HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008 03 24 Other Document Referenced by Commissioner Miller During Public Hearings 503.1 Date: March 24, 2008
The following document was referenced by
Commissioner Miller at the March 24, 2008
City Commission Regular Meeting, during the
discussion of Public Hearings Agenda Item
"503.1 ".
August 7, 2007
From: Commissioner Robert S. Miller
Subject: FY 2008 City of Winter Springs State Mandated Bndget Cuts.
To: Mayor John Bush and Fellow Commissioners.
Thrs Commissian and City leadership have wrestled for several months with the requirement to
reduce the City's budget by 1,300,004 dol(ars in the forthcoming fiscal year. Of some 293 cities
in Florida, 242 of them, or 82.b percent have also been instructed to roll back their FY 20t18 talc
levies by 5 to 4 percent. Winter Springs is among the 138 cities being told to roll back next years
city property ta�ces by 9°l0. What we are being ordered to do in cny apinian is grievously wrong.
Governor Crist ran for office in 20(}6 promising he would eliminate the hnge property t�
inequity between long time residents with capped tax rates at 3% a year and new home buyers
whose taaces are computed on cwTent fair msrket value_ The outcame of that promise has
unfortunately become s farce. People continue to flock to this State in recard numbers while
residents already here now have an unfartunate choice; reduce their p�perty taxes by amounts
that are in fact insignificant for the great majority of us, but in the process, confront the reduction
of a host of services that have enabled our carnmunities to become so attractive ta those who
flock here.
A second and less serious issue in the short term, but one with major long term consequences, is a
little understood issue of `Home Rule.' Basica!!y Home Rule atlows City voters control their own
cammunities as opposed to others contro(ling it for them. Unti! now Home Rule problems from
Tallahassee have largety come in the farm of unfunded mandates, such as Tallahass� (egislation
! ushed bv werful fire and t�ce union lobb �sts, who b the wa , also make lar e catn i
, P PQ {p � Y� Y Y S P& 8n
contributions to these legistators re-election campaigns. About fiive years ago Tallahassee
ordered cities to meet mandatory new retirement and medicat benefits for Florida's unionized
: Fire and Police organizations at ciry level. 'Ifie new tsenefits package is best described as
incredible... as was its impact on Winter Springs taxpayers.
Tallahassee does not pay for our fire or �tice farces, but to remain competitive your city had to
meet these very costly new benefits. Winter Springs fire and po(ice personnel used to retire after
: twenty years at a guaranteed 40% of their annual saiary for the rest of their lives, or 60% if they
remained for 30 years. Pushed by national and local fire and police union leaders, our tegislatars
in Tallahassee caved in and agreed it was oot gaocl enough. Today that ta�tpayer pravided benefit
to your fire and policemen is 64% at 20 years, and 94% at 3Q years. This and their medica! plan
are among the most lucrative in America's history. The average man in the United States would
walk a mile, not for a camel, but to be able to retire after 3d years, at about age SS, and with a
guaranteed 90% of his last years salary — annoally for the rest of his life! But �one of our
legislators in Taltahassee remember or want to be reminded that it was their legislation that
required our taxpayers to fork over 1.5 miltion dollars to guarantee this fantastic new local �
retirement benefit. You can thank them, their names are Mealor, Simmons, Adams, and
Constantine. Today, after five years of judiciaus streamlined local government here in Winter '
Springs, so City government could not only fund this new guaranteed retirement benefit but also
rebuild our reserves for future growth, these same representatives now demand we reduce the
level of city services so they can tell you they have given you a`tax-break' an your property?
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In the last d�ade Winter Springs government and its Commission has pushed this City from a
smail bedroam community to the top one percent of thousands of the best cities in which to live
in the United States. During my deliberatinns over how to achieve the State mandated reduction
of 51,300,d� in ciry services, and without making us a place where our resident no Ionger want
w live, I have b�n forced to examine an unacceptabie variety of alternatives. Initially I
considered asking city staff to forgo pay or merit increases in 2008. t considered a Citywide staff
pay reduciion of five percent. And last, the imposition of new countervailing fees to offset yow
use of city facilities such as out parics and playgrounds.
