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Last week, the City Commission adopted its annual budget. I’m pleased to report that we have maintained our fiscally conservative approach to city finances while at the same time addressing critical priorities including public safety.
For the 17th year in a row, the commission has maintained the property tax rate. The millage rate stands at 4.1193.
This ensures the burden on our residents remain low compared to other cities even as we maintain stellar services. While our tax rate has not gone up, the average city millage rate in Broward County has increased more than 30 percent since 2007. Some cities in Broward now charge residents twice as much as Fort Lauderdale.
Our low tax rate has been part of a large financial strategy. Through better fiscal management, the city earned a coveted AAA rating from national credit rating agencies three years ago and has maintained it ever since. This means that we are paying lower interest rates on money borrowed for major projects from the new water treatment plant to upgrades to our flood control system. And lower interest rates keep the cost to the taxpayer lower than otherwise would be the case.
We recognize that public safety is a concern both locally and nationally. So, in the budget, the commission increased the size of the police force for the second year in a row. We have added a total of 35 officers — 14 officers in this new fiscal year and 21 last year. Once hired, this will allow us to put more police on patrol to prevent crime, respond to calls for help and ensure our streets are safe.
At the same time, the budget includes several other important police measures.
We are expanding the coverage area of the innovative ShotSpotter Program that detects the location of gunfire and directs response by officers. We are building a full-service police substation in the YMCA on Sistrunk Boulevard. And, we are advancing our partnership with other law enforcement agencies to increase crime clearance rates by sharing violent crimes intelligence information through the processing of bullet shell casings into a national database.
As with the Police Department, we enhanced the staff of the Fire Rescue Department. We have increased the department’s personnel 26 positions over the last two years — 10 in the new fiscal year and 16 last year.
With this year’s staffing increase, we will be able to increase the number of rescue units with three firefighters. This is important because it decreases the amount of time units are offline and allows engines to operate separately from the rescue unit. That means, a fire engine can respond to a fire call while the rescue unit is at an EMS situation.
The commission also is stepping up its efforts to address homelessness.
The new budget increases the number of police officers assigned full time to homeless outreach so we can expand night and weekend coverage. We also increased money for our reunification program that reunites homeless individuals with family who can help them.
In another step to address homelessness, we doubled the money appropriated for our housing navigation program, a unique collaboration with the TaskForce For Ending Homelessness to reduce the number of displaced individuals locally. In its first three months, it achieved a 60 percent success rate at individuals accepting housing placement.
Infrastructure is another priority in this year’s budget.
We plan to issue another $210 million in bonds to expand our flood control and stormwater systems in eight high-priority neighborhoods that have experienced extreme flooding. Another $1.3 million is earmarked to repair or replace city seawalls.
We will also undertake a citywide assessment of the quality of our waterways to determine where to focus future clean-up efforts. And, we have allocated $45 million to install high-tech water meters that will ensure everyone’s water bill reflects actual use as accurately as possible.
We are determined to improve the quality of life in our city and ensure Fort Lauderdale continues to be one of the best places there is to live and work.
Yours,
Dean
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