Buddy Dyer's
Budget Address
July 25, 2005

Thank you Commissioner Sheehan for that warm welcome.

Good morning Commissioners. I am here to present to you, the Orlando City Council a budget for fiscal year 2005-2006, which begins on October 1, 2005, and runs through September 30, 2006.

I want to thank and recognize all of the people in the audience and watching at home today for taking the time to be a part of this very important process. Your participation and concern is key to helping us, your elected officials, lead, and manage our City in the best interest of all our citizens.

I would also like to thank our City Commissioners who have spent numerous hours over the past several weeks participating in budget hearings and reviewing volumes of information to ensure the City is maximizing our resources. This administration and this City council have strived to provide citizens with an unprecedented level of access to our budgetary and fiscal information. These hearings were open to the public and broadcast live on Orange TV. In addition, this budget address will be posted on our Web site immediately, and the 2005-2006 adopted budget will be available online for the start of the fiscal year, in October.

Before I address the budget, there is one more group of people that I must recognize for their efforts. They are our frontline City employees… the people that interact with our citizens everyday. They are the face of our City, the men and women who I believe provide the highest level of public services in all of Florida.

They are our accountants and fiscal managers, who work tirelessly to ensure we are the best stewards of citizen tax dollars. They are our public works employees, who keep our streets clean, our water potable, and our City beautiful. They are our permitting employees, who ensure the ease of process when homeowners or developers apply for permits to repair or construct. They are our employees in the Families, Parks and Recreation Department, who maintain our City’s parks, offer after-school programming for our youth, and manage our 116 parks and recreation facilities. They are our police and fire employees, who ensure safe streets, safe homes and secure futures for our children.

Our City departments strategically allocate their resources to ensure every interaction with our citizens exemplifies the pride we have in our work. Every department leader, every employee, is continuously analyzing and seeking efficiencies in City services, and each has played a critical role in presenting you a balanced budget today.

This is the third time I’ve had the opportunity to stand before this Council to propose the City’s budget, and it marks the third year we’ve had to face budget constraints and gaps similar to those of our neighboring cities and cities throughout the nation. As we began this process, growing expenses, including increased healthcare and labor costs, had us facing a potential budget gap of $27 million based on the projected cost to continue services matched with anticipated revenue. Our Office of Management, Budget and Accounting staff has spent months working with City department heads during our budget preparation process to close that gap.

That process includes forecasting expenditures forward at restricted growth rates, forecasting revenues based upon the State of Florida estimates and conducting a 10-year historic analysis of property tax collections. Forecasting is just one of the tools implemented by this administration and Council in January 2004, to better manage our fiscal resources. We have also created a Finance Committee, which Commissioner Diamond is a member of, and which is providing financial oversight and advice. We have implemented a reserve policy setting requirements for the reserves the City should maintain to keep our great city in good financial stead both here and on Wall Street. Most importantly, we require and hold accountable all City managers to examine their budgets on a monthly basis, to stay within budget and to make the necessary adjustments to do just that.

Though we have these tools in place, we still face ongoing challenges that contribute to difficulty in balancing city budgets. For our City, as well as for our residents, we have the increased burden of the aftermath of a very active hurricane season last year, and consistently rising fuel costs. Fortunately, even after the devastating damage left by the storms, I am proud to say that through strong solid fiscal management we were able to maintain our day to day operations, cover the hurricane expenses not reimbursed by the state or FEMA and rebuild our City without further impacting our reserves.

Though there is much work to be done to overcome our challenges, there is also much for this City Council and our citizens to be proud of. Many cities face the threat of businesses leaving their downtown core because of the lack of services, yet we are experiencing an explosive renaissance of business activity and job growth in our downtown and throughout our City. Over the past year the greater Orlando area has lead the state in job growth. In our downtown, nearly $2 billion has been invested in projects proposed or underway. This includes an 5,400 multi-family units, nearly a half-million sq feet in retail space, and 1.3 million sq feet in office space.

While cities such as San Jose, Indianapolis and Jacksonville have been forced to make difficult decisions to decrease services or eliminate staff positions, the City of Orlando has sought better solutions … and thanks to the hard work of our staff and commitment of our revenue partners, we have found better solutions for the 2005-2006 budget year.

We have closed the projected gap of $27 million dollars, without raising taxes, without cutting services or reducing our workforce, and without dipping into reserves. I submit to you a balanced budget that is a reflection of our efforts to control expenses, while actively seeking to increase revenue.