City staff is already the most sireamlined and cost effective of any of the six other cities in
Seminole County. Our parks department, fire and police departments, public works, and other
major city departments manning per l,t}00 residents is already the lowest in Semina(e county.
Our crime rate per t,000 residents is also the lowest in Seminole County. And finally, only Lake
Mary has a lower � valoram property ta�c rate than us, while the other cities are atl significantly
higher than Winter Springs, Any reductions therefore in our staffing levels or remuneration wauld
quickly translate into serious attritian and turmoil that will make Winter Sptings a much less
desirable place to live.
Our citizens also must keep in mind that while property values and associated ta�c revenues have
increased, so has the cost of operating government. For instance the cost af concrete is up 88%, !
fuel is up 71%, road maintenance is up 44%, health insurance is up l00°l0, personnel costs are up i
40%, and road construction is up l2d%. [n additian to these the Commission has already decided,
because of current circumstances, to further delay ten critically important projects vital to the
future well-being of our communities. These delayed requirements are valued at a cumulative
4.54 mitlion dollars, and shouId have been pushed forward, even at the cast of a signifrcant ta�c
increase if necessary. Detaying them is very unfortunate and may have a significant impact an
this city's quality of life in the next few years.
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Some new comers to the city toudly criticize it for not having developed a iarger business base
with which to offset the present residential praperty ta�c component of City revenue.
Unfortunately they also forget that the city's residents unanimously decided a few yeazs back to
build a Town Center ihat would generate this business revenue, and more important, establish
Winter Springs with a sense of place — unique among America's cities, That dream is now being
realized. The Town Center decision was also driven by all of our resident's canscious decision to
avoid the evolution of a 17/92 type corridor along SR 434 through Winter Springs, and to protect
New Towm Center business by avoiding large cammercial B�X-type developments along SR 434
ta the east and west of the Town Center. Now that we, in the last decade, have reached the top
one percent of America's most livable City's, we have arrived at an enviabte time when we can
demand the highest quality new business seeking ta locate here. To summarize, our new residents
and new generation of elected leaders in our communities desperately need to remember what it
was that first �ttracted them here and how we gflt were we are today. T'his is a fabulaus city with
an enviable future, a legacy ali of us must naw jealously guard and pratect.
As I view our present budgetary challenge, I see anly two alternaiives. lgnore Tallahassee's
mandate and over-ride it, or make it ctear to those who e(ected us that we have heard their
concerns abaut property taxes and try to give them whatever relief possible. I have decided thaL it
is the second of these alternatives that [ shall pursue.
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I will support the following three recommendations which cumulatively will enable the City to !
reach the State mandated cumulative rollback of $1,300,000. It is my hope that my fellow i
commissioaers witl concur with these.
i
(1). Inform Seminole County that the City of winter springs i
intends to temporarily withdraw from t�e 17I92 CRA, effective 1 ,
October 2007, for a period of one yeaz. ,
Funds freed np: S175,000
(2). For one year. effective 1 October 2007 ( Fiscal Year 2008),
termina#e the ci�y's po(icy of buying back unused annual sick
leave.
Funds freed up: 5128,000
(3}. Draw down from General Fund Reserves of $3,204,0(}0
dollars as a set-aside to offset the remaining ta�c rollback required
to meet the $1,300,Ot30 reduction.(**)
Funds freed up: S905,000
Sincerely
�
Robert S. Miller
Commissioner, District One.
City of Winter springs
('*} City's 30 September 2007 total fund balar�ce is projected at $8.6 miliion. $200,000 has
' already been allocated to the new economic incubator. The normal 25% recommended Fund
Reserve total is $5.2 mitlion, leaving a surplus balance of 53.2 million from which to offset the
$905,000 of FY 2008 talc rol(back.
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