City commissioners are told costs are up, revenue down, and property values have fallen - and $1-million more is needed in funding.
By CHASE SQUIRES
Published July 23, 2003
DADE CITY - Fresh on the job, new City Manager Harold Sample on Tuesday got to present a brutal financial picture to his bosses.
Bottom line, Sample announced, City Commissioners have to come up with at least $1-million in new revenue and cost cuts by the time the next fiscal year begins in October.
Commissioners reacted by raising the city's tentative tax rate for the coming year to the highest level allowed by state law: $10 per $1,000 of taxable value.
They approved the rate by a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Hutch Brock opposed. Mayor Scott Black said it's just a preliminary rate and the goal will be to back it down closer to the $7.40 per $1,000 of value in place for city residents the past 13 years.
Commissioner Bill Dennis said Dade City is in a "crisis situation."
Sample took over the city's helm this month. In his first review of the budget, he told commissioners that costs are up, revenue is down, and the property values in the city have fallen - a rarity in city budgeting. What's next, he said, is for commissioners to consider imposing a big tax increase or find a way to save a lot of money.
Sample predicted $625,300 in new costs for the coming year, including health insurance increases and pay raises already negotiated with fire and police union employees.
Deducting the addition of new home construction and annexation of unincorporated land over the past year, the value of the property in Dade City actually dropped about $350,000. And as Pasco County begins taking over the fire districts outside the city that the city fire department protects, the county's payment to the city in the coming year will go down about $230,000.
Even if commissioners go with the rate of $10 per $1,000 of taxable value, it would generate only an additional $440,800, Sample said.
"Keep in mind, we're talking about $1-million to $1.4-million that we're looking for," he said.
Dade City already has the highest tax rate of Pasco County's six incorporated municipalities.
Dennis shook his head as he reviewed the figures. "We have a hard job to do, we really do," he said.
Brock predicted cuts will go "well beyond discomfort, more like painful."
