Yes to raises, no to tax hike in Winter Park

Winter Park’s employee pay is increasing, but property taxes won’t, if a proposed budget makes it through a final hurdle at the next City Commission meeting.

The budget passed a first reading 3-2, with Commissioners Carolyn Cooper and Tom McMacken dissenting, at the Sept. 12 meeting.

The 2012 budget includes a 2.5 percent pay raise for more than 500 employees, which ends a three-year pay freeze for the city.

And once again the Commission voted to hold operating millage steady, despite falling home values in the area.

The operating millage rate as it stands will tax property owners $4.09 for every $1,000 in taxable value. That’s below the rolled-back millage rate of $4.2065 per $1,000, which is where the city would have to set the rate to collect the same revenue as last year.

But with debt service millage added in, the effective rate decreases compared to last year. Last year’s effective millage was 4.4336. This year it will be 4.4166.

As such, the city will have to do more with less overall revenue on the balance sheets for 2012.

Cuts and raises

Those raises in pay were on the verge of being cut back to 2 percent if a proposed amendment passed, but it failed 3-2.

Commissioner Carolyn Cooper suggested that the Commission look into cutting money from the police and fire budget to help reduce a pension bubble near 2020, implying that the current Commission wasn’t doing enough to reduce it.

“Last year the City Commission recognized the importance of controlling pensions,” Cooper said. “Last year the Commission set aside $1 million in order to aggressively pursue smoothing of our anticipated pension bubble. I’m proud to say I was the person who encouraged that last year, and had the support of the then-sitting Commission to try to do something about the pensions. When you look at growth rates of 300 or so percent, it’s time to do something.”

Her motion did not receive any support from fellow commissioners, who cited that recent contracts with police and fire unions were just finished.

“Though the Commission I’m sure shares a lot of your concerns, I certainly don’t agree with your approach,” Mayor Ken Bradley said.

“I’m with you 100 percent in the need to address the pension,” McMacken said. “I think it’s up to us to do that. But I can’t go back to a contract where the ink isn’t even dry yet to do this.”

Much ado about trees

Taking up most of the discussion, a move that would have transferred $100,000 from the tree preservation budget to the forestry budget from the tree fund confused commissioners and eventually was shot down.

The money transfer would have been budget neutral, but aroused some contention about how it should be done, and how much money the tree preservation budget needed.

“My understanding was that there was a backlog of trees to be removed and we haven’t done that,” McMacken said. “Maybe I misunderstood the direction of that. We were going to address those trees that weren’t removed. We weren’t able to get to the trees with the current forestry budget.”

Bradley said the city should look into where money used to trim, plant and remove trees is going.

“I’m not comfortable that we’re getting our money’s worth with the money that we’re spending,” he said.

Cooper said she didn’t think that the budget was being wasted.

“I don’t think we have a $900,000 staff of tree trimmers who are sitting around drinking coffee all day,” she said.

The budget will require a final vote on Sept. 26 before it’s adopted.

Ravaudage rescheduled

The large-scale mixed-use development proposed for Winter Park’s northwest corner was delayed again after the Commission voted to table discussion of annexing 54 acres of the project’s land into the city. It is rescheduled for the Oct. 10 Commission meeting.

Problems had arisen when the county contended the city may have needed more time to publish notice of the annexation vote, and that it may not be a complete annexation.

“They suggested that the way the annexation was going to occur would create some enclaves in that area that we did not want,” Bradley said.