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
• 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.
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