FELLSMERE — Employees of the City of Fellsmere stand a good chance of receiving raises this year, given the estimated increase in property values the city is expecting to see.
Each employee, including police officers, is line for a 2 percent salary increase and an extra 1 percent of salary going to their retirement accounts – a total of a little more than $34,000 in a $2.6 million general fund budget.
City Manager Jason Nunemaker justifies the raises as being a way to narrow the gap in the increase to the cost of living.
“We’re looking at trying to keep up some with the cost of living,” he said.
Last year, employees got a 2 percent raise, which was meant to offset the changes to payroll taxes.
All employees, from the top administration down will get the same salary increase.
“We do treat everyone the same,” Nunemaker said.
The discussion of raises and increases to employees’ deferred compensation (retirement) plans generated little discussion among Fellsmere City Council members when Nunemaker proffered the suggestion.
According to Nunemaker, the city’s preliminary estimate of its ad valorem (property tax) base is a 2 percent increase to over last year’s preliminary estimate.
Nunemaker said he tried to use the “same yard stick” for the preliminary budget – comparing this year’s estimate to last year’s estimate instead of last year’s actual numbers.
In the event that ad valorem revenues do not go up as hoped, Finance Director Larry Napier said the city would consider adjusting its tax rate slightly. He said the rate would be less than that which would generate the same revenues as last year.
What the new rate would be has not yet been determined and would need to be approved by the Fellsmere City Council.
While the city’s property tax revenues could be a little more or less than last year’s, other funding sources for the city appear to be on the rise.
Nunemaker said the city is expecting more funds to come in from utility taxes, the half-cent sales tax revenue from the state, as well as rents and royalties from the cell towers in town.
Other sources of revenue come from the city’s water department, the discretionary sales tax, the local option gas tax, and the various grants the city applies for and sometimes gets.
Grant hunting is a “necessity,” Nunemaker said, explaining that without grants the city would not be able to tackle the projects it does.
“We try to capture the moment,” he said – as the state makes various issues a priority, the city looks for ways to capitalize.
Water quality has been a recent issue, which sparked the City of Fellsmere to apply for – and receive – grant funding to help craft a stormwater master plan, which will be used to help identify and address drainage and other water quality issues in the city.
The city has secured grant funding for its Fellsmere Trailhead Preserve on the northwest quadrant of Interstate 95 and County Road 512 by leveraging some funds and other resources to do more.
“It delivers a service we wouldn’t be able to provide on our own,” Nunemaker said of the grants.
One are of the city’s budget that isn’t seeing many signs of growth is the Community Redevelopment Area – essentially, the whole of the populated part of city.
It’s “relatively dormant,” Nunemaker said. “We hoping to see some revenues.”
When asked what amount the city is estimating for this upcoming fiscal year, Nunemaker said, “Our guess right now is nothing.”
The Dollar General was recently built and opened, but how much tax revenue would come from the retailer remains to be seen. Nunemaker said the city could get a better picture come July.
The Fellsmere City Council has several tasks it wishes to tackle within the redevelopment area, including its long-standing Façade, Signage and Landscaping program. The council also wants to provide assistance to businesses seeking to connect to sewer and other utilities, as well as help residents in historic homes preserve the buildings.
“We’re setting up the groundwork,” Nunemaker said of the various projects the council wants to get done. The CRA “will come on line” with more developments. “It’s inevitable.”
Council members threw in a couple more projects they’d like to have the city move forward on.
Councilwoman Sara Savage asked that the budget take into account the city’s need for more sidewalks and to repair roads.
“I don’t want them to get the way New York (Avenue) used to be,” Savage said during the council’s budget workshop. “I think we need to keep that in mind.”
She also raised the issue of putting pedestrian lighting along Broadway, a long-time championed project of Mayor Susan Adams.
The City of Fellsmere is working with Florida City Gas to bring natural gas into the city. Nunemaker said the company is aware of the request.
The council will hold another public budget workshop in late July, currently scheduled for July 25, and hold two public hearings sometime in September.
“We just need to keep the momentum going,” he said.