By Ryan Gillespie
Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO, Fla. — City leaders signed off on a $1.82 billion spending plan Monday that adds dozens of public safety personnel for the fast-growing southeastern section of the city.
It also calls for property owners to pay $6.65 per $1,000 of taxable value for the 11th consecutive year, though due to rising property values, that rate will result in about $17 million higher collections for City Hall.
The budget also includes a previously approved hike in the city’s stormwater fee – the pot of money used to repair damaged and aging pipes and upgrade systems that move water from streets to lakes. The typical single-family home has paid $9.99 per month for years, but now will see average increases each year of $3.50 per month, until the rate reaches about $21.24 per month in 2028.
The city pulls in about $25 million per year from the current fee and has had to borrow money to keep up with the need in recent years, with this year’s budget for the stormwater department about double its current fee revenue.
New additions to the overall budget plan include the city picking up its $14 million share of operating the SunRail commuter train. The 61-mile rail line has been funded and operated by the Florida Department of Transportation, but at year’s end, local governments with a stop along the route must begin picking up the tab. The city’s payment accounts for nine months of costs.
The budget also includes hiring 26 more cops and 39 more firefighters, with the bulk of those personnel going toward Lake Nona and the planned Sunbridge development, which was recently annexed into the city. Future investment will likely be needed to cover more than 50,000 acres of land that appears on the verge of being annexed into the city east of Sunbridge, known as the Deseret Ranches land.
With a change in state law prompting cities and counties to change how they respond to homelessness, the city is funding 11 Orlando Police Department officers to staff a homeless intervention unit. Next week, a new state law kicks in requiring cities and counties to ban public sleeping and clear encampments.
Lisa Portelli, a senior advisor on homelessness to Mayor Buddy Dyer, has said that OPD will not arrest people just for being homeless, but will arrest people who are homeless and committing crimes. However, arrests of people experiencing homelessness has increased in the city, officials have said.
“The arrests that our homeless intervention unit are making are for existing warrants…they’re not arresting for crimes of homelessness,” she said in an interview this month. “An arrest gets us nowhere except an expensive shelter bed for two nights.”
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