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 for 81 officers, currently short nine, and that the department plans multiple recruitments and upcoming academy classes to reduce vacancies. Herbison said the department is also requesting vehicle replacements (24 vehicles to be purchased while 25 are planned for disposal or auction) and upgrades including body-worn cameras and related contracts that appear on the agenda for consideration.

Public Works Director Matt Thompson outlined a request for four new positions, including an assistant fleet specialist and two maintenance workers focused on road and traffic sign maintenance; he said the city now manages about 2,000 pieces of equipment and vehicles (up from roughly 400 when longer-tenured staff began). Thompson asked the council to allow the use of contractors for large tree/canopy work in the near term while the city studies the cost of acquiring expensive equipment to perform that work in-house in the future.

Parks and Recreation Director O’Toole detailed several facility projects and equipment requests. Highlights included funding for the city’s first inclusive playground at Liberty Tree Park, funding to install a playground at North Acres Park (planning documents are underway and staff estimated installation late in the calendar year), multi-year replacement of an aging park maintenance building, upgrades to pool mechanical systems and timing equipment, and a proposed renovation of the golf course that staff estimated at about $9,000,000 expected in FY2027 with $500,000 allocated in FY2026 for design and planning. She said the department is shifting 12 seasonal employees from the tennis division into recreation to consolidate summer-camp operations.

Fire Rescue Chief Todd said his department’s capital requests were largely routine replacements—hydraulic and battery-operated equipment, a training ‘‘smart’’ dummy, and a station alerting system designed to reduce false calls to multiple units—plus a request for one communications officer and two title reclassifications.

Planning and Zoning Director Dan Holmes said the Midtown Gateway area and completion of the comprehensive plan account for modest budget increases in his department, and he described funding set aside for consultant work to adopt an activity center and for pedestrian-safety and drainage projects in Midtown. Holmes said the city continues to discuss catalytic projects with developers, including a conceptual submission from the Green Mills project team and planned improvements along State Road 7 and parts of Sunrise Boulevard.

IT Director John Montefusco described major technology investments including an enterprise resource planning (ERP) transition, migration of the Acela permitting product to the cloud and continued virtualization subscriptions. Montefusco said staff are seeking a junior security administrator to strengthen cybersecurity coverage and are evaluating AI features in software the city uses, such as a planned Acela chatbot to help applicants navigate permitting requirements.

Building Department Director Gail said that department’s budget is largely flat, with three vehicle replacements planned and five position reclassifications to reflect increased duties. He also said a newly filled concierge position will be the point of contact for HCA hospital projects.

Council members pressed several cross-cutting themes during discussion. Council and administration requested more detailed backup and justification for vehicle purchases so council can better assess need and local-first procurement efforts; Mayor and staff noted recent meetings with a local dealer (Plantation Ford) to improve apples-to-apples bidding comparisons and asked that procurement memos document outreach to local vendors. Staff agreed to add clearer vehicle justifications to agenda backup.

Councilmembers also discussed asset and inventory controls. Finance and IT staff described existing steps for tagging and disposal—IT maintains serial-number inventories for electronics and the garage uses a perpetual parts system tied to work orders—and acknowledged gaps remain for untagged components and small parts. Administration said it is working toward more photographic and documentation procedures to tighten controls and reduce the risk that parts or subcomponents could be improperly removed from city property.

No formal votes or budget approvals occurred at the workshop; directors presented requests and answered council questions. Staff said many items will return as budget proposals or agenda items for future council consideration and that administration will supply additional documentation on vehicles, procurement outreach and project scoping.

The workshop concluded without action and was adjourned.