- September 8, 2024
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The annual budget process has begun at the city of Ormond Beach, and at a Tuesday, June 6 workshop, the Ormond Beach City Commission reviewed over $19 million in projects budgeted for next fiscal year.
The projects — including a commission chambers upgrade, a study for a new EOC and police station, a drainage study for North U.S. 1 and Ormond Lakes, and an analysis of options for turning the parking lot at 56 N. Beach St. into a community center — are part of the city's $120 million five-year Capital Improvement Program.
Projects included in the CIP, according to a city staff memo, focus on the maintenance or upgrade of existing facilities.
"Obviously, we're going to keep coming back to your strategic goals," City Finance Director Kelly McGuire said to the commission. "And those are the projects we really look to try and to incorporate in the capital plan for funding for next year."
Of the nine categories in the CIP, the ones with the highest-cost projects are General Improvements ($54,145,000 million), Water and Wastewater ($28,898,912) and Transportation ($13,425,790).
About 53% of the CIP, or $64.7 million, will be funded through bonds and leases. Property tax revenues are projected to fund about 5.9% of the CIP, or $7.1 million.
User fees, McGuire said, are also a significant portion of the budget, accounting for 19.6% of funding, or $23.7 million.
"Many people think that property taxes is the largest source of funding, but it is not," she said. "By far, users fees, related to water and sewer and stormwater are."
In 2021, the Ormond Beach City Commission voted 3-2 to demolish the former Ormond Beach Union Church property at 56 N. Beach St.
The city had purchased the property for $729,000 in 2018 to turn it into a community center but ultimately decided that renovating was too costly.
Community members contested the decision to demolish the church and build a shell parking lot in its place, saying the building had historic value and asking the commission to delay the demolition so the community could bring forth ideas for possible uses.
The needs assessment and land use study, budgeted at $60,000, would address how best to use the property as a community center.
"This project is a needs analysis to take a look and see what can be done there, if it's feasible to do something there and if it meets the needs of what we're looking at," Public Works Director Shawn Finley said.
The city expects to fund the study with Community Redevelopment Agency dollars, but could acquire grant funding and would change the funding source listed on the CIP if it does, McGuire said.
The North U.S. 1 and Ormond Lakes Drainage Study is the first major project the city will work on from its Stormwater Master Plan, Finley said.
Budgeted at $150,000, the study will consider the needs of that corridor and may suggest improvements and identify who is responsible for addressing problems.
"With the activity that's going on in that area, we really felt that this was the right time to do this analysis," Finley said. "That way, as there is some design on those projects that are coming up — the residential projects, some of those commercial projects — we can work together to really make sure that those projects are done correctly."
City Commissioner Lori Tolland said the study is a good idea.
"If you think about all the residents that have to come to our commission meetings, a lot of it is with the water issues up in that area," she said.
The city is also planning to rehabilitate its corrugated metal storm piping, which the CIP states is "failing due to corrosion and age."
Much of it was installed over 25 years ago, and fixing it will be a $4.75 million project, with $950,000 budgeted annually for the next five fiscal years.
A $225,000 upgrade to the City Commission chambers technology — including audio/visual upgrades for livestreaming for the chambers and the meeting room where workshops are conducted — is also in the CIP.
The plan also features a $900,000 upgrade to the city's telecommunication system, which is over 30 years old.
The current system "relies on antiquated equipment that is no longer manufactured, and has only limited technical support from AT&T,” the CIP states.
Damage caused by Hurricane Ian led to a major service interruption to the Public Works phone system for nearly three months, the CIP plan states.
"The utility billing phone system that accepts telephonic utility payments was disabled for 26 days, and most recently, the police department had several lines down for over two weeks,” the plan states.
The city will also pursue a $100,000 needs assessment and land use study for an emergency operations center, a replacement or relocation of the city’s police station, and a fire station to replace Volusia County Fire Station 13, near North U.S. 1, upon its decommission.
The project is budgeted at $51 million by the 2027-2028 fiscal year, including planning, design, permitting and construction costs.
This project, Finley said, is dependent upon legislative funding.
"Once we begin this process, it's one that's going to take us a little while, and rightfully so — because this is hopefully a building that we will occupy for a long time," he said.
Tolland, who served on the city's Leisure Services Advisory Board for over 20 years before being elected, asked if the city would consider separating Leisure Services facility projects out from the Renewal and Replacement fund.
She suggested creating a dedicated millage to ensure the city stays on top of maintenance for facilities like sports fields and gymnasiums.
"For instance, back in the day, 25 years ago, my kids played those fields," she said. "Those soccer fields were really, really, really pristine. Everybody talked about how wonderful they were and how great they were, and everybody wanted to come into Ormond Beach. And I'm not saying they're not good now, but the level has certainly decreased."
Commissioner Travis Sargent added that the sunshades at some of the fields are rusted.
"It's like, we have something nice that's put in, but then it's not maintained," he said. "... Instead of maintaining it, now we're replacing it when we could have maybe maintained it a little bit better."
McGuire said there are two funds used for improving facilities, including rec facilities — the renewal and replacement fund, and the general capital fund, for a total of $900,000.
Mayor Bill Partington said he wouldn’t pursue adjusting the millage rate.
"The problem with dollars is you're never going to have enough," he said. "... I'd rather, if there are specific projects that you know of that need to be done or advanced, bring them to us and we'll plug them into this year's budget to get those taken care of, and have a good debate back and forth on them to make sure they're priorities."
Tolland said that’s one way the commission could address needs. But many of the problems, she said, have been due to a "slow decline" over time.
"My goal is to have the ability to let Leisure Services and parks know that they have X amount of money to do what they need to do to keep it maintained," she said.
McGuire said staff would return to the commission with options to fund more maintenance projects for city rec facilities at a later date.
The next commission meeting and workshop are scheduled for July 18.
