Marco Island City Council budget workshop: Millage rate increases unless more cuts can be agreed to

MARCO ISLAND — During a marathon, six hour budget workshop on Monday, Marco Island City Council prioritized capital improvement spending needs, considered ways to cut expenses, and set a maximum millage rate for the upcoming fiscal year.

Councilors voted 5-2 to set the maximum millage rate for fiscal year 2012 at 2.0733 per $1,000 taxable property value. That’s about $.75 higher than last year’s rate. However, the millage could be lowered in September based on a number of factors, including additional spending cuts in next year’s budget and adjustments in the island’s reserve funds.

Council also approved a revenue-neutral (or rollback) rate of 2.062.

Councilmen Bill Trotter and Joe Batte opposed the higher millage rates, which also raised the ire of some residents.

“I think most citizens would find that particular rate too high,” Bill McMullen told council members, to which chairman Jerry Gibson responded that the council agreed.

The proposed 2012 city operating budget is approximately $920,000 more than fiscal year 2011. Some of the increases are due to contractual obligations, but Councilman Bill Trotter believes more budget-tightening can be done, especially since as much as $865,000 of last year’s budget has yet to be spent and city revenues are up. Trotter says rolling over those funds into the city’s unrestricted reserves could not only save money for FY 2012, but reduced proposed fees on Islanders.

“I think we need to institute a rigor (about allocation),” he said, adding that many individual departments are actually proposing increases in certain line items, such as office supplies, travel budgets, and professional organization memberships. If all of those increases were reduced, according to Trotter, the savings could equate to more than $1.16 million. That money, Trotter believes, could then be used to decrease the millage rate from the proposed 2.0733 to 1.9116. The millage rate for fiscal year 2011 was 1.8900.

A final decision on the millage rate won’t be made until September, however, council was required to vote on a maximum millage rate in order for Collier County to be able to send out TRIM (Truth in Millage) notices to homeowners.

Capital improvements

Several Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) are slated for next year including $118,000 to purchase three new police patrol cars; $758,000 to build the Smokehouse Bridge and approximately $1 million for drainage projects. Some of the money will come from approximately $655,000 in funds transferred from the island’s general fund and $609,000 of the asset replacement fund. Rollover funds from fiscal year 2011 will be used to pay for the Smokehouse Bridge project.

Although councilors were in agreement to buy three new police patrol cars next year, additional monies may need to be spent. City Manager Jim Riviere noted an independent report the city contracted which concluded that six police vehicles, or 29 percent of the fleet, should be removed immediately and that 57 percent of patrol cars should be removed between now and fiscal year 2012.

Several paving projects will get deferred for another year, although Public Works Director Tim Pinter urged council to reconsider, noting that it’s been nearly a decade since roadways have been resurfaced with the exception of those ripped up and repaired as part of the city’s STRP. Without regular resurfacing, Pinter said, streets will eventually need to be restructured, not just resurfaced. Several councilors were unmoved.

“Survival over the next few years will be critical,” said councilor Joe Batte. “There are areas where we can roll the dice and I think this is one of them.”

Council did agree to add $100,000 in the CIP budget to several create several bike paths in the next three to four years, noting that the issue is a matter of public safety. The money will be used for planning and engineering, and federal matching grants are available.

“We’ve become a destination because we’re so bike-friendly,” said chairman Jerry Gibson, who noted an increase of cyclists on the island. “It makes it worthwhile (to approve the bike paths).”

Utility fees

Council seemed hopeful that between spending cuts in the current utility budget and an assessment on vacant lot owners, which is estimated to bring in $1.1 million, the need for a 6 percent rate hike could be reduced.

“What we don’t want to do is put a 6 percent rate increase without doing due diligence,” said Trotter.

The city’s Utility Advisory Board will consider items such as reducing thousands of dollars in budgeted overtime for water plant workers and other administrative cuts to reduce its spending.

“I think there are lots of opportunities to save money,” UAB chairman Ken Honecker told council.

Councilors voted 6-1 to re-appoint David Rasmussen to fill a vacated seat on the UAB. Rasmussen served on the board until February, 2011. His selection means the UAB will finally operate with a full, five-member committee and will avoid a lack of quorum at meetings.

The UAB will meet on Aug. 10 to discuss further cost cutting measures. City Council will decide on their recommendations at the next council meeting on Aug. 15, when a decision about the utility rate must be made.