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CHASE SQUIRESBecause of accounting problems, Zephyrhills officials discuss cuts in supplies, donations and pay raises to salvage a proposed budget.
ZEPHYRHILLS - Facing another setback Thursday in their battle to fund a proposed $12-million operating budget for the coming year, City Council members scoured city spending plans for places to trim costs.
On the chopping block: pay raises for six of the city's 160 employees; city contributions to the Main Street program, the chamber of commerce and a YMCA program for schoolchildren in trouble; and other items including office supplies, travel for city officials and membership dues to associations and organizations.
Council members began Thursday's budget workshop with some bad news. Both the airport and the city general fund were counting on some of the same money at the same time. The $292,000 in question was from a federal airport grant, money that can only be spent at the city's airport. The city general fund was relying on the money as reimbursement for airport loans.
The result of some miscommunication is that the city's operating fund was hit with a $292,000 loss - on paper - in addition to an $883,000 setback suffered earlier when officials discovered an accounting error. The double whammy left the city scrambling to make up the money through cuts.
On a side note, the airport, which for years depended on the city's general fund to make up shortfalls, now has a $270,000 surplus, City Manager Steve Spina said.
To close the gap in the city's general fund, council member Cathi Compton suggested the city cut its annual $10,000 donations to the chamber and Main Street in half. She also suggested the city cut its $20,000 gift to a YMCA program that counsels children suspended from school to $10,000. She also proposed 10 percent cuts to office supplies and other city expenses.
Council members appeared unanimous in their decision to reject proposed salary adjustments suggested by department heads. Some adjustments would have addressed employees caught in positions where they made pay grade moves that granted them more authority, but less opportunity for overtime pay. Others would have matched pay scales to new duties added to job titles.
"All of a sudden, we're having a real bad year," council President Clyde Bracknell said. "Hopefully next year will be better. Right now, it's a real bad time."
Council member Liz Geiger suggested the pay issue could be reviewed mid year.
Councilwoman Celia Graham said there had been talk that the chamber of commerce would take over the duties of Main Street, an organization of businesses that promotes downtown with festivals and other events. If Main Street was swallowed by the chamber, there would be no need to allocate money to the agency, she said.
Mayor Cliff McDuffie, retiring this summer as the chamber's director, said the chamber has no desire to dissolve Main Street. There was talk, he said, that the chamber could offer Main Street the use of some of its facilities, as a gesture of sharing. But that just spawned rumors, he said.
"Loose tongues sink ships," he said.
Spina said new accounting programs being installed at City Hall should prevent such budget snarls as the city saw this year, helping departments and council members work together more closely. The paper losses discovered through accounting tangles this year was a blow, he said.
None of the items discussed Thursday would become final until the budget is approved at two public hearings scheduled in September. The first is Sept. 13, the second Sept. 27. Both are at 6 p.m. at City Hall. The fiscal year begins Oct. 1.