- December 26, 2024
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The city of Ormond Beach is planning for over $25 million in capital improvement projects for next fiscal year.
On June 4, the City Commission was given an overview of the proposed five-year Capital Improvements Program for fiscal year 2024-2025 to 2028-2029. The five-year CIP is budgeting for over $164 million of projects.
Included in the upcoming fiscal year is funding for public art, the replacement of city and police vehicles, the $800,000 reconstruction of the Ormond Beach Sports Complex softball fields (half of which is funded by a Volusia County ECHO grant) and the design for a new police station and emergency operations center.
Of the 10 categories included in the CIP, the ones with the largest cost is General Improvements at $54,044 million. Some of the projects that fall under this category include the installation of new ADA-compliant sidewalks at Military Boulevard, the design for the new EOC and an upgrade to the city's data center infrastructure.
Over $85 million of the revenue to be used for the CIP projects comes from bonds and leasing. The city is also counting on over $31 million in grants and planning for about $19.5 million in property tax revenue; a tentative millage rate will be set by the Ormond Beach City Commission on July 23, for fiscal year 2024-2025.
Public hearings for the tax rate will then follow.
The city of Ormond Beach is only budgeting to use Community Redevelopment Area dollars on two projects next fiscal year: $100,000 for the implementation of public art and $120,000 for infrastructure and hardscape improvements to the downtown.
Why only two projects? Because the city is looking ahead to its redesign of Cassen Park.
"What we're doing is we're taking the majority of the dollars that we currently have, and the majority of the dollars we're going to get next year, and we need to get projects done that we've already committed to," Finance Director Kelly McGuire said.
The city is also planning to replace the playground at Fire Station 91, repair the Magic Forest Playground at Nova Community Center and repair the fishing pier at Sanchez Park.
As for the $2.9 million design for a new police station and EOC, the city received $1.45 million in legislative funding for the project. At its meeting on June 4, the City Commission approved a $200,000 work authorization with JL2 Architecture for a space and needs analysis for the proposed facility.
The city is estimating a new police station and EOC will cost about $50 million, according to the CIP.
Water and wastewater projects are another category with high-ticket items on the CIP. The city is budgeting over $45 million for projects.
One of the main projects will be designing a new force main and reclaimed water pipe across the Halifax River. According to the city's CIP, the existing force main was installed in 1981.
The new secondary force main is also being proposed to comply with Senate Bill 64, passed in 2021, which mandates cities reduce their discharge of treated wastewater effluent into water bodies within 10 years.
"We want to make sure that we have some redundancy," Public Works Director Shawn Finley said.
Three Public Works dump trucks will also be replaced for $850,000. These have been a challenge to get for the city, Finley said.
"Very specific and very expensive," he said.
