Palmetto passes $32.5 million budget with a bump from new construction

Palmetto city commissioners Monday passed the new $32.5 million budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

With the budget’s passing, the millage rate used to calculate property values within the city will remain the same at 5.9671. A mill is $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value.

Palmetto will see a 7 percent increase in property value compared to fiscal year 2018-2019. City Clerk Jim Freeman said part of that percent is an increase in new construction coming onto the tax rolls.

According to the budget, the city added approximately $9 million of new construction in 2020 as compared to $3.1 million in 2019’s budget. Homes from the new Sanctuary Cove development are starting to come online, an addition which contributes to the higher figure, Freeman said.

The city’s 2018 - 2019 fiscal year budget was $29.2 million.

The Palmetto Police Department is the largest part of the city’s budget with $4.85 million appropriated to the department, while the city clerk’s office is right behind them with $2.5 million in appropriations.

Worked into the budget is the continuation of Public Works’ equalization basin, including a loan for the project in this year’s debt service. The roughly $6.4 million project is already under construction and is expected to be complete by July 2020.

The basin at the city’s water treatment plant “equalizes” water flow during peak and low-use periods and aims to save the city money in the long-term by reducing the strain on equipment. The basin could also help reduce the likelihood of wastewater spills that have plagued certain areas of Palmetto for years, according to public works director Allen Tusing, though it will not be a cure-all.

Three new city employee positions are also added to the 2020 budget, one of which will be funded by the Community Redevelopment Agency.

Another notable change in the budget from 2019 is a nearly 25 percent increase in appropriations for the city’s information technology department. The spending plans include capital equipment such as servers and hardware, new equipment for commission chambers and software upgrades.

New utility rates, which were previously approved by city commissioners and take effect Oct. 1, were factored into the new budget. Additional revenues from the increase in rates will be used to fund capital improvement projects, said Freeman.

The new police department building is slated to begin construction next year and that will be mostly funded through the half-cent sales tax, though Freeman said they will eventually need a loan.

The full budget can be found on the city of Palmetto’s website.

Bradenton Herald staff writer Ryan Ballogg contributed to this article.

This story was originally published September 24, 2019 at 5:00 AM.