SEBASTIAN — In order to fund the items the Sebastian Budget Review Advisory Committee recommended, over and above those listed in the proposed 2015 budget, the millage rate might need to increase to somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.9-plus, City Finance Director Ken Kilgore told the Committee at its June 30 meeting.
Kilgore made the initial presentation of the City’s 2015 Budget and Capital Program and listed several items for which no funds have been assigned:
- Restoring maintenance positions
- Restoring police positions or matching funds for the COPS grant if awarded
- Contingency funds for All Aboard Florida issues
- Contingency funds for Indian River Lagoon issues
- Street resurfacing.
After lengthy discussion with Kilgore, City Engineer Frank Watanabe and City Manager Joe Griffin, the Committee decided to make the following funding level recommendations:
- $100,000 for lagoon issues
- $100,000 for street resurfacing
- $50,000 for All Aboard Florida issues
- $15,000 for the City’s share of a potential COPS grant.
City Manager Griffin said there is a possibility grants can offset some lagoon related expenses, and told the Committee that the City’s new environmental director has already filed a few applications.
When asked what amount he would recommend to cover any All Aboard Florida expenses the City would have to shoulder, Griffin and Watanabe both said there are still many questions remaining as to when the project will get under way and what expenses will be incurred by the affected municipalities and government bodies. Of particular concern are quiet zones, for which a wide range of figures have been discussed, from $25,000 to $250,000 each.
Total general fund expenditures, not including Committee recommendations, are $10,591,371 for Fiscal Year 2014-15, which would reflect an increase of $407,861 over Fiscal Year 2013-14.
