The Tampa Monitor

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This Week 8-16-24

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by

Michael Bishop
in ,

Council is off this week and it totally slipped my notice until Friday evening. Tampa is hosting the Florida Redevelopment Association annual conference and it was a planned week off. Allows Council and staff to properly host and participate in the conference.

Here’s the current calendar

  • Budget workshop August 19, 2024 9am
  • Regular meeting August 22, 2024 9am
  • Monthly scheduled workshop August, 29, 2024 (nothing budget related on that agenda) 9am
  • Special Call Public Budget Hearing September 3, 2024 5pm
  • Regular meeting September 5, 2024 9am
  • CRA and evening land use hearing September 12, 2024
  • Final Public Budget Hearing September 17, 2024 5pm
  • Fiscal Year 2025 begins October 1, 2024

I posted my latest budget post, looking at Capital Improvement Projects, and something I want to make clear. I do not doubt Tampa Police needs new facilities. I’m old enough to remember when headquarters were on Tampa St. where the Stetson Law campus is now. The move downtown never seemed like a long term plan. I have never questioned the need for fire stations. Generally speaking, my issues with the budget are process and transparency. I personally advocate for more sidewalks and funding for parks. But really all I want is for the City to spend the money they say they are going to spend on the things they say they are going to spend it on.

I didn’t write a review of the first workshop simply because there wasn’t much to review. I don’t doubt Council members are working on this outside of a workshop, however this is their only time to discuss the items together. I believe there was confusion about what types of motions Council could make at that workshop so nothing was formerly proposed. The CFO shared a new document with Council that showed what the carry over balance was for existing CIPs however it doesn’t delineate what the funding source is. Is it cash in the bank or proposed debt?

Next Monday’s workshop is to be focused on operations, though at Thursday’s evening meeting under new business Council approved a motion to add the TPD Howard Ave Annex to the agenda, specifically as to the timeline of this project and how it has changed over time.

Next week will be back to previewing the upcoming agenda, thank you again for subscribing, reading and sharing. Have a great week.

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Comments

2 responses to “This Week 8-16-24”

  1. Stephanie Poynor Avatar
    Stephanie Poynor

    I think the CIP workshop was quite interesting…especially CW Hurtak’s response at the end of the Evening meeting on August 8th… everyone should watch how the $4 million dollar project exploded into a $40 million dollar project with one sheet in the budget.

    As a member of the Citizens Budget Committee, the short discussion we had about this 10xs addition added to the project was RIDICULOUS….

    We have folks who are homeless in our city. We have a $140 million CAVE in the middle of East Tampa that is woefully empty…yet, we’re discussing spending millions more without the proper vetting of the needs.

    We NEEDED at least 3 new fire stations for more than 5 years. We NEED a maintenance facility for the Fire department. The fire department NEEDS at least 30 more fire fighters…possibly more with all the high rises being approved in our city…but we’re going to get a replacement for the current Police facility. We NEED equity in our city.
    TPD can put more officers back out on the streets and free up the space they currently enjoy downtown.
    Yep, I said that.

    Reply
    1. Michael Bishop Avatar
      Michael Bishop

      Maybe I need to rewatch it. I 100% agree about public safety needs and in my CIP budget post talk about the need for but lack of a true Public Safety master plan. I don’t need a plan for how to reduce crime, I need a plan for what are the needs for a new HQ, the age/condition of vehicles, current/anticipated staffing needs and what are we looking at when we start talking about district buildings? They have to be in close to the same shape as TFR stations.

      But projects moving around, appearing/disappearing in the 5 year CIP is not fair to the public or Council when making spending decisions.

      Reply

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