2August 14, 2017
To: Mayor and City Commission
The City of South Miami 2018 Budget and Finance Committee Members would like to begin by
thanking the Commission and staff for their dedication and commitment to the City of South
Miami and its residents. It is an honor for this committee to serve the City of South Miami in
this important task of making recommendations regarding the City’s proposed budget.
Special thanks to City Manager, Steven Alexander, and his staff for their tireless support and
guidance in this complex process. The positive encouragement and exceptional knowledge of
the Chief Financial Officer, Alfredo Riverol, was invaluable for the committee.
This report was a collaborative effort and as such we would also like to thank the City’s
Department Directors, many of whom we met with in our research and deliberations on the
proposed budget, the entire staff of the City of South Miami who work hard to make sure the
expenses stay within the budget to the extent possible.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The purpose of the Committee, as stated in section 2-26.8 of the City’s Code of Ordinances, is
to provide advice and recommendations to the City Commission regarding the adoption and
implementation of financially sound annual budgets and investment policies. To accomplish
this purpose, the Committee is charged with reviewing and evaluating the draft proposed
budget, the City's investments, employee pension and other retirement accounts; examining
ways to preserve existing revenue sources and exploring additional funding sources; and giving
advice to the City Commission on projected earnings of investments and desirable or necessary
further investments, revenue, expenditures and strategic planning (which includes analyzing
existing service levels and determining sufficiency and appropriateness). The Committee will
also review the Annual Comprehensive Audit Report.
The 2018 Budget and Finance Committee met several times, from March through July 2017, in
order to provide informed recommendations on the budget. In addition to studying the City of
South Miami’s established policies, Committee members conducted individual research via
internet as well as other resources. The Committee also interviewed Department Directors and
Departmental budgeting staff, experts with knowledge in public administration, finance,
budgeting, as well as, service providers that offer services similar to the City of South Miami’s
services.
The Committee undertook a detailed examination of the City’s proposed budget to assess the
policies, funding levels and projections within the document. Particular attention was paid to
those operations which have a large financial impact on the City’s budget, such as Police, Public
Works, Parks, and Finance.
The Committee anticipates that adopting the recommendations herein will have both an
immediate and a long-term beneficial financial impact on the City. Each recommendation is
intended to improve the overall financial policy and health of the City of South Miami.
BUDGET REPORT SUMMARY
To the best of our knowledge, the City’s existing proposed FY 2018 Budget format is in
compliance with Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) principles.
GFOA specifies best practices in public budgeting: “A government should develop a policy that
defines a balanced operating budget, encourages commitment to a balanced budget under
normal circumstances, and provides for disclosure when a deviation from a balanced operating
budget is planned or when it occurs.” This is quoted from the GFOA website:
http://www.gfoa.org.
Every year the Budget and Finance Committee members, with the help and support of the CFO,
evaluate the City’s existing policies and confirm they meet the GFOA budgeting standards.
Below is the background and Committee recommendations.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of the City of South Miami's Financial and Budgetary Policies, which is
incorporated annually within the City’s fiscal year budget, is to have a one-source document for
all City financial and budget policies. The intention of the policies is to guide elected officials,
the City Manager and staff in their on-going role as the financial stewards of the City. The
policies guide essential decisions affecting budget and financial matters to ensure that the City
is financially prepared to meet its immediate and long-term service objectives. The individual
policies serve as guidelines for financial planning, budget preparation, implementation,
evaluation and internal financial management of the City, and may be amended from time-to-
time.
One of the citywide initiatives recommended during the adoption of the FY 2014/15 budget
was the review and further enhancement of the City's financial policies.
The Budget & Finance Committee, with support from the City Administration, began the task of
analyzing the City's existing financial and budgetary policies, identifying best practices as
recommended by the Government Finance Officer Association (GFOA), and reviewing policies
of other highly-regarded municipalities.
After review, the Budget & Finance Committee believes the existing policies, in addition to the
policies which were implemented in FY 2015-16, such as, increasing the Emergency Reserve
Fund to 25%, have not only improved the City’s financial position, but places the City in a better
situation in case of an unexpected disaster.
