City holds 2017-18 budget hearings

Historic City News readers will be following two days of meetings when the St Augustine City Commission holds their 2017-2018 budget hearings on Thursday and Friday, August 24, 2017 and August 25, 2017, starting at 9:00 a.m. each day in the Alcazar Room at City Hall, located at 75 King Street.

The meetings are open to the public and will be available for live and on-demand viewing at CityStAugTV.com.

As part of these annual discussions on the city’s budget, the Commission will receive reports from staff on projected revenue and proposed expenditures in each of the city’s seven separate funds:

• General Fund
• Utility Fund
• Stormwater Fund
• Solid Waste Fund
• Marina Fund
• Visitor Information Center Fund
• Historic Preservation Fund

The Commission will review information related to the city’s two Community Redevelopment Agencies:

• Historic Area CRA
• Lincolnville CRA

The budget process is on-going throughout the year, but begins in earnest in late spring as each department submits its expected revenues and proposed expenditures to the Budget and Performance Management Office. Departments report on their progress on the multi- faceted strategic goals for the city.

Following individual meetings with each department’s leadership, the special meetings with the Commission begin and include presentations of the updated 5-Year Capital Improvement Plan and the report from the St. Johns County Property Appraisers Office stating expected revenue based on taxable property within the city limits.

The Commission then proposes a millage rate which is the percentage of property tax values assessed against each property owner. For the coming fiscal year, the Commission has proposed keeping that rate at 7.5 mils or $7.50 per $1,000 of property value. The Commission also establishes the level of the fire assessment fee, an amount charged to building owners based on each building’s square footage. For the upcoming budget year that rate is $.0.04932 per square foot for residential buildings and $.90 per square foot for non-residential buildings.

The Commission will review the entire budget in a somewhat informal, roundtable discussion format.

The initial public hearing on the budget and tentative millage rate adoption will be during a special meeting at 5:05 p.m. on Monday, September 11th with the final public hearing and final millage rate adoption at a special meeting at 5:05 p.m. on Thursday, September 21, 2017.