Tuesday Night's Beach Fund Discussion

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Well, I was wrong.  The most serious discussion was not on the electric fund and the rate parity with FPL even though Scott Maxwell is dead set on raising rates once again even though we will lose a million or so. It's impossible for me to grasp that concept when I believe in balanced budgets without using reserves and efficiency to achieve that end. The active discussion was on the beach and it lasted two hours longer than necessary.

Back in October 2014, the city manager said that the casino was running on a shoestring with shortfalls in the Beach Fund. There was no storage, no staff office space and the crew was doing the best it could. So, to solve his dilemma, he came up with the idea to use the ITN process...maybe someone else would have some ideas to get out of this tough spot--not enough staff--not enough money and we needed the 2nd floor space occupied by a tenant. Snitkin, the commercial real estate broker, could not do it. We thought, at the time when the ITN was first mentioned, that it was for proposals to lease the upper level at the casino and/or ideas to improve our complex.  We had no idea that it included more concrete (development) on our beach that involved a long-term lease of our prized asset. A Select Committee was formulated and three entities were vetted and narrowed down to two.

It's unfortunate the policy decisions are being made from what comes out of budget workshops where there is no public input.  Instead of votes, they ask for a consensus and then the administration proceeds to formulate a budget. In the case of the beach discussion, there was no back-up for anyone, even the commissioners.  They and the public had to view the Power Point presentation that was produced by Burton & Associates.

The commission spent some time changing the options using a toggle system so that they could see how certain expenses would affect the bottom line. The objective, or so I assumed, was to not run at a deficit.  The commission insisted on adding in more expenses that the Leisure Services Manager wanted: lifeguard staff that will cost $156,282 which provides guards for ten hours a day rather than eight. We will be getting two more custodians and a full-time parking technician. The pool will continue to stay open 29 hours a week. They will put aside (savings reserves) $100,000 a year for annual repair and replacement projects.  Seasonal parking rates will increase from $2.00 to $2.25 for the months of June through September and then $2.50 from October through May. This should reap an estimated $300,658 in additional parking revenue based on this year's usage.

After constant dissing of past commissions for just about everything during past meetings, the absolute silliest suggestion of the night was Maxwell's insistence that we pay off the loan to ourselves at the rate approved by a previous commission. He would not accept a lower amount or a longer term that would help balance the fund. Instead, he wanted to escalate the time period from twelve years to nine, making the payment even higher than the original pledged amount of $551,225 a year. His rationale was that we hadn't paid the full amount for the first three years. We have been paying half that back to ourselves and missed a payment in 2013, the year the casino opened without full rents.

Things change in business and you have to adjust. Paying $250,000 a year, as we have done in the last two years, will not affect the Water Department's budget said Larry Johnson, Water Dept Director, nor will it affect the Self-Insurance Fund where the $6 million was borrowed.  Scott Maxwell has been negative on our beach project before inception and loves to tell all who will listen, "I told you so..this model was flawed from the beginning"  or his other favorite saying, "How much longer are we going to kick the can down the road?" Mayor Pam Triolo said that she had a business and that she too wanted to stay with the original amount and term. I can't imagine running a business that way--going deeper in debt, taping into a limited fund balance to pay for the cost overages of taking on more employees, more costs and not adjusting the loan terms especially when it is paying back yourself.

Mike Bornstein gave the summary of the commission agreement: The consensus was a 3/2, going with a 14 year pay-back on the loan instead of 12 years and seasonal parking increases that will be evaluated after one year (evaluation was the suggestion of Commissioner Amoroso who was thinking of the impact on the beach merchants and all those who visit our beach).  This will leave us with a deficit of $29,000 + which is better than the deficit of hundreds of thousands initially suggested by Maxwell and Triolo. Commissioner Maier's original suggestion would have kept us with a positive balance of over $11,000 but the rest of the commission, at Juan Ruiz's plea of public safety wanted to fund more lifeguards to cover 10 hours at our beach ($156,282) rather than pay overtime hours ($30,000).

Commissioner McVoy, Amoroso and Maier made up the commission consensus to approve the final numbers on the beach fund...good move by all three with Scott Maxwell accusing Commissioner McVoy of having a "political problem." There were only two on the dais playing politics and their names were not McVoy, Amoroso or Maier.