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City manager proposes smaller sustainability staff, shifts grant allocation to in-school achievement centers
Summary
The City Manager of Delray Beach presented the Office of the City Manager’s budget on May 20 and described proposed efficiency moves, including reducing the Office of Sustainability and Resiliency from two positions to one and shifting how certain education-related grants are administered.
The City Manager of Delray Beach presented the Office of the City Manager’s budget on May 20 and described proposed efficiency moves, including reducing the Office of Sustainability and Resiliency from two positions to one and shifting how certain education-related grants are administered.
The city manager said the change to the sustainability office was proposed after review and that “the sustainability and resiliency goals and objectives can be accomplished via the involvement of 1 position at this time,” referencing an information letter dated May 16, 2025. The manager characterized the step as an operational efficiency while promising additional detail in future reports.
On grant funding, the manager said grants that had been awarded in the current fiscal year to support education initiatives will be restructured so that the city provides funds to achievement centers that operate within schools, rather than routing funds directly to schools. The manager said this shift contributes to an anticipated reduction in operating budgets of about 7.6%, which he quantified as roughly $151,000 (from about $2,100,000 to $1,900,000 for the referenced line items).
Several commissioners expressed concern about reducing sustainability staffing and sought clarity on how the city will implement the recently discussed climate action plan. A commissioner asked whether the change would conflict with prior goal-setting that emphasized growing sustainability capacity; the manager said the climate action plan will soon be forthcoming and described it as an interdepartmental effort. The manager added that staff member Mr. Chidester was being directed to work with relevant departments to finalize implementation plans and recommendations for commission consideration.
The manager framed the proposals as part of preparing a recommended balanced budget ahead of the June 10 aggregate discussion and said further information would be provided in the coming weeks.
