December 29, 2004
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Cheryl Henry 407-246-3582

City of Orlando Finishes Budget Year With
$8 Million Surplus

Orlando, Fla. -- Mayor Buddy Dyer announced Wednesday that the City of Orlando had an $8 million general fund budget surplus for the 2003-2004 fiscal year ending September 30, 2004. This is the second year in a row that the City of Orlando finished a budget year with a general fund surplus, having reported a surplus of $3.2 million for the 2002-2003 budget year.

Dyer issued this statement as the City closed its books this week on the previous fiscal year: "A combination of cost saving measures, operating efficiencies and prudent management by our city staff and Cabinet helped reduce projected expenditures by $6 million during the last budget year. We also had a slight increase in revenues with dollars coming to the City by way of additional sales tax revenues and State Revenue Sharing accounting for an additional $2 million that we did not budget," Dyer said. "We ended the year with an $8 million surplus against what was budgeted in 2003-2004."

"While we could not have anticipated the enormous impact of the recent hurricane season, we are fortunate to be able to cover our hurricane costs with one year’s surplus. I have directed staff to use $5 million of the surplus to cover all the non-reimbursable costs associated with the three hurricanes this past summer," Dyer said. "The balance of expenditures as a result of the hurricanes we believe will be reimbursed by FEMA or the State of Florida."

FEMA and the State of Florida will pay 95 percent of the costs associated with the damage, destruction and debris removal created by the hurricanes. That number has been estimated to be between $50-$60 million for the City of Orlando.

The Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) fund, which was established to finance capital projects, also received funding from the surplus. "When I took office 21 months ago we had a CIP gap of almost $21 million. In other words, prior to this administration the city had budgeted $21 million in projects without the cash being available in the CIP fund to pay for those projects," Dyer said. "We have closed the gap in the CIP fund to $8 million over the last 21 months. Today I have instructed staff to take the additional $3 million from the surplus and apply it to our CIP fund reducing that projected cash deficit from $21 million to $5 million," Dyer said.

"I applaud our city staff and managers for their continued diligence and effort in putting our financial house in order. We continue to face systemic challenges in future budget years, and like all businesses, we need to find a way to ensure that expenditures do not exceed revenues which are generated from our taxpayers," Dyer said. "That means holding the line on spending and bringing our labor costs in line with our revenues without a reduction in force or level of service."

"Our efforts to streamline city government and expenditures are beginning to pay dividends but we still face challenges over the next couple of years. I remain committed to holding the line on property taxes while providing the highest level of services that our city residents expect," Dyer said.

"It is however a great way to start the New Year knowing that all non-reimbursable costs associated with the hurricanes have been covered as a result of last year’s budget surplus," Dyer said.

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