The Committee found that the City continues to generally follow the National Advisory Council
on State and Local Budgeting (NACSLB) adopted budgeting framework and recommended
budget practices that were subsequently endorsed by GFOA. We commend the City for its
commitment to this excellent budget format.
BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the Committee’s review and pursuant to numerous discussions, the Committee has
provided some recommendations for the Commission to consider.
Operating Budget
As previously stated, the Committee finds that the City of South Miami follows the GFOA
recommended principles in the proposed budget for FY 2017-18. This is well documented in
the General Fund Summary and is illustrated in the following graph.
Note: The graph shows the following: FY 2006-2016 (actual numbers), 2017 (estimated
numbers), 2017-18 (proposed numbers).
After three quarters of FY 17, actual revenues are on track to meet FY 17 revenue projections in
most cases. Unexpected/Underestimated revenues are expected to offset unforeseen any
revenue shortcomings.
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Do
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Comparison Revenues to Expenses (100s)
Revenues
Expenses
GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
The Committee reviewed the Proposed FY 2017-18 Budget as of July 28, 2017 in an effort to
provide the City Commission with certain observations and recommendations intending to
result in a balanced budget.
As such, the entire Budget and Finance Committee recommends the City Commission support
the budget as proposed.
Below are specific items of interest the Budget & Finance Committee wishes to emphasize to
the City Commission:
The Budget and Finance Committee supports the City adopting the existing millage rate of 4.3000, as
recommended by City Management, for fiscal year 2017-2018. The 4.3000 millage rate continues to be
the lowest millage rate in the City’s recorded history and reducing it to a lesser amount would affect the
level of services which the residents have come to enjoy.
The Committee strongly believes that the constitutional amendment increasing the Florida Homestead
Exemption, which is on the ballot in Florida on November 6, 2018, is going to pass. This amendment
would provide for a homestead exemption on the portion of home values between $100,000 and
$125,000, meaning the $25,000 between $100,000 and $125,000 of a home's value would be exempted
from property taxes other than school district taxes. As of 2017, Section 6(a) of Article VII of the Florida
Constitution provides for a homestead exemption on the portion of home values between (a) $0 and
$25,000 and (b) $50,000 and $75,000. Based on the Property Appraiser’s calculations, should the
amendment pass, the City is estimated to have a revenue loss amount of approximately $222,513,
which is based on the 2016 Preliminary Assessed Roll and would take effect in Fiscal Year 2019-20. The
Committee is strongly recommending that the Commission and City Management begin preparing for
the reduction in revenue and find ways to help off-set the loss in revenue WITHOUT increasing the
millage rate.
With the above stated, the Committee strongly recommends that the elected officials support the
solicitation for proposals to complete the residential Solid Waste services of the City. Once the
solicitations have been received, the City’s management must determine if a savings to the City is
anticipated. Depending on the vendors and their respective capabilities, and if a significant, tangible
savings is estimated, the Committee believes that the “outsourcing of the City’s Solid Waste Residential
Program” is a great way to help off-set the loss in revenue due to the anticipated amendment increasing
the Florida Homestead Exemption. Please note, the Committee strongly recommends that if the City
does determine that “Outsourcing” is beneficial to the City, that the vendor acquiring the contract be
mandated to hire the City’s Solid Waste Employees, in an effort to help save each of their respective
jobs and avoid the layoffs of any existing City employees.
In addition, within the City’s fiscal year 2017-18 proposed Capital Improvement Fund budget, the City is
proposing to purchase a Trash Crane ($160,000) and Truck ($95,000) for a total amount of $255,000.
The Budget and Finance Committee understands that receiving proposals to “Outsource” is not a
guarantee and needs to be evaluated before the approval is granted. However, the Committee
recommends that the purchases for the two items be held until a determination to “Outsource City’s
Solid Waste Residential Program” has been determined. Assuming the City decides to “Outsource City’s
Solid Waste Residential Program” there will be no need for any of the two items.
Furthermore, the City within the Capital Improvement Fund currently proposes $250,000 for Public
Access Wi-Fi within downtown, selected areas, Dante Fascell and Palmer Park. The Budget and Finance
Committee believes that most individuals with a smartphone already have internet connectivity and
spending that amount of money would not provide the residents and/or visitors with any added benefit.
