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New Port Richey staff unveil balanced FY2526 budget proposal with millage cut, COLA and staffing shifts
Summary
City staff presented a proposed balanced FY2526 budget that would lower the millage to 8.2, provide a cost-of-living adjustment for employees and reorganize personnel across departments; staff cited flat state revenue, modest property-value growth and a favorable health-insurance renewal as key factors.
City staff presented a proposed balanced fiscal year 2526 budget at a New Port Richey work session that would reduce the property-tax millage to 8.2 and include a cost-of-living adjustment for city employees, staff said.
The proposal, described by the meeting presenter, emphasized a mix of structural personnel changes, modest revenue expectations and spending controls. Staff said property values had only a moderate increase and state revenue sources were essentially flat, placing pressure on the general fund. One positive development staff highlighted was a negotiated health-insurance renewal that, according to staff, resulted in a 0.2% increase rather than the larger jumps seen elsewhere.
The budget would preserve core services while adjusting departmental staffing in several areas. In human resources, the HR presenter (identified in the meeting as Olson) said HR will remain at four full-time equivalents but recommended eliminating the HR manager position and adding an HR business-partner role to improve efficiency. Olson also described a new contractual-services account to cover fees for a new employee-benefits broker and a benefits-administration platform; staff showed the proposer $100,000 in added funding for those services, split as $82,500 for the benefits broker and $17,500 for the platform administrator.
Library leadership proposed promoting a librarian 3 position to assistant director and converting a grant specialist to a cultural and special-programs coordinator to expand downtown cultural programming at Cavalier Square and Railroad Square while keeping the overall library FTE count flat. The recreation director said the city plans to eliminate two full-time positions (assistant director and recreation/events coordinator) and reallocate some responsibilities to the library, producing a net FTE reduction of about 2.27 for recreation.
Police Chief Cochin said the police budget rose roughly 1.5% since the last review, driven mainly by personnel-service costs such as pensions and social security, while noting continuing investments in technology and downtown support teams. Development and public-works presentations included proposals to move a GIS position into development, consider converting contracted building-official services to a full-time position if feasible, and consolidate grounds-maintenance supervision to improve operational efficiency.
On revenue, council members pressed staff for precise figures on potential property sales and the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) tax increment, asking for those numbers before finalizing the millage decision. Staff said some sale proceeds and CRA transfers are anticipated but that final amounts and certain grant (CDBG) figures remain unknown.
Staff noted the timing of the proposed COLA would align with applicable personnel anniversary dates and, if adopted, would begin to take effect in the next fiscal cycle according to the schedules staff described.
Next steps: staff will return with additional detail on revenues and ordinance language for the COLA; the council agreed to address special-events budgeting and other line-item questions in follow-up work sessions.
