FY2003 Tampa Reports to the People

Tampa Reports to the People

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Tampa Reports to the People

It is my pleasure to present the City of Tampa $660 million budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2002 and ending September 30, 2003. The ad valorem property tax millage rate will remain at 6.539 for the 14th consecutive year and no residential rate increases are planned for Water, Sanitary Sewers or Solid Waste. This Report to the People will provide detail on the FY03 Budget. Please take time to learn how your dollars are spent.

Highlights of the FY03 budget and some programs being completed in FY02/FY03 are:

Parks & Recreation Expansion
The $17 million recreation bond program, begun in 1999, provides for construction or renovation of 16 recreation facilities, such as community centers, gymnasiums and swimming pools. See Capital Projects for more detail on facilities and programs offered.

Over 1,100 acres of parkland has been acquired by the Parks Department since 1995. Significant new additions to the Parks System are a 40-acre park being developed in New Tampa and the Sulphur Springs water tower site.

Tampa-Ybor Historic Streetcar
On October 19, 2002, the TECO Line Streetcar System, Tampa's new electric streetcar line will begin service between the Convention Center and Ybor City, via the Channel District. The streetcars, replicas of those running in Tampa until 1946, will run seven days a week and take 22 minutes to complete a one-way trip.

Cultural Arts District
Bonding of future revenues from the Community Investment Tax will fund development of the new Cultural Arts District, extending from Kennedy Boulevard on the south to the Performing Arts Center at Tyler Street on the north. The centerpiece will be a new Tampa Museum of Art designed by world-renowned architect Rafael Vinoly. The district will include reconfigured parkland, restaurants, shops, pedestrian walkways and a residential complex.

Public Safety
The Tampa Police Department will benefit from the addition of ten police officers for a Community Oriented Police Squad (COPS) in the Belmont Heights neighborhood. Three School Resource Officers will be added to staff newly opened schools. Tampa Fire Rescue will add seven firefighter positions to augment staffing levels.

Enterprise Programs
The City's enterprise departments are benefiting from major projects completed in FY02. Projects include the $88 million retrofit of the McKay Bay Refuse-to-Energy Plant, the $15 million Fernando Noriega, Jr. Palm Avenue Garage in Ybor City, and expansion of the Solid Waste curb-side recycling program to include all single family homes in the City of Tampa.

More detail on the City budget and programs can be found by surfing the web. You may go to the Budget section at www.tampagov.net.

Dick Greco

Tampa Reports to the People

• A Residential Driver Loader employee manually collects 10.5 tons of garbage a day.

• The City of Tampa's Records Center is the oldest Municipal Records Center in the State of Florida.

• The South Tampa Area Reclaimed (STAR) Project Phase I, which uses reclaimed water for lawn irrigation, will offset the use of approximately 2 million gallons a day of potable water.

• The City Transportation Division has nine miles of fiber optic cable installed to run various sections of the traffic signal control system.

• There are over 400 pieces of playground equipment in the City of Tampa Parks Department.

• The City of Tampa operates on 67 radio frequencies.

• The Parking Division holds Parking Ticket Court once a month (the last Thursday of every month at 6:00 p.m.) in the evening hours in order for customers to contest their tickets and allow them the "due process of law."

• The Tampa Fire Rescue Public Education Office distributes smoke alarms and batteries to Tampa citizens through the neighborhood fire stations. Elderly and infirm citizens receive free installation of these lifesaving devices.

• The Tampa Theatre was the first public building in Tampa to be air-conditioned in 1926.

• Over 150 firefighters, police officers and other City employees mentor Hillsborough County School children via e-mail.

• The Recreation Department provides therapeutic recreation outreach programs to 20 different facilities, including McDonalds Training Center, Lighthouse for the Blind, The Spring, Alpha House and Francis House.

• The Convention Center / ARAMARK will open Calypso's Bistro on the Riverwalk in the early fall of 2002.

• You can start utility service, stop utility service or initiate a high bill inquiry with specially designed e-mail forms at our web site 24 hours a day/365 days a year by logging on here: www.tampagov.net/UAD.