Avon Park Anticipates $6M Budget Cut For 2009

Avon Park is expecting to see its revenue drop by more than 28 percent for next year, according to printed projections provided by city Finance Director Renee Green for its Saturday budget hearing.

The city expects to receive more than $6 million less than last year from all of its funding sources, which includes everything from gasoline taxes and community center fees to water bill collections and airport hangar rental fees.

"This budget is very tight," Mayor Sharon Schuler warned all of the city department heads Saturday morning, three hours into an all-day budget hearing. "Budget your money wisely."

By press time, the city was still going line-by-line for all the expenses from the its water, sewer and solid waste operations and had not discussed any other part of the budget, but Green reported a large drop in the water billings. This, she said, is because people aren't watering their lawns as much.

The city already spent the water and sewer impact fees it collected. Councilman Joe Wright noted that the city doesn't have enough money in its general fund this fiscal year to cover some administrative costs. Green acknowledged this after he asked about it.

"We're not putting any money into the general fund... the funds are just not there," she said.

The city has a $1.5 million reserve fund.

Green removed travel expenses from every department's budget while Schuler had suggested cutting several other expenses, including plans to purchase a new computer to replace one that was more than five years old until they can search city hall for a spare.

Councilman George Hall wanted to see further cuts.

"We're going to cut this and we're cutting that because we don't want to cut jobs. That's not realistic," he said. "I'm not going to pay someone just to stand around."

According to the printed preliminary proposals, which could have been adjusted late Saturday, the city proposed numerous cuts across the board. Among them, the city will:

• Lay off all of the Avon Park Police Department's dispatchers as part of its previously announced plan to hand dispatch duties to the county,

• Cut all $3,000 funding to its mosquito control program,

• Remove all travel expenses across the board, including travel compensation to the city council members,

• Slash $41,500 in repair and maintenance costs to the city's water plant,

• Eliminate all training school expenses, which amounted to $5,000, for the city's water work center employees, and

• Cut back $3,500 from the Avon Park Fire Department's vehicle maintenance budget and about $34,000 from the department's employees' life insurance coverage.