Lake Worth raises tax rate slightly but cuts budget

Click title for link to PB Post article. Downtown parking meters and redlight cameras didn't make it in this budget, a good thing. Another thing that didn't make it in the final version was the internal auditor position. This is what the city charter says about the internal auditor position:

Sec. 4. - Form of government.

(a)

The form of government of the City of Lake Worth shall be known as the "commission-manager plan." The city commission shall constitute the governing body with powers as hereinafter provided to pass ordinances, adopt resolutions and policies and appoint a chief administrative officer to be known as the "city manager," and to exercise all other powers hereinafter provided, or conferred by law.

(b)

Elective and appointive officers.

(1)

The elective officers under this charter shall be the mayor and the members of the city commission.

(2)

The appointive officers shall be the city manager, city attorney, internal auditor, city clerk, police chief, fire chief, and such other officers as may be provided for by ordinance. Any of the above officers which are, or may become, under civil service shall be subject to civil service regulations. All of the appointive officers under the charter, except the city manager, city attorney, and internal auditor shall be appointed by the city manager and all appointive officers shall hold office subject to provisions of law.

(Ord. No. 96-34, § 1, 12-5-96)

It is interesting that the Charter uses what I think is "prescriptive" language for the position - meaning you SHALL, or in other words MUST, have an internal auditor. Our city attorney, also appointed by the City Commission gave them a "pass" on this being a requirement according to her legal interpretation.

One thing that did make it in was $1 million for "open space" for what Commissioner Jennings said was a "park" in Tropical Ridge, but was corrected by Commissioner Mulvehill that it was to buy the Sunset property. I have said this before, but if the Planning and Zoning Board had access to the city's checkbook, our decisions on many land use issues may have been different. A guiding principle of planning is that you work within a framework of regulations, police power (of which zoning is a form) and private property rights to render decisions that many times are compromises. It is never a working goal that you are actively anticipating that the city will buy a property that is going through zoning review. This $1 million represents the least beneficial result of what I refer to as "checkbook zoning." This $1 million took away from other worthy programs and services for this budget year. Who knows? More might be appropriated after the budget year begins or maybe an additional amount would be needed next year. Of course, this $1 million is exclusive of the amount of money the city has spent in defense of its legal position on the matter. Costs like that tend to get lost in consent agenda items - like in this past Tuesday's regular City Commission meeting agenda.

It doesn't surprise me that Commissioner Jennings voted against the setting of the millage rate and indicated that she would have preferred that it go higher. The Mayor talked about, but now apparently is backing away from comments made about the city's bankruptcy at his special message on the budget this past summer. But, if you think about it, isn't being bankrupt not having any other alternative to finance your services? If we are at the maximum rate of 10 mills, then I would refer to the city as being bankrupt. We are now at 8.85 mills - just 1.15 away from our maximum rate and we are projected to face larger budget deficits in each of the next 2 years. Where is the money going to come from? If a city doesn't have an answer to that question, then I would say that city is bankrupt.

And do we really trust any number that comes out of City Hall?  This budget has a lot of numbers in it. As accountants say, financial statements are a group of lies agreed upon.