Politics

Brooksville council backs $34.8M draft budget

Questions remain, though, on adding a second police lieutenant, at a cost of about $70,000.

By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff Writer
Published September 7, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - The City Council has given its first okay to the proposed budget for next year, but the board has left several key questions unanswered.

The council late Wednesday unanimously approved the $34.8-million city spending plan for 2007-08 and a property tax rate nearly 16 percent lower than last year's rate, moving the budget to a final vote on Sept. 19.

During the discussion, the members focused on several personnel matters, with the question of whether to add a second lieutenant's position to the Police Department again dividing the council.

Interim police Chief Frank Ross has strongly recommended adding the position, saying one lieutenant could handle operations and the other would handle administration, including overseeing office staff and dispatchers.

But with a new chief about to be named and the likelihood of handing emergency dispatching over to the Sheriff's Office, the majority of the council balked at locking in roughly $70,000 in total compensation for a second lieutenant's position.

Council member Lara Bradburn argued that the new chief, once hired, should decide how to organize his department.

Mayor David Pugh said he wondered "what is a chief going to do" if he has one lieutenant handling administrative duties and one handling operations.

Ross said a chief has plenty to do, even with two people serving under him in those capacities. The chief, he said, needs to spend time in the community and provide department leadership.

By dividing up the other responsibilities, the Police Department could avoid many of the recent controversies that have racked the department, Ross argued.

Council member Joe Bernardini questioned the staffing on a typical day, which he said, under the budget proposal, would be a chief, two lieutenants, a sergeant and three patrol officers. That would be very top-heavy, he said.

Ross countered that sergeants are workers and that the organizational structure he described is typical of police agencies.

Pugh said that he understood the recommendation but, if the city follows through with its intent to move emergency dispatching to the county, a big part of the need for an administrative lieutenant would go away.

Ross urged the council to leave the position in the budget, but not fill it. Pugh said that the position could also be eliminated and the funding put into reserves. If it was needed, a budget amendment is not that complex, he reasoned.

He also noted that the city doesn't know what its revenues will look like next year if voters approve the "super" homestead exemption, which will appear on the January referendum.

Council members also discussed two positions in the development services area, a certified planner and a redevelopment coordinator. The city has had those positions in the budget before, but has been unable to keep someone in the redevelopment job for any length of time and has not filled the planner position.

Pugh said that he believed filling the planning position was more important than the redevelopment position.

City Manager Jennene Norman-Vacha said the city is hoping to find out whether some of the redevelopment duties could be accomplished through a partnership with the county.

Bradburn said she hoped that partnership could work because the county's business development office has more resources. She asked whether the planner job had been posted.

"It's up to the council, if that's what council wants," Pugh said.

Vice Mayor Frankie Burnett said that he did not want to see city responsibilities land with the county, but Bradburn countered that it was up to the city to make sure it was clear on setting the rules for a partnership.

"We have to be the visionaries," she said.

Pugh noted that getting a planner could save Brooksville money that it plans to spend on a consultant as it updates its land development code.

Bill Geiger, the development services director, agreed, making a strong pitch that both positions are needed. Downtown redevelopment, he said, "is a full-time job."

Council members also raised issues about technology and staffing in that area. The council also discussed the need for help with fire inspections, but made no changes in the budget presented to them.

The spending plan tentatively approved is based on a tax rate of 6.323 mills, compared with last year's rate of 7.5 mills. A mill is $1 in tax for every $1,000 of appraised taxable property value.

For the owner of a home appraised at $125,000 with the $25,000 homestead exemption, the tax bill to support city services would drop to $632.30, compared with last year's $750.

The total budget, including all categories and reserves, would be $34.8-million, compared with last year's $33.8-million.

Of that amount, the general fund, without reserves, would drop to $7.8-million for the coming budget year from last year's $8.1-million.

The spending plan meets the legislative mandate for Brooksville to roll back its tax revenue to last year's total and drop that amount by another 9 percent.

Barbara Behrendt can be reached at behrendt@sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.

[Last modified September 7, 2007, 06:43:29]