Apalachicola Scales Back Millage Request

Concerns for the nation's worsening financial situation prompted Apalachicola officials to make further cuts to their budget last week, and to trim back their original millage request to just below 6.0 mills.

After lengthy discussion at a Sept. 23 hearing, the commission voted unanimously to approve a 5.96-mill operating levy, just below the original request of 6.125 mills. The new millage is just above last year's rate of 5.78 mills, and will raise about $2 million for the general operating budget.

"People are going to be hurt from the federal level on down," said Mayor Van Johnson, who had pushed for the cuts by asking City Administrator Betty Webb to compile a list of discretionary areas of spending.

The two largest areas of savings agreed to were $14,000, which resulted from a decision to forego the purchase of a new city vehicle in favor of a used one, and $12,000, which resulted from deciding against going with a lobbying contract with former Baskerville-Donovan engineer Bill McCartney to lobby in Tallahassee on behalf of the city.

McCartney has left BDI and had offered the contract as a way of helping the city secure additional dollars form the state legislature.

"I have some concerns," said Johnson. "It's a duplication of services."

Commissioner Frank Cook pushed for the deal, saying that he believed it would help during the upcoming tight budget session.

"Frankly, we've had some fairly good luck getting money out of the state," he said. "It's going to get harder and harder. This is really more of an investment, than paying someone. We're starting to see a decrease in grants, and I think it would be worthwhile to do it for at least a year. I think it will be money well-spent."

But Johnson fought against the budget item. "If we could afford it, I would agree with you," he said. "I don't think any one person will be able to get money where there is none. Money is so tight it would be a gamble to put that money into lobbying. It's just simply not there. This (Tallahassee) is not the land flowing with milk and honey anymore."

Both men, as well as Commissioners Valentina Webb and Jimmy Elliott, agreed to have Webb look into an arrangement in which McCartney would be incentivized by receiving a larger percentage fee of money he secures, as opposed to a flat retainer fee.

Commissioner Mitchell Bartley was absent from the meeting..

The commission also managed to recoup $8,400, due to a miscalculation of group insurance premiums; $2,000 due to a cutback in overtime policy and $1,500 from ending a subsidy to the Dixie Theater.

Valentina Webb had opposed the subsidy, noting that she didn't see where the city was benefiting from the theatre funding.

Betty Webb suggested that the Dixie Theater receive compensation from the Parks and Recreation budget for specific programs geared to the city's youth.

Following the meeting, Dixie Theatre Director Dixie Partington said she understood the city's fiscal constraints and said she was pleased the city did not make cuts to other non-profits, such as the senior citizens program and the county human society. She said she will continue to work with the city to provide programs for city youth.

The city was also able to find about $50,000 more funds for its general operating budget, by shifting in money that had been under the water and sewer budget, which is funded through water and sewer bills. This$50,000 represents the indirect work by city administration officials on water and sewer matters.

The new budget calls for city employees to receive a 3 percent bonus, with a minimum of $1,000, at Christmas time. The commission switched over to this funding method rather than raise employee salaries, which would raise wage and benefit costs for all subsequent years.

"This way we can re-evaluate it next year," said Johnson. "I think we need to be just as cautious when we take in the taxpayers' money as we do with our own money."

City resident Jerry Weber had pressed had for budget cuts, including opposing fee increases. Commissioners stressed that none of the proposed fee increases, if passed, would show up in the 2008-09 budget.

"The fees discussed are not fees that are in the budget," said Cook. "Our budget is not predicated on any of those fees being raised."

In a Sept. 10 letter to the commission, Weber had argued against any budget increase, noting the nation's increased unemployment and "locally decreasing employment opportunities, declining retail sales, state revenue sharing and property values, increasing foreclosures and a flat real estate market, and drops in the tourist and seafood industries, with "no new area industry on the horizon."

"The fishing and charter industries, the retail sector, contractors, realtors, wait staff, truck drivers and all private sector employers and businesses are struggling with day to day fuel driven expenditures while making less because of a slowing business environment. This is not the time to add to the city's base expense and it is certainly inappropriate to add additional fees to businesses and to the working and fixed income citizens of this community," he wrote.

"It's time to say ‘No, we're not going to burden our local businesses and working families and fixed income retires with more expenses until it's absolutely necessary,'" Weber wrote. "Most of us do not have paid health insurance, paid holidays, paid vacations, reduced facility fees, paid retirement, and Social Security matching, these benefits seem to be a luxury reserved for government employees only.

"It's time to remind people that they're lucky to have a job in this time of economic down turns and that we are all doing with less," he wrote. "Hold the line on expenses. Please reconsider implementing permanent budget expenditures and additional fees on your friends and neighbors. The timing is wrong. The economy needs to turn around first."