The budget cuts expenses in all city departments, and the City Council declines to raise the property tax rate.
By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published September 14, 2004
ZEPHYRHILLS - City Council members passed on first reading Monday night the city budget and property tax rate.
After trimming expenses across all departments, city officials arrived at a $12-million operating budget and nearly $30-million total budget for 2004-05. The final hearing on the budget and millage rate is scheduled for Sept. 27.
City Manager Steve Spina asked council members in July to raise the tax rate a half-mill to cover shortfalls. But the board rejected the idea, leaving the rate at 6.42 mills, the same it has been the past 14 years.
A mill represents $1 for every $1,000 in taxable property value. So a person who owns a home worth $100,000, minus the $25,000 homestead exemption, would pay $481.50 a year in city taxes.
Millage rates do not take into account increasing property values. So residents whose homes are assessed at higher levels could still see an increase on their tax bills over last year even though the rate is unchanged.
Two recent accounting glitches made balancing the budget especially difficult this year. City employees discovered in May an entry of $883,000 in revenue was entered twice in the current budget, and in a recent draft of next year's budget, a balance of $292,000 was taken from the airport fund and mistakenly entered in the general fund.
Spina praised city department heads and council members for working through the errors to balance the budget.
"I think you showed great leadership in helping us solve the problems," he said.
The 2004-05 budget includes a 3 percent pay raise for all employees, several park improvements and six new police cars. But the city cut in half the annual contributions it makes to the Main Street organization, Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce and YMCA.
Council member Liz Geiger said she hoped the city could restore the full amounts - historically $10,000 - to those organizations during mid year budget adjustments.
The city saved about $70,000 after ending a contract with the county for animal control services and changing health insurance providers. About $2.5-million is in reserves.
For the first time in years, the city's airport is in the black, with about $150,000 in a contingency fund.
