Tampabay: City has $548-million: What do you want?

It's money you paid in taxes and fees to the government. You elected the City Council to office, and as your representatives, they're ready to listen to your ideas on how to spend it.

Mayor Rick Baker and his staff have figured out how they'd like to spend the money. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Baker will ask the City Council to agree with him. And council members will talk about their ideas.

You have the right to speak at the meeting, too. Each resident gets three minutes to tell the mayor and council members what he or she thinks.

But why would you stand up?

Because how the city spends its money affects lots of things you care about.

It's the difference between whether the Walter Fuller Pool is open and heated in the winter or not. It determines whether there will be a new basketball court in North Shore Park. It determines whether the beloved volunteer coordinator at the Office on Aging for senior citizens gets laid off.

It's a tight budget year, and lots of things like insurance are costing the city more thanbefore. The mayor and council have decided to cut services rather than raise the property tax rate.

But will the council listen to you?

"Absolutely," said council member John Bryan, adding that members of the public often change his mind on issues. "I'm looking to the people, hoping to hear information for my decision-making process."

Not everything can be done in one year, so council members may hear your idea Thursday but wait until next year to do it.

"It may not be able to be funded this year, but could be put into a queue for future years," council Chairwoman Rene Flowers said.

You can bring up any spending suggestion Thursday, but here are some major items that are in -- or proposed to be cut from -- the budget:

Boyd Hill Nature Park

Mayor Rick Baker proposes cutting a program specialist supervisor and three of the park's four full-time park rangers and replacing them with four part-time park rangers to save about $112,000. Baker notes that "we have been forced to make difficult decisions that impact both our employees and the services they provide to our citizens."

This would reduce the number of educational programs at the park south of Lake Maggiore from 850 per year to 400.

Lovers of the southern St. Petersburg park hate the idea, and many of them will be at Thursday night's public hearing to tell the council so.

"I am concerned about a proposal to shrink the budget of the Boyd Hill Park educational arm," resident Arlin Briley wrote to the mayor in a letter this week. "Thanks to its large acreage, Boyd Hill Park is a living lab, an invaluable opportunity to allow city kids a chance to learn about nature and life beyond shopping malls and sidewalks and classrooms.

Instead, Briley recommends pursuing county, state and federal educational grants to fund educational programs at the park.

Western St. Petersburg library plan

Baker proposes teaming up with St. Petersburg College to build a new library on the college's campus in western St. Petersburg. City residents and students would share the library, which would replace the current, smaller Azalea Branch.

The first of four $500,000 annual payments to the college for the cost of construction is in Baker's proposed city budget. After the library opened, the city would move the $300,000 it spends now on the Azalea Branch to the joint library instead.

A vocal group of city residents has blasted the idea of closing the Azalea Branch. If they could get the council to remove money for the new library the budget, they might be able to kill the idea.

"I'm not saying it's a bad idea. But I don't think we need to lose the library we currently have in the process," said Azalea neighborhood resident Mary Moser, who plans to remind the council of her position Thursday.

Parking meters

Baker is counting on a new revenue source to help balance the budget: parking meters. The city has had free on-street parking since it abandoned its expensive experiment with multispace, French-made "pay stations" in 1998.

Baker's staff estimates meters could bring in about $800,000 per year, on top of the $1-million the city expects from parking fines. For several years, part of that money would be needed to repay the $1.2-million he expects the meters to cost.

Some merchants like the idea that the meters will let people stay in spaces longer than the two-hour time limit common for street parking now. Others worry that the meters will clutter the street.

It was public outcry that got the pay stations yanked four years ago. And broad opposition could easily prevent the meters from being installed now. The council seems to be split about which way to go.

"No matter what the (council's) decision is, it's going to be pretty close to 50-50," member John Bryan said. "It's really a tough one."

Operating spending

-- Pays workers' salaries and benefits, buys supplies, gasoline and other recurring expenses.

-- Available: $488-million

-- The most flexible pot of operating money is called the "general fund." It's used for things such as police, fire, parks and recreation and Midtown economic development.

-- All the other operating money provides services such as water and sewer, sanitation and special projects such as the Pier, called "enterprise funds" or "special revenue funds." These services raise most or all of the money they spend, and money they raise generally cannot be spent in other areas.

-- General fund money: $175-million, most of which comes from property taxes.

-- Major general fund spending the mayor recommends: police $63-million, fire $26-million, recreation $11-million, parks $13-million.

Capital spending

-- Pays for big-ticket items that can be used for several years, like new buildings, renovations, cars and trucks.

-- Total capital money available: $60-million. About $21-million comes from the Penny for Pinellas 1-cent sales tax.

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