Growth was a part of the solution … with increased growth comes increased property value and revenues. Projections for the 2005-2006 fiscal year show an increase in property tax revenue of approximately $10 million.

We also recognized a greater return from the City’s largest financial asset and partner, the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC). OUC has agreed to increase its dividend to the City this year from 60% to 85% of net income, which represents $13.6 million in additional revenues … a major step in closing the projected gap for the 2005-2006 fiscal year. I want to thank our partners, especially Ken Ksionek and the OUC board for their willingness to increase OUC’s return to the citizens of Orlando. I also want to thank them for their commitment to work with the City to identify a formula for a multi-year dividend agreement that will benefit our citizens for years to come.

While this is great news, it must be tempered with the understanding we still have a difficult road ahead of us in identifying additional reoccurring revenue. Projections show that spiraling benefit costs and economic conditions will still cause our ongoing expenditures to outpace current revenue.

As traditional revenue streams become stagnant, we will seek out innovative revenue sources for the new economy. These include cutting-edge telecommunications, WiFi and broadband initiatives intended to leverage CRA money to generate general revenue - funds that can be used for improvement projects and City services throughout all of our neighborhoods, not just within the CRA.

Furthermore, we are reviewing fees in the Economic Development Department, including permitting, planning and code enforcement. These fees must be assessed appropriately to ensure the City’s processing costs, are adequately covered. At the same time, this study will help us ensure we are offering the most effective and efficient services to both citizens and businesses.

Commissioners, this City is dedicated to maximizing resources to ensure the services that touch our citizen’s lives will remain at the level they have come to expect. This year’s budget requests are focused on providing the tools, the technology, and the training that give citizens a sense of pride and place in the unique and distinctive neighborhoods in which they live.

Even in this lean budget year, the public safety of our citizens remains at the forefront of this Council’s priorities. I am asking for your approval of these vital elements for our public safety professionals:

1) Approximately $800,000 for new recruit training that will help increase our effective strength, officers on the street, by 15 positions.

2) Approximately $500,000 for the maintenance of 48 additional police vehicles, and this will complete the implementation of the vehicle take-home program for police officers.

3) Funding for replacement body armor, service weapons, and for new computers in police cars.

4) $300,000 for the design of the Savannah Park Fire Station in the South East part of our City.

5) $350,000 for extrication equipment, fire hose replacements, fire fighting gear, thermal imaging cameras, and onboard computer replacements for our fire trucks.

6) In the area of Emergency Management, we’ve included a request of $100,000 to be used to match FEMA mitigation funds specifically to retrofit buildings used during hurricane emergencies.

To improve our neighborhoods, I’m recommending that each commissioner have increased flexibility to use their traffic-calming funds totaling $600,000 on projects that extend beyond roadways to include sidewalks, stormwater and green space. Commissioners know their neighborhoods’ immediate needs and should have the ability to immediately address those needs … it’s all about customer service. I’m also asking you to approve:

7) $2.6 million in the proposed budget for pedestrian safety projects, including a school safety sidewalk program, sidewalk repair throughout the City and funding for pavement rehabilitation.

8) $2 million for new traffic signals to improve the flow of traffic on our City’s busy roads.

As we focus on improving City services and quality of life amenities, I’m asking for the approval of:

9) Three additional positions in our economic development department to expedite plan review and to assist with code enforcement administration.

10) And, one that will bring a smile to all of your faces is a proposal for full funding of operations and maintenance is also included for the recently opened Airport Lakes Park and Rock Lake Neighborhood Center. Additionally, funding of operations is allocated for Rosemont Community Center opening in September, Ivey Lane Park in October and the College Park Community Center, which will open in December.

The tools, the training and the technology requested in this budget, reflect our priorities for the City of Orlando; and with no doubt, these proposed additions will build community pride, strengthen confidence in our public safety entities, and enhance the quality of life in all of our distinctive neighborhoods.

Fellow City Council members, Florida Statute Section 166.241 requires that I present you with a balanced budget, and I give that to you in the amount of $681,415,629.00 (Six hundred eighty one million, four hundred fifteen thousand, six hundred twenty nine dollars). Today, I am proud to do just that and at this time I will ask Deborah Girard, our Director of Management, Budget and Accounting, to take you through the specifics of the budget.

On September 12th and September 19th, 2005, the City Council will conduct public hearings on the budget starting at 5:01 p.m. on both days and those hearings will be held here in City Council Chambers.

Commissioners, once again, I’d like to thank you for your commitment to fiscal responsibility and your dedication to the citizens of Orlando. Thank you very much and I now call on Deborah Girard.
 

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