City leaders butt heads over fee increases in special budget meeting

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The City of St. Augustine is debating whether to raise fees to increase revenue in the upcoming fiscal year.

Leaders are dealing with lower property values than they expected, especially in Davis Shores, where Hurricane Matthew left a lot of damage.

For more than an hour, St. Augustine’s director of budget and performance management went line by line, showing city commissioners sources of revenue during a special budget meeting Monday.

Leaders are trying to avoid any increases in the millage rate, which is currently at 7.5 mills.

Since increasing the millage is off the table for now, leaders are looking at every other source, from parking to fees to building permits and fees.

Vice Mayor Todd Neville seemed to butt heads with Assistant City Manager Tim Burchfield, disagreeing especially on how fees should be increased.

“This archaic methodology of budgeting that you're proposing, ‘Well we need more fees, let's raise it,’ I don't want to budget that way,” Neville said.

Neville suggested, and fellow commissioners agreed, fees shouldn’t be raised drastically all at once.

But Burchfield bluntly highlighted the need for more funding.

“You can talk all day long, have all the plans. If you don't have the money to institute it later on, you're going to be sitting there with another plan sitting on the shelf just like we have a whole lot up there, because we're not going to be able to afford it,” Burchfield said.

Monday’s special meeting was strictly informational and no decisions were made.

Cox Media Group