2007-2008 Lighthouse Point budget

Like many residents, the start of the budget season is also the start of summer vacations so it’s tough to stay on top of this most critical issue.
Our city budget is a smaller portion of property taxes than the school board but we must be vigilent in in our own backyard.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROPOSED BUDGET
Revenues from property tax values are up about 5%.
Proposed 2007-08 budget $12666649
operating millage 3.321
Debt service 2.047
2006-07 budget $12481115
operating millage 3.544
Debt service 3.7823

In no particular order, after reading the budget synopsis- no details were available that I found online- reviewing last years budget, and recent meeting minutes, here are my comments:

FIRE DEPARTMENT – The fire department has been requesting a new truck for a few years and there is a note that apparently is approving the use of a special assessment for the purchase of the new truck at $600,000 +.
The fire department budget is up about $300,000, not including the assessment. I don’t see the truck in the budget- just because it is special assessment, does that mean it’s not included? If not, then maybe we should start including a secondary document for residents to easily look at what the SA’s are for year to year for both content and dollars.

I think we’ve always had a special assessment for fire, but I don’t have my old tax form to see what change there is this year ($79 for average homeowner) over last.

Last years budget increase was largely salaries with line workers getting little and executive management getting 10% or so.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: As I recall, other than budget the reason for delaying purchase was examining the need for trucks. No one measured what types of calls the guys went out for or what equipment was needed. The system was to send the big truck on every call…because you just never know. There were over 1000 calls?
Has anyone yet determined what the mix of calls are and how many times the big pumper was the only truck suited for the call? And why that truck vs any other? The Reason I ask is because it was becoming clearer that EMS was a huge number and 2nd story or jaws of life was minimal- maybe 10 calls a year. I think maybe the big one was the only one that had certain medical equipment on it. So, if things have not changed, do we need a big pumper or do we need a better equipped EMS vehicle?

I don’t want to deny our city something it needs, I want to be sure we understand what is needed and act accordingly.

MISC REVENUE= $476,000 vs $73,000 last year- what’s that all about?

LIBRARY- There is $79,000 for capital outlay. Last year there was $80,000 approved for special purchase of books/subscriptions, which was most of the capital outlay budget. I don’t think the new library opened yet, so I would expect to see an $80,000 carryover from last year. We’re swinging about $160,000 the wrong way on this one.

Or did we run over the construction budget and are putting in for this year?

TENNIS CENTER; Not sure where this was last year- General or recreation? This year it has it’s own budget for revenues and expenses which is how it should be for transparency.

RECREATION: there is always about $100,000 for OTHER USES- what’s that for?

GARBAGE FUND: Like the tennis center, this is a new breakout and I don’t know where it was before.

WHAT ELSE:
There was an approved motion for amending the General Fund and Tennis Fund budgets for 2006-07. No details on the money. The indication from this and other notes is that money was shuffled around. Maybe OK, maybe not. I’d like to see the details on anticipated budget vs actual.

OTHER NOTES: Last year $40,000 was added at the last minute for repaving of Marina Dr area. Pompano was paid to put in new pipes, and repair the road when done. However the road repairs were poor. I’m sure you’ve see the 36″ wide areas- no fun for biking! I brought this up at the meeting and was told that Pompano was going to repair for $80K of which we’d pay half. Hmm. I guess next time we need to be more vigilent when a job is done to not pay until satisfied so we don’t get stuck. BOTTOM LINE: Road repair not done- is there a $40,000 budget decrease for this item in the new budget?

SUMMARY: We’re looking at another budget increase. There is no indication of any real cost cutting once again. Either the commission needs to force departments to get serious, or they’ll have it done for them by the legislature. The vote on that is next year though. I would hope we’d be a bit more proactive about getting it right internally instead of having cuts forced on us.

We’ve got to start thinking more like companies about things like pensions and health care. We need to shop insurance and commodities via open bid process, not always using blank PO’s piggy backing on state contracts that may have been flawed or are old. Salaries need to be set to standards with a minimum/maximum per position. Vacation & sick time standards need to be revised – no banking them for 20 years and taking out the dollars at the highest rate of pay vs pay at the time earned. Grandfathering people in may be required, but new hires should conform to new standards. These are tough topics that no one is willing to address, but everyone knows is a problem.

Some areas we do well on and others need improvement. Unfortunately, those in charge all think there is nothing more that can be done- no one wants to touch political hot buttons.

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