Lake Worth Stars and Heros

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Star of the Night
Mayor Pam Triolo--The mayor was surprised by flowers from Commissioner Amoroso and a card signed by those in attendance who all sang Happy Birthday. She was also presented with a strawberry birthday cake that we all got to enjoy after the meeting.

The Most applause
This was a tie between the Mayor for her birthday and Michael Bornstein, our new city manager. Mr. Bornstein's contract was approved last night. He accepted $135,000 (an automatic 10% cut from Susan Stanton's salary), thus beginning his austerity program on executive salaries? Is there anything else left to cut?

The Hero of the Night
Susan Stanton--Without a doubt.

The independent auditors, TCBA Watson Rice LLP, gave a presentation on their report, the Management's Discussion and Analysis, Basic Financials and Budgetary Comparison Schedules for the year ending September 30, 2011. In a nutshell, the city staff worked under stressful conditions due to the falling ad valorem revenue and union contracts from years ago that produced out of whack/higher salaries, incentives and retirement pension costs.

Stanton streamlined the budgets that allowed us to be in the black. She reduced staff that started before her tenure in 2007/08 and continued through her direction. Considering the impossible odds, her budget reductions were phenomenal feats over the last two fiscal years and throughout the 32 months that she was with our city. Through her great strength and ability, and in spite of the constant political torment and harassment of the Vice Mayor, she met the challenge and produced positive results that allowed our city to sustain itself. She literally "gave her all" for Lake Worth and was unjustly rewarded for that effort.

The Good News
The Annual Report is produced in order to give an "overview of the financial position and operations of the City of Lake Worth."

• In 2011, The City reduced its annual budget by $1.2 million by restructuring and layoffs.

• The City ended the year in the black by $1.5 million. The general fund revenues totaled $30.9 million and the expenditures were $29.5 million with public safety taking 59% of our operating budget even though Susan Stanton had negotiated with the PBSO, reducing its budget by $1.2 million for two years. The PBSO reduced its staff but not the service.
  

• The Utility plant is operating efficiently and it has increased system reliability and has improved performance.

• We completed our Reverse Osmosis Plant and it opened within Budget.

• The Regional Sewer Utility is still in dispute over prior years' billings and current rates.

• The golf course is under a new business plan to become self-sufficient. There were 42,000 rounds of golf played there last year. We now have a new golf professional and Juan Ruiz, Recreation Director, is on top of it to drive it to success.
  

• The City owns and maintains 118 acres of parks in addition to the beach and golf course.

• Construction began on the casino and it is scheduled to open in October 2012.

• Public Works replaced nearly 3/4 miles of curb and gutter, 19,000 square feet of sidewalk and renovated the Shuffleboard Court building.

• Leisure services improved our facilities and ball fields