Plantation directors outline FY2026 budget priorities; utilities, parks and police staffing emphasized at workshop

City of Plantation department directors presented their fiscal year 2026 budget requests and priorities at a May 21 pre-budget workshop, highlighting major capital work in utilities, park and recreation projects, and requests to add staff and replace fleet vehicles across departments.

Finance Director Anna Otoniano opened the meeting and framed the session as a department-by-department review of ‘‘the city of Plantation fiscal year 20 26 budget pre budget workshop,’’ and directors then summarized key requests and pressures facing their operations.

The Utilities Department described the largest near-term capital load. Utilities Director Morris said the utility will have completed about $20,000,000 in budgeted capital projects by mid-October and outlined several multi-year efforts that will continue into FY2026, including a regional wastewater plant expected to begin construction in November or December, a phased SCADA upgrade and a master sewer-plan Phase 2 to identify 10–15 year wastewater needs. Morris also reported the city is nearing completion of its automated metering (AMI) rollout with only ‘‘just shy of 20’’ meters remaining and said staff will present an updated customer billing portal recommendation in the coming weeks.

Police Chief Herbison told the council payroll and benefits account for the bulk of the department’s costs—‘‘about approximately 90% of our budget’’—and asked council to approve two additional sworn officers and to convert a part-time background investigator to a full-time investigator. He said the department is budgeted…