Furthermore, many of the existing restaurants and outdoor cafes already offer patrons free Wi-Fi. And
lastly, one of the major issues with a Wi-Fi Mesh system is that technology currently changes very
quickly and the system would most likely have to be replaced within the next 5 or 6 years, hence
creating another large expenditure in the near future. The Budget and Finance Committee recommends
eliminating the Wi-Fi expense and possibly reallocating the funds to a needed Capital Improvement
Project which would provide residents and/or visitors with a greater benefit.
The City currently proposes to expend $200,000 for a Fence around 6609 SW 60 ST Property (Girl
Scouts). The Budget and Finance Committee believes that placing a fence to prevent parents from
parking on the City property, while picking up their children from school is going to create an immediate
negative impact for the property owners near the school. Parents must pick up their children from
school and installing a fence to prevent parents from parking on the City’s property is not a solution to
the parking and traffic issues in that area. The City must consider using that money for a better purpose,
but the Budget and Finance Committee does not believe spending $200,000 on a fence is the answer to
resolve the issue.
Moreover, the Committee does not understand the need to spend $50,000 to complete a Cost Benefit
Study for Community Center and Pool. The Budget and Finance Committee understands that both the
Community Center and Pool do not currently provide any net revenue to the City. However, the Budget
and Finance Committee does believe that the service the Community Center and Pool provides to the
residents, of all ages, is more important than any net revenue. Moreover, assuming a Cost Benefit Study
for the Community Center and Pool is to be completed which would reflect a net loss, would the City
expect to close or eliminate the two facilities? The Budget and Finance Committee sees no benefit in
spending $50,000 on a study that will not accomplish anything truly beneficial and recommends that the
money be used to create more programs within the Community Center and Pool in an effort to provide
more benefits to the residents of the City and Community.
Lastly, the City’s Proposed FY 2017-18 budget currently provides for the payoff of the City’s last existing
public bond with the Florida Municipal Loan Council. The payoff is an extremely valuable effort to
reduce the City’s debt and help save tax money on required interest payments. However, currently the
City has an outstanding lawsuit which is pending the ruling from an appellate court, which potentially
can be an extremely large liability to the City, along with the existing Police Lower Unit negotiations
which is still being negotiated. Both expenditure items are NOT included within the proposed FY 2017-
18 budget and would require for the City to use fund balance to pay any required amounts. Please note,
the same fund balance that will be used to pay the last existing public bond with the Florida Municipal
Loan Council is the same fund balance that would be used to pay the lawsuit and any required payments
to the Police lower unit, if need be. The Budget and Finance Committee recommends that the City
continue to budget for the payoff as provided within the proposed budget, however, not actually move
forward with the payoff until both the lawsuit and police lower unit negotiations have been settled.
Once those two items are no longer an outstanding issue and the financial impact has been determined,
the City would be in a better position to then make the determination if paying the last existing public
bond with the Florida Municipal Loan Council is still the best course of action for the City; while not
depleting all of the City’s critical fund balance.
CLOSING STATEMENT AND SUMMARY
Revenue projections for FY 2017-18 seem to be conservative, are in line with historic numbers,
and apparently take known condition changes into account.
Overall the Committee was impressed with the amount of detail provided by management and
is supporting the budget as proposed. These Committee recommendations were discussed
during budget meetings and arrived at by consensus. These recommendations were by and
large arrived at unanimously.
The proposed budget is necessarily a living document and changes almost daily as new
information becomes available to management. This changing information is reflected in the
budget to the extent possible. For that reason, it is important for the Commission to get
regular updates from management before their final approval of the FY 2017-18 budget.
The Budget & Finance Committee considered the most recent information that was available in
its consideration of our recommendations.
The Committee will be available to review further information or answer questions if the
Commission desires.
Respectfully and on behalf of the entire Budget & Finance Committee, including, Deltravis
Williams, Daniel Montana, and Sid Kaskey:
Maximo Monterrey, Chair
City of South Miami Budget & Finance Committee