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Oldsmar will spring for new library, firefighters

In addition to a $34-million budget, the City Council also okayed a lower millage rate and a capital improvement plan.

By TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Published September 20, 2006

OLDSMAR - The City Council on Monday approved a $34-million budget, a millage rate decrease and a capital improvement plan.

Highlights of the budget include more money to build a new library and the addition of three firefighter positions.

The city added $1.75-million to the $3.2-million originally budgeted for a new library. It accomplished this by postponing several projects originally scheduled for the upcoming fiscal year.

The library is clearly the city's biggest project. But city officials realized the $3.2-million initially budgeted wasn't sufficient when the lone bid in July came in at $5.9 million.

The council rejected the bid and authorized City Manager Bruce Haddock to readvertise the contract with some modifications.

The new library will be built on the southeast corner of St. Petersburg Drive and Dartmouth Avenue. It will replace the current one on State Street. Mayor Jerry Beverland said the library has outgrown the historic Bank Building it sits in now.

"We have a state-of-the-art of everything else so we need a state-of-the-art library," Beverland said.

The budget also made room to hire three additional firefighters, one per shift. At July's budget work session, fire Chief Scott McGuff asked for the additional $150,000 because he said if one of the five firefighters on shift is absent, the department's new rescue vehicle is put out of service.

Regarding the millage rate, the council voted 3-2 to lower it from 4.65 mills to 4.6 mills. Council members Don Bohr and Suzanne Vale voted against the new rate because they wanted it reduced even more.

The lowered rate means residents will pay $4.60 per $1,000 of taxable property value.

But a lowered rate does not necessarily mean residents will be dishing out less cash. Because of the rise in property values, the city would have to lower the millage rate to 3.9245 mills in order to keep the burden on the taxpayers the same.

The council also voted to repeal a 1995 resolution that allocated one-tenth of a mill to the Public Safety Impact Fee Fund, which helped the city pay for the fire station. The unanimous vote means the one-tenth of a mill will now go to the general fund.

The council approved a capital improvement plan for the period from Oct. 1, 2007, through Sept. 30, 2012, which includes $3.9-million for sludge.

The more scientific term for the project is "biosolids drying facility" slated for fiscal year 2008-09.

In April, Thomas Friedrich, vice president of Jones Edmunds, an environmental engineering consultant hired by the city to talk about biosolids, recommended the city should spend the $3.9-million to add a belt filter press and heat drying system to its reclaimed water facility.

The result would be a safe, dry, organic and reusable product that can be used as fertilizer and wouldn't need to be hauled away.

Tougher environmental standards and lack of suitable land for sludge disposal is posing a difficult and expensive problem for area cities.

The city is hoping to team up with other local cities on the project, including Tarpon Springs, Dunedin and Clearwater.

"But I say if we can't partner with them, we do it anyway," Beverland said.

[Last modified September 20, 2006, 00:32:25]