Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article on the budget:
County staff gets raises, residents gets parks in proposed Hillsborough budget
Wednesday, June 17, 2015 2:51pm
TAMPA — Hillsborough County employees will get raises and residents will get new parks while the tax rate remains unchanged.
Those are some of the developments that can be expected under a two-year budget unveiled Wednesday by county Administrator Mike Merrill.
The $4.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2016 is full of indicators that Hillsborough County, like the rest of the country, is emerging from the recession.
For the third consecutive year since the economic downturn in 2007, sales and property taxes grew. Merrill, in his presentation to commissioners, credited that to declining unemployment and rebounding home sales.
The proposed millage rate for the next two years is unchanged from the ongoing fiscal year. However, the county will still raise $38 million more in revenue from taxpayers as a result of a growing tax base from new homes and rising property values.
In all, there’s nearly $100 million in new revenue for the county, a quarter of which Merrill set aside for commissioner projects. Those include $6 million for an Alafia River Park, $3 million for a South County Community Center and $1 million for a cultural assets program.
Although county revenues are expected to increase 5 percent during the next year, they remain $157 million less than prerecession levels in 2007.
The 2016 budget is $640 million more than the $4.10 billion 2015 budget, but the large jump is not due to a massive influx of cash. Of that increase, all but $145 million is a reflection of the county’s transition to a new budgeting practice, which rolls over unused capital projects and grant money to the next budget.
In addition to the new parks and programs, Merrill also called for a 4 percent average pay raise for county employees who meet certain performance measures.
The proposed budget sets aside $2 million for a University of South Florida Area Innovation District Master Plan. Merrill has previously indicated he hopes to lure a large, established company to build its headquarters near USF to anchor such a district. One potential site is the Museum of Science and Industry, which is studying a move to Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik’s downtown redevelopment project.
As budget negotiations progress, the county will also have to deal with a 15 percent increase in the cost of county employee health care, Merrill said.
Wednesday’s presentation was the first step in what will be months of workshops and public hearings before the budget is finalized in September.
Looming over the budget discussions is the ongoing effort to persuade county voters to approve a half-cent sales tax to fund Go Hillsborough’s proposed transportation improvements.
Commissioner Les Miller called Merrill’s fiscal blueprint a “bare-bones budget” that demonstrates there’s no money available to fund much-needed transportation projects. Most of the budget goes toward public safety, water and sewer, trash pickup, capital projects and other expenditures that can’t be shifted to pay for day-to-day operations or new programs.
“We are living within our means and the means does not give us the opportunity to do all the things that we’ve heard (through) Go Hillsborough (public outreach),” Miller said. “We need to get that message out.”
Commissioner Sandy Murman, though, suggested that there’s still room to “reprioritize what’s really important” in the budget.
“If we have any extra dollars coming in this county, what are the greatest needs they should go to, and make sure that they bring us a good return on investment,” she said. “But we do a lot.”
