Tampa City Council unanimously approved its $1.9 billion 2024 budget late Tuesday night. The budget was passed without Mayor Jane Castor’s proposed tax increase, which council rejected last month.
Tampa’s Chief Financial Officer, Dennis Rogero, sent the revised “FY2024 Revised Budget Opportunities” sans Castor’s proposed millage increase at 4:10 p.m. last Tuesday afternoon, less than an hour before the second and final public budget hearing scheduled for 5 p.m. Rogero’s budget, per City Council’s priorities from last week’s budget workshop, cuts roughly $5.7 million to put towards housing and public safety priorities.
“Housing is a necessity,” Council Chairman Guido Maniscalco said at the meeting. “We have a housing crisis.”
Maniscalco’s motion to allocate $5 million from the general fund toward housing passed unanimously. An estimated $12 million is going toward housing with the revised budget.
“Tampa hadn’t given to housing from the general fund until last year [2022],” Nicole Travis, Tampa’s Development and Economic Opportunity Administrator, said at the meeting.
The $12 million housing budget includes $5.5 million, the same allocation as 2023, plus $5 million from the general fund and another $1.7 million for housing creation and preservation.
“We went from zero to $5 million in the first year…We are listening,” Councilman Bill Carlson said at the meeting. “If we had approved the tax increase two weeks ago, potentially thousands of people would have been out of their homes because that would have been passed directly on to renters.”
Contributions to city assets like the Florida Aquarium and Tampa Museum of Art were reduced by 10% across the board. New and existing social action fund contributions were reduced by $1 million. The city’s estimated 997 non-union employees will receive a 3% raise instead of the proposed 4.5%. Another $7 million from parking revenues goes towards paving instead of a parking guidance system.
In response to the revised budget, Mayor Jane Castor said in a statement Tuesday, “I had hoped our 2024 budget would do more to address longer-term deferred maintenance needs such as improving our roads, but the budget City Council members approved ensures that we will continue to maintain our excellent levels of service. Ultimately, we must take action on our city’s critical needs if Tampa is going to continue to thrive. Successfully growing our city remains my top priority.”
Tampa Police Department is getting roughly $1.9 million towards a possible matching grant to hire 30 new officers. However, the budget to buy new phones for officers was cut, and TPD Police Chief Lee Bercaw is exploring grant funding. Funding for the Police Athletic League or PAL will be retained.
Tampa Fire Rescue’s dire need for additional personnel, equipment, and facilities will be addressed, at least in part.
Funding for Station 24’s site plan is underway, but Tampa’s Infrastructure and Mobility Administrator Jean Duncan doesn’t expect the project to be “shovel ready” until 2025 or later.
Councilwoman Lynn Hurtak motioned to put funds towards the other immediate needs for Tampa Fire Rescue: fleet and supply. Additional funds will go towards rehabilitation for Stations 6, 9, and 10. The council will also get monthly project updates as part of Hurtak’s motion, which passed unanimously.
“The housing crisis is as serious and dire a need as public safety,” Nick Stocco, President of the Tampa Firefighters Local Chapter 754, said at the meeting. “First responders, firefighters, and paramedics, we tend to many homeless people. It goes hand-in-hand with housing.”
There’s funding for at least 18 firefighters/paramedics (30 if TFR gets a possible grant), plus money for a public safety impact fee study and $50,000 for a public master safety plan requested by Councilman Luis Viera.
“Everyone knows I’ll come down and be mean to you when needed,” Robin Lockett, community activist and Florida Rising regional director, said at Thursday’s City Council meeting following Tuesday’s budget approval. “But today, I want to come up and thank you for putting housing on the forefront.”
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This article appears in Sep 21-26, 2023.
