Town Manager speaks out about budget
Dear Editor:
There has been a lot of discourse recently about the Town budget. In particular, questions have been raised about the funding of capital improvements. It is not accurate to say that reserves were used to fund capital improvements and operations. The Town adjusted to the realities of the recession as described below:
- State funded grant projects are planned on a five year cycle, including five year revenue estimates.
- The Town counts on development impact fee revenue to support this plan.
- The Town recognized nine months before the meltdown of insurance giant AIG that these funds would be severely limited.
- Returning grant funds comes with severe penalties that would limit or restrict future grant receipts.
- In response a decision was made to cancel or postpone some projects that did not rely on grant funds.
- It was also decided to continue work on $42 million in projects using $34 million in grants.
- The $8 million difference between these amounts was covered in three ways: 1) using money that had been saved for the projects, 2) using money from a right of way sale to match six grant funded projects as recommended by a citizen budget committee, and 3) redirecting money that was saved due to a freeze on equipment replacements.
- Throughout this period, the operating budget was balanced and did not require any shifting of funds to support Town services. (It is true that reserves were used to cover the costs of the Hot Creek trial.)
The funding described above was recommended so that the Town could keep $34 million in grant money and construction jobs working in our community on important projects like the Lake Mary Bike Path, and because there was no better short term use for the money. As part of this, the Town also invested in a $2 million airport terminal note so that commercial air service could be restarted during the depths of the recession to support the struggling local economy. That note will be repaid by the FAA with interest over the next few years.
Reasonable people may disagree on what projects should be built and how they should be funded. Those who think some other plan would have been better should identify: which projects they would have canceled, which grants they would have returned, and for what better purpose the money should have been used.
Sincerely,
Rob Clark
Town Manager
