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Highlands Today

Possible Budget Crunch Hits Avon Park

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By BILL RETTEW JR.

Highlands Today

Published: December 9, 2008

AVON PARK - The city will hold a special budget meeting in January to address an anticipated $157,000 shortfall in revenues.

Avon Park's portion of what it receives in sales tax and fuel tax revenues and a decrease in property tax monies, partly from effects of Amendment One, were all less than what was budgeted for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. The fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 31.

The City Council was warned by staff when it prepared the 2008-2009 budget that Amendment One and the economy would likely impact the state's contribution to the city.

Sarah Adelt, city manager, expects results from a city audit by the end of December and information concerning utility rates by the end of December or early January.

"When we did the budget, we discussed decreases at that time, but didn't know where it would level out," said Adelt. "We knew we could not wait until next year."
Adelt said that since the budget was passed - and tax rates already set - the city will need to run on less cash. The city's general fund portion of the adopted budget for 2008-2009 was $7,038,934.

"We're lean right now," said Adelt. "Any cuts would be a disadvantage to the community. There isn't any way we're going to make a good cut."

Mayor Sharon Schuler wants to wait until January to make any firm decisions and Councilmen George Hall and Joe Wright both said any talk of cuts was preliminary.

Hall said Monday that while cuts were expected, the exact amount was not known until now.

"I don't think we made drastic changes," said Hall about recent budget discussions. "We just tightened everything up. Maybe I'm a little bit pessimistic, but it's going to get worse before it gets better.

"And that's a lot of money for anybody."

Hall called for possible cuts to the city's recreation budget.

Tentative cuts to consolidate department staff and possible retirement by long standing employees might make up the difference, said Hall.

Wright was in favor of cutting the "low hanging fruit" prior to making other cuts.

Three examples cited by Wright were re-working the budgeted expenses in light of cheaper gasoline prices, possibly not rehiring for two police officer vacancies and asking baseball leagues to shoulder a larger financial burden.

Wright said he wouldn't be surprised if the city needed to meet and re-work the budget quarterly.

And he talked about a worse-case scenario if state funding continues to drop.

"We try not to terminate, if at all possible," said Wright. "But still, if deficits are lower, we might have to look at the people issues."

Highlands Today reporter Bill Rettew Jr. may be contacted at 386-5857 or wrettew@highlandstoday.com

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