St. Pete Beach reviews tentative budget, recommends 35% reserve and reclassifies $5.8 million to resiliency fund

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — The City Commission reviewed a tentative fiscal-year budget and a package of financial policies at a workshop on Aug. 26, where staff recommended establishing a 35% operating reserve and moving $5.8 million previously recorded as a coastal vulnerabilities balance into a resiliency fund.

Devin Schmidt, the city’s finance director, told commissioners the Finance Budget Review Committee reached consensus on the tentative budget and on a set of recommended changes to bring back to the commission. “This budget book is aligning with the Government Finance Officers Association best practices,” Schmidt said, adding the annual comprehensive financial report was completed July 31 and the $5.8 million was already on the balance sheet rather than a newly found source.

The move to a 35% reserve is a two-part recommendation: a 25% unassigned fund balance for emergency and liquidity purposes plus an additional 10% hurricane emergency contingency. Schmidt said the recommended reserve equals roughly $9 million under the proposed budget calculations and is intended to improve the city’s ability to respond to storms and other emergencies.

Why it matters: Commissioners and staff said the changes affect how the city budgets for capital projects, grant matches and storm recovery. Commissioner Maldonado raised concerns about the timing and formality of changing the previously established coastal vulnerabilities fund, saying the fund and related resolutions had been discussed in prior years and asking for more clarity on the legal and procedural changes. “It…