Also, city manager to resign in October

By Jessica Tuggle

jtuggle@hometownnewsol.com

VERO BEACH - Vero Beach city staff have trimmed their budgets once again and are preparing to make the most of what they have to work with.

The Vero Beach City Council met with all departments last week to review proposed budgets for the 2010-11 year and residents may see a difference in services, city officials said.

City manager Jim Gabbard led the discussions with the department heads, but also told the council of his plan to retire on Oct. 15.

Mr. Gabbard has been working with the city since 1986, first as police chief for the Vero Beach Police Department, then as interim and finally permanent city manager.

The council voted 4-1 with Councilman Tom White dissenting, to set a tentative millage rate of 2.15 per $1,000 of taxable property value, which is the rollback rate.

A rollback rate is a property tax rate that would allow the city to collect the same amount of taxes as the previous year.

The current millage rate is set at 1.93 percent per $1,000 taxable property value. If the council decided to keep the millage rate the same, they would see a decrease in revenue of about $500,000 to $4.38 million from $4.87 million.

The council directed staff to look over all their line items again so the tax rate could stay at the current rate, but decided to tentatively approve the rollback numbers should they come up short.

The final millage rate will not be voted on until September, but the council's action allows them the flexibility to go as high as the rollback rate, if necessary.

In order to meet their budget requirements, Chief Don Dappen and the Vero Beach Police Department proposed stopping the school crossing guard program and furlough days for all personnel.

The elimination of the crossing guards is expected to save $43,100, officials said.

Chief Dappen said he and his staff would be happy to train volunteer guards to work Osceola Magnet and Beachland Elementary schools, the only two schools the police department had been working with.

The decision to furlough all employees, including road patrol, didn't sit well with Councilman White, who said he would rather go into reserves to keep the officers on the ground with backup in case of an emergency.

The furloughs would reduce expenses by $108,000 and the department does not believe it will cause issues with coverage on the road, Mr. Gabbard said.

The council voted to find out how much it would cost to keep officer ranks of sergeants and below off of the furlough program and where the money could come from.

Recreation director Rob Slezak made hard changes to his budget, but changes he hopes the public will understand.

During the meeting, Mr. Slezak told the council of his plans to change the schedule at the Royal Palm Pointe Fountain.

Regular hours will be Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., but during spring and summer breaks, when children are out of school, the fountain will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day except Tuesday for maintenance.

The fountain, which is not heated, will be open from mid-December to spring break only on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Times when city beaches will be guarded will also have a slight adjustment, Mr. Slezak said.

Humiston Park will be guarded regularly from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. During spring and summer break there will be a slight increase in hours, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day.

Jaycee and South beaches will be guarded from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Leisure Square facilities will not be closed as many feared, but the membership process and hours of operation at the pool will undergo some change, Mr. Slezak said.

With the council's input and consensus, Mr. Slezak and his staff will work on preparing a monthly membership fee structure for city and out-of-city residents to encompass all the amenities of Leisure Square, instead of the ala carte membership that is currently in place now.

He expects the rates will not increase significantly, perhaps up to $10.

"It's still probably going to cost participants half what they'd pay anywhere else," Mr. Slezak said.

Going forward, Mr. Slezak said they would keep the pool open during the cold months of December, January and March, but will more than likely close the pool in February.

Another cut the city will pursue is discontinuing the landscaping of Riverside Theatre, the Vero Beach Musuem of Art and a section of property at the entrance of the Vero Isles subdivision.

City staff had been providing the maintenance of those grounds for free, but the manpower, time and cost has gotten to be too taxing, said Monte Falls, public works director.

Mr. Falls said his 34 grounds maintenance employees, down two people from the 2009-10 budget year, will be extra busy when the improvements to Aviation Boulevard begin next year. The grounds at Riverside and the art museum take up about 1,800 hours of work every year, close to the 1,950 hours of work one employee is expected to complete in a year.

He estimated the public access areas of Riverside Park, Riverside Theatre and the Vero Beach Museum of Art cost about $36,000 a year for the city to maintain.

He said they will also have the entities pay for the irrigation bill, which is about $5,300 a year.

Mr. Gabbard said theatre officials have been asked to pay for the work in previous years, but have always told the city that no funds were available.

Mr. Falls said the Vero Isles Homeowners Association will be notified that after Oct. 1, the city will no longer provide maintenance for their entrances, which was private property.

Mr. Falls said he anticipated a savings of close to $41,000 as a result of the cutbacks.