City's budget grows larger

The extra $637,500 is mostly for hiring new employees and buying new equipment. The final vote is Sept. 18.

By ERIC STIRGUS

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 10, 2001

LARGO -- City leaders here pride themselves for their frugality. The last time city commissioners raised property taxes was 1991.

So as city leaders began their annual ritual of reviewing the budget for next year, some involved in the process hoped to find ways to cut unnecessary items or even lower the city's property tax rate.

Instead, more money was added to the budget.

Last week, city commissioners tentatively approved a budget for the next 12 months with an additional $637,500 that was not included when the $84.5-million expense plan was put together by city officials in July.

Commissioners voted to keep the property tax rate at 3.4 mills.

The final vote on the budget will be Sept. 18.

While one-third of the additional spending came from a salary increase for several hundred city employees, most of the money has been allocated for new equipment and hiring more workers.

Some involved in the budget process say the extra spending is needed to pay for vital programs and to continue city services at satisfactory levels. The extra spending reflects a growing city with an expanding need for services, said Charles "Chuck" Harper, chairman of the city's Finance Advisory Board, a citizen's group that reviews the budget with city officials before it goes to commissioners.

"Largo is beginning to look at these problems and realize they have to address them," he said. "We cannot leave a segment of the population behind."

But one key participant in budget negotiations worries the additional spending could lead to commissioners approving a property tax increase as soon as next year.

"I am not sure if that's what the public wants," Mayor Bob Jackson said of the added spending. "The people tell me we elected you because of some of your conservative funding habits, and we've been unable to do that."

City Manager Steven Stanton suggested $637,500 isn't that significant when considering the entire budget is $84.5-million. Technically, he's right. It's less than 1 percent. But the city expects to spend about $3-million more than it will receive from its general fund, which worries Stanton. City officials hope to close the gap by pursuing annexation agreements with several subdivisions and more businesses east of U.S. 19.

"That can't continue for an extended period of time," Stanton said Thursday of the general fund deficit. "That's where annexation is such a serious issue."

The annual process of reviewing and adopting the city's budget is usually a congenial affair in which city department directors are praised for their thorough presentations and the budget is passed without much fanfare.

Not this year.

After Stanton warned a property tax increase likely would be needed in 2003, city department directors were ordered to find ways to reduce spending. City commissioners asked for more detailed information. They got it. Stanton estimates the budget document is about 1,000 pages, unprecedented in Largo.

Finance Advisory Board members and city commissioners were actually much more demanding in their questioning city officials about proposed spending in various departments. Stanton described this year's process as the most thorough he's seen since coming to Largo 11 years ago.

"They've sharpened their teeth this year," one observer said of commissioners during a budget hearing.

But in this year's process, familiarity bred more funding. Programs popular among commissioners, such as domestic violence specialists for the police department, were given more money despite staff recommendations to reduce funding.

Others, such as Project Heartstrings, a program which finds needy families and buys Christmasgifts and provides Thanksgiving dinners, were completely cut. Jackson suggested Largo taxpayers do not want government using their money to fund non-profits.

"I think the people want to determine their own charitable contributions," he said in defense of the $600 cut to that program.

Some programs suffered funding cuts because of lack of participation. Good Neighbors was one such program. Created two years ago to give money to neighborhood associations looking to perform various projects in their subdivision or area, the city received less than a handful of applications.

City officials now are confident that they will not have to raise property taxes until at least 2005. The mayor still is skeptical.

"I think (commissioners will) adopt a tax increase in a year or two," Jackson said during a recent interview.

Harper, the Finance Advisory Board chair, maintains it was a difficult process.

"You either cut services or quit expanding city government," he said Friday. "These issues are a lot tougher than you can imagine."

The ins and outs of the city's budget

Items the City of Largo proposes adding or subtracting from its fiscal 2001-02 budget, which takes effect Oct. 1.

Additions:

Funding for on-campus intervention programsat Largo High School and Largo Middle School $40,000

Building maintenance worker for new Environmental Services administration building$25,000

Heavy-duty crane truck$50,000

Three Public Works Department mechanics$105,900

Reconfiguration of Community Development office furniture $20,000

Subtractions:

Reduction of funding of Good Neighbors program $20,000

Tri-annual physicals for police officers $34,500

Fire hydrant testing $25,000

Reduction of Police Department DUI overtime $25,000

Reduction of wellness program for city workers $49,000

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