Broward County

Budget Breakdown

County attempts to pare down budget

By Jonathan Del Marcus

The Broward County Commission is trying to decide how to pare down its fiscal year 2009 budget. 

The commission needs to cut approximately $80 million from its current budget to cover its share of a deficit expected to total about $100 million, said Kayla Olsen, the county’s budget director.

So, in its May 6 budget workshop, four teams, each led by a commissioner, discussed potential cuts related to Port Everglades and the Fort Lauderdale Airport, growth management and housing, economic development and the environment.

One team, led by Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, recommended freezing eight positions and deleting three positions at Port Everglades, a measure expected to save $609,000. The group also recommended moving Fort Lauderdale Airport employee parking to garages to reduce the need for shuttle services, saving an anticipated $4.5 million.

Others recommended reorganizing the county’s housing department and eliminating eight staff members for a savings of $774,000, as well as eliminating the planning services assistant director position for a savings of $129,500. County staffers also plan to eliminate a small number of positions in other departments through retirements and attrition.

“While nobody wants to see anybody laid off, that’s just the reality of where we are,” Commissioner Ken Keechl said.

However, Norman Taylor, the county’s economic development director, and his team did not recommend any reductions to the county’s travel budget, including the travel budgets of the commission and staff.

“I have a problem with that,” Commissioner Kristin Jacobs said. “I have a big problem with that. With the travel budget in general, it would seem to me with everything else that’s on the chopping block today, that somewhere there’s got to be some projected reduction in that area. I want to have a better idea of the kind of dollars being spent on economic development and what’s being spent on travel.”

Commissioner John Rodstrom said he also wants to know what the county spends on travel allowances and hotel rooms. “Those kinds of things ought to be looked at across the entire organization,” he said. 

Laura Hansen, chief executive officer of the Broward County-based Coalition to End Homelessness, urged the commission to remember the needs of the county’s most vulnerable people.

“Currently we have about 15,000 homeless men, women and children in Broward County and only about 900 emergency shelter beds,” Hansen said. “Every single day we have families on the streets waiting for a shelter bed to open. The current services we have right now are inadequate to meet the need. We can only project with the economy that that need is going to increase in Broward County. We believe that cutting any services to the very poor will have catastrophic consequences not only for the individual residents of Broward County, but also for the community at large. We recognize that you have a lot of services to consider, but are confident you’ll agree with us that we cannot balance the budget on the backs of the poor.”

Two additional budget workshops, scheduled for May 20 and 27, will deal with issues involving human services and the social safety net, transportation, arts and culture, and parks and recreation.

The commission will make formal recommendations to the county administrator’s office for specific cuts in the fiscal year 2009 budget during its June 3 and 17 hearings. The county administrator’s office must deliver a budget to the commission by July 15. The last budget workshop will be held Aug. 19, and there will be two public hearings, on Sept. 9 and 23, before the budget is formally adopted. 

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