operation can continue if they are not hired.

Council approved a five percent salary increase for city employees in June and Thompson is requesting approval for another one percent to be given to employee’s at Thompson’s discretion for either the staff members’ cost-saving practices or other superior performance.

The special-called City Council meeting which will focus on the expenditures of the budget is 8:30 a.m., Monday, in the Community Room, 51 Bald Eagle Drive.