With a new budget due October 1, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio presented her $787 million budget for fiscal year 2010-2011 this morning to the Tampa City Council, the last time she'll do so before being term-limited out of office next March.
For the fourth consecutive year, it's a budget of reduced revenues from the previous year. The mayor said it hadn't been easy, but the budget was balanced this year by "strategically" reducing city government, as this year there was a $32 million shortfall that needed to be addressed. That included eliminating 146 positions, though "only" 39 city workers actually lost their jobs(overall there has been a 13% reduction in city staff over the past four years).
As Iorio presented her budget, titled Sensible Solutions in Tough Economic Times, her voice turned urgent when discussing obligations the city faces in terms of pensions for city workers, and especially those who work in the police and fire departments. How states and municipalities deal with this vexing issue promises to be a story in the coming decade, as the mayor explained.
"This is a real issue for government in general,"she said."In 2009, the city spend $17.7 million in pension, in 2011, $40.6 million…that is just a real issue going forward…It's not just Tampa…I believe in pensions for our employees, but, having said that, we have to look at some type of reform system. Everyone is going to have to look at pensions going forward, for new employees there might be a new system going forward….I think it's wise for governments to take a look at the current system and how those systems might be changed so the cost of govt won't be so severe."
Perhaps the mayor has some ideas that she can lend to the public conversation, which hopefully will be a topic in the upcoming mayoral campaign for Iorio's successor.
Iorio also reflected on how revenue in the city was down 12.5%, and was down 12.5% the previous year, a full 25% reduction in property valuation in the past two years. And she said "it's unlikely in anytime in the distant future that property evaluations (will be) increasing in any substantial amount." She said rather pessimistically that decreased revenues are going to be part of the government picture for a "long, long time."
Always fiscally conservative, Iorio boasted that a 21% fund balance in reserve leaves almost $88 million available for the proverbial "rainy day" fund for the next mayor.
Iorio received praise from most members of the city council after her presentation. City council Chair Thomas Scott, who has dreams of succeeding Iorio in City Hall next year, was effusive, saying, "You're a real visionary when you say that the city's future is bright. This city is indebted to your leadership over the past 8 years." He said she was a "mayor of integrity" for installing pay step increases for police and firefighters this year as promised, after denying them a year ago.
The council will hold public hearings on the budget September 14 and September 28.
This article appears in Aug 12-18, 2010.