Panama City holds hearing on 2023 fiscal year budget, future projects, possible rate hikes
PANAMA CITY — City Commissioner Josh Street says he believes big things are on the horizon for Panama City.
In a hearing Tuesday, Street and other local officials discussed a more than $55 million general fund budget proposed for next fiscal year, a staggering amount of upcoming capital improvement projects and two possible rate hikes that could be around the corner for residents.
"There's no doubt in my mind that over the next five years, people are going to see a different side of Panama City," Street said. "What we're here for as a municipality is to make sure that we're servicing our citizens and businesses, and our main function is insuring that we've got great infrastructure. That is not something we've had for a long period of time.
"We're taking this opportunity to put in the infrastructure that future generations are going to be utilizing for the next 60, 80 or 100 years."
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According to information from the meeting, the proposed 2023 general fund boasts a 10% increase over the 2022 general fund, which was more than $49.878 million. Officials will vote to adopt this fund at a meeting on Sept. 27.
The general fund pays for the majority of city services, including the Panama City Police Department, Panama City Fire Department, public works and the salaries of city employees.
Street said officials plan to implement next fiscal year a pay raise so no city employee earns less than $15 an hour.
"That is huge," he said. "This is going to go a long way in helping us ensure that we have people in positions that we need to keep the city running."
In addition to the proposed general fund, officials also discussed Tuesday more than $268 million slated to be used on approximately 100 local capital improvement projects. This money was secured by the city from a variety of outside funding sources, including federal and state grants.
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Of the projects, 69 are related to damages caused by Category 5 Hurricane Michael, which devastated the Panhandle in October 2018, and eight are related to damages from Category 2 Hurricane Sally, which made landfall in September 2020.
"All of those won't (begin) construction next year, but that is the amount of capital projects that we have in the pipeline, are funded and are moving forward," Street said. "Our goal is to always rely on the backs of our local citizens the least amount as possible, so that means getting after every grant dollar that we can (and) every loan that has a forgiveness side to it.
"There are a lot of different revenue sources that are coming into those capital projects."
Also considered Tuesday were possible water and garbage rate increases that could go into effect next fiscal year. Two options for each rate were presented to officials by members of Raftelis, a utility management consulting company with more than a dozen offices across the U.S.
They included either a 7.5% or 9% increase to the water rate, and either a 3% or 6.5% increase to the garbage rate. The suggestions were part of a study performed by Raftelis to identify needed annual rate adjustments in Panama City over the next five years.
Officials will vote to adopt the possible rate increases at a meeting on Sept 12.
"It's no secret that Panama City has a lot of issues in the water and sewer areas," Street said. "As a result, it takes money in order to fix (those issues). We do have a lot of money that's coming from grants, a lot of money that's coming from (state revolving) funds, loans and things like that, but we have to be able to pay (for) those (improvements)."
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City officials consider budget, adjustments for fiscal year 2023
