BRADENTON BEACH – City commissioners and department heads met to hold the first of several discussions for the 2023-24 fiscal year budget.
At the June 20 meeting, the proposed budget of $4,332,075 was rolled out with an increase of $356,703 over the previous year. Some of the largest increases came from a rise in insurance premiums and salary increases for cost of living adjustments.
Two public hearings on the budget will be held in September prior to the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
Attending the budget discussion meeting were Mayor John Chappie, Commissioners Ralph Cole, Jake Spooner and Jan Vosburgh, Police Chief John Cosby, Building Official Steve Gilbert, City Clerk Terri Sanclemente, City Treasurer Shayne Thompson and Public Works Director Tom Woodard.
The budget categories for discussion were Administration, Commission, Police, Emergency, Building, Code Enforcement, Streets and Roads, Storm Water, Facilities, Pier, Capital Projects and Library.
“We take each one of these and we have a motion to approve as presented,” Chappie said.
“Our biggest increase, of course, is salary,” Cosby said, “with our new guy hired in place. There is an increase with travel and education. The reason for that is in order to keep up with the culture in law enforcement, training is number one. The state is also requiring us to get that done. It’s not always held in our region so we have to travel to get that done.”
The other increase in the police budget is insurance, Cosby said. The department had the same policy as last year, but it increased in price by 10.1%.
“The city’s liability insurance went up 85%,” Cosby said.
“We took out some street signs and that helped stabilize this increase,” he said. “Just the damage that was done to the north fence from (Hurricane) Ian, that fence replacement was almost $27,000. All those things are going way up in price. We did take some things out that weren’t worth insuring.”
The proposed budget for police is $1,772,869, an increase of $143,608 from the previous year.
Cosby added overtime to the code enforcement budget, citing the requirement for the code enforcement officer to work on weekends to monitor illegal construction, parking enforcement and to help with Turtle Watch.
The proposed code enforcement budget is $103,555, an increase of $16,084 from the prior year.
Gilbert said there was one increase in building inspection services, which the commission approved on June 18.
“There is an 8% cost of living increase,” Gilbert said. “There were increases in insurance.”
Gilbert, who is on salary, will not receive a salary increase.
“There has been no real change to commission,” Sanclemente said.
“Insurance has increased a little bit,” Woodard said. “Other than that, I think we’re in good shape.”
“Of course, our streets are getting done with Woodruff,” Chappie said, referring to the sewer project on Gulf Drive in which contractors will be repaving the roads. “That will save the taxpayers a lot of money.”
“We’re meeting our budget, you’re all fiscally responsible,” Chappie told the department heads and commissioners.
He said the city should have 25% in reserves and is trying to stay above that at 30%.
“We’re looking at how we can save the city money,” Chappie said.
A millage meeting is set for Tuesday, July 11 at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall, 107 Gulf Drive N. in Bradenton Beach.
