by James Coulter
Resurfaced city streets, a new airport hangar, a revitalized cemetery, and several renovation projects related to Lake Wales Connected. Those are some of the upcoming projects planned for next year’s city budget.
At their regular meeting and budget workshop on Wed. Sep 4, Lake Wales City Commissioners approved the first reading of next year’s city budget, millage rate, and the five-year capital improvement plan.
The total funds are estimated at $107,822,344. This year’s general fund revenues are projected to have an increase of $2,912,842. This is mostly due to an increase in ad valorem taxes ($209,537), sales and use taxes ($581,000), and other miscellaneous taxes and revenue funds.
Meanwhile, general fund operating expenditures are projected to be $22,807,877, which is $2,152,788 more than last year’s budget. This increase is due to miscellaneous city service expenditures, including an increase in public safety ($1,270,893) mainly due to personnel costs for police ($745,899), fire ($192,550), and code enforcement ($31,085).
Next year’s city projects will focus on implementing the city’s award-winning Lake Wales Connected plan, with projects including affordable housing construction, housing rehabilitation, development incentives, and capital construction.
One major project includes the Park Avenue & Market Plaza Streetscape Construction, which is being touted as “the first transformative streetscape to take place in the historic core.” This project will convert Park Avenue into a two-way curbless street with enlarged sidewalks, enhanced lighting, and added streetscapes.
Other Lake Wales Connected projects included streetscape renovations at 1st Street and A Street, Lincoln Avenue, and Orange Avenue & Crystal Avenue, as well as the Crystal Lake Park Connector Trail Construction project to create a full recreational trail loop around Crystal Lake.
Aside from redevelopment projects tied in with Lake Wales Connected, other notable projects include $750,000 to resurface several streets, $896,593 to renovate the T Hangar and Taxi Lane B at the city airport, and $200,000 toward rehabilitating the Lake Wales Cemetery.
City commissioners also approved the millage rate of 7.0462 mills, which is the rolled-back rate. They also approved the city’s 5-Year Capital Improvement Plan, which totals $121,182,334 and includes:
• $775,000 in land acquisition
• $12,300,050 in building improvements/acquisitions
• $70,138,784 in infrastructure and recreation improvements
• $24,768,500 in equipment acquisition
• and $13,200,000 in other capital outlay.
During public comments, resident Catherine Price inquired about potentially providing a PowerPoint summary presentation of the proposed city budget during meetings so that both commissioners and the audience have a good overview during budget meetings.
“Our budget is one of our most important documents that you, as our city commissioners, vote on and it exerts a great deal of influence over our quality of life,” Price said. “It is frustrating to have such a complex, complicated document brought before us and passed without even a nod to our need of understanding.”
Commissioner Carol Gillespie expressed a similar sentiment during the commission’s discussion of the agenda items. She proposed making budget presentations more “detailed” so that commissioners like herself and the general public can better analyze the proposed budget.
“I am not an accountant and I do not know how to analyze city budgets like this,” she said. “Maybe the public will like a time when we go through the documents. We go page by page and talk about them and bring awareness of the info in there.”
City Commissioner Keith Thompson took umbrage at the implication that commissioners like himself do not comprehend what is in the budget, and thus, “do not have a clue of what we are voting on.”
“In my case, it could not be further from the truth,” he said. “We put the time in. I put the time in. I trust the people who are up here to put the time in to understand this to the best of their ability and their knowledge…We are not [just] rubber-stamping stuff every meeting. That is not what is happening.”
“I just hope we can get over this hump with this lack of trust with the commissioners,” he continued. “It feels that way a lot of the time. I am satisfied with the budget, and it is a good conservative budget. We have not been able to raise taxes in any significant way. I appreciate the hard work.”
Commissioner Robin Gibson mentioned that “one thing that should give everyone comfort: every bit of this is subject to an annual audit by an independent auditor.” As such, the general public should rest assured that someone experienced would take note of any potential discrepancies in the budget.
“As far as the city commission is concerned, the best friend a city commissioner has is the auditor,” he said. “Because the auditor has a skilled audit that points out any shortcoming of the budget. All of that is a lot of comfort to me.”
During the vote on the millage rate, Commissioner Daniel Williams briefly stepped out for a drink of water. The commissioners moved forward with the roll call vote on the item despite his absence. As such, the commission voted 4-0 to approve the millage rate, and later 5-0 to approve the city budget when Commissioner Williams returned.
