Financial Accountability
For the 38th consecutive year, the City has earned the Certificate of Achievement for the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) from the Government Finance Officers Association for last year’s audit. The Certificate recognizes the spirit of transparency and full disclosure.
The 2019-20 budget was adopted in September 2019 using a millage rate of 1.18 mills, the same as the FY 2018-19 millage rate, and all statutory requirements were met. For the 15th year in a row, the City received the Government Finance Officers Association’s Budget Award, considered the highest form of recognition in public sector financial reporting.
On the one hand, the City Debt Policy establishes parameters and provides guidance governing the evaluation, issuance, management and reporting on all debt obligations issued by the City in compliance with Federal and State laws and the City’s Charter ordinances and resolutions. The City will only utilize debt obligations for acquisition, construction or remodeling of capital improvement projects that cannot be funded from current revenue sources or in such cases wherein it is more equitable to finance the project over its useful life. The City will not issue debt or use debt proceeds to finance operational costs.
Finally, the policy seeks to create procedures to minimize the City’s debt service and issuance costs, retain the highest practical credit rating, and provide full and complete post-issuance financial disclosure and reporting.
On the other hand, the City Investment Policy sets forth the investment objectives and parameters for the management of public funds for the City. The Policy is designed to safeguard the City’s funds, assure the availability of operating and capital funds when needed while providing an investment return competitive with comparable funds and financial market indices. The primary objectives, in order of importance, are safety of principal, liquidity, and return on investment.
Fact You Should Know to Dispel Inaccurate Information
General Fund
Revenues will exceed Expenditures thus leading to an increase in Fund Balance
One Cent Sales Tax
This tax began in 2019 and is earmarked for infrastructure and building repair. . The utilization of the One Cent Sales Tax Fund Balance of $1.9 M from 2019 is doing exactly what the intent of the money was collected for. It is not an operational fund designed to accumulate and hold fund balance.
Water Fund
The water fund has significant ($18.8 M) in capital expenditures budgeted in 2019-2020 for water infrastructure and capacity improvements. this capital investment in Water fund assets will increase value of assets and decrease fund balance by $8.4 while leaving $19.3 in expected Fund Balance reserve.
A Fund Balance of $19.3 M remains 3 times greater than required by Fund Balance Policy and is approximately 56% of the 2020 projected revenue of $35 M. This clearly demonstrates fiscal responsibility reinvestment into infrastructure and Fund Balance stability.
Storm Water Fund
The Storm Water Fund has capital expenditures budgeted in 2019-2020 including $7.9 M for Phase I water outfall project.
The capital investment is essential in target water quality issues for the City. While the budget book (page 7) indicates the Fund balance being reduced to $6.8 M for this important project. Council also discussed an overall Stormwater Master Plan acceleration and directed staff to prepare financing alternatives for additional acceleration.
The current City Council has committed significant funds in the 2019-2020 Budget to water quality issues and have directed staff to bring additional funding options for additional acceleration.
The Budget was step 1. The workshop was step 2. In late April early May Council will be asked to approve financing options to preserve fund balance and to tackle additional items in the Stormwater Master Plan.
This expenditures exceeding revenues in the budget to invest and water quality while providing directive for staff to prepare additional financing alternatives demonstrates both commitment and prudence with Fund Balance stability.
City Dock
The Naples City Dock continues to provide residents and visiting boaters with state-of-the-art facilities and a high level of customer service at a reasonable cost.
City Dock staff act as ambassadors to the boating industry by promoting tourism and local business patronage, promote Clean Marina practices and maintain an environment that upholds integrity, creditability, quality service and responsible future planning.
The Completely rebuilt Naples City Dock is now open for business. The new facility boast:
- 84 slips on floating docks accommodating 30 – 60 foot vessels with deep water
- High speed diesel and ethanol free gasoline
- Free pump out
- Rest rooms/laundry room/outdoor lounge area
- Close to shops, restaurants and ship store
Transient vessels welcome – our 400’ frontage can accommodate various size vessels.
Hurricane Recovery
During the hurricane, Mayor Bill Barnett kept citizens informed via hourly and daily updates across radio and television station.
Barnett citizens up to date with water and power issues, places to avoid and ways to keep safe in the aftermath of the wreckage.
The city is still encountering permits for Hurricane Irma damage and to date there has been approximately $9.7 million paid out for flood insurance claims in the city limits.
Staff has started reviewing the claims and will work with those property owners to better understand the reason for their flooding and work towards mitigation efforts so future flood losses would be reduced.
8th Street Improvements
The 8th Street Corridor Improvement Project commenced construction on April 22, 2019. The complete project extends from 5th Avenue South to 7th Avenue North and includes 3rd Avenue South from 8th Street to 9th Street (US41). The construction has been broken up into 2 phases.
Phase 1, the south portion, includes 5th Avenue South to Central Avenue and was reopened to traffic on November 1, 2019. Phase 1 work included converting the signalized intersection at 3rd Avenue South and 8th Street South to a roundabout with increased safety features at the pedestrian crosswalks.
The project also included utility, landscape, on-street parking modifications, and stormwater drainage improvements. Multimodal improvements include bike lanes, improved bus pull-off areas, and wider sidewalks. Significant coordination was made with businesses within and near the project boundaries prior to and during the construction.
The north section of the project under Phase 2 will commence in April 2020.
The Utilities Department coordinated the design and construction of utility improvements in conjunction with Phase 1 of the 8th Street Improvement project. A total of 4,600 LF of new 12” PVC sanitary sewer force main was installed which provides alternative routing in the event the existing force main downstream of the City’s master pump station 49 is offline.
Water Distribution System improvements included upgrades and looped connections to several antiquated and undersized water mains, new fire hydrants installations, and potable water service line replacements throughout the construction corridor.
Improved Stormwater
Shortly after the adoption of the 2018 Stormwater Master Plan, an update to the Stormwater Lakes Management Plan was initiated with the following goals:
- Review existing stormwater lake assessment data;
- Update the stormwater lakes water and sediment quality database;
- Incorporate input from adjacent property owners regarding the health and status of the lakes;
- Re-prioritize lake restoration need based on lake impairments and impacts to downstream waterbodies;
- Provide updated recommendations, best management practices, and funding strategies.
Concurrently, questions and concerns pertaining to Spring Lake (Lake #11) were addressed. Spring Lake is a 4.9-acre stormwater detention pond located near the center of the City.
Spring Lake was identified in the 2012 Lake Management Plan as a high priority pollutant loading lake; however, the lake does not have clear ownership.
While the City maintains historical rights to send stormwater from upland areas to the lake and by way of the public stormsewer system, ownership of the land underlying the water of the lake lies with some other person(s), heir(s), or other entity. Over time, vast quantities of stormwater have flowed through the land, forming the lake, and depositing pollutants.
Goals of the Spring Lake Restoration Assessment were: 1 Delineate the watershed for Spring Lake; 2. Define all properties within the watershed and their individual drainage contribution to Spring Lake; 3. Provides recommendations for restoration approaches and the logistics for a dredge project; 4. Evaluate the options available to the City for developing a revenue source for a restoration project and possibly ongoing maintenance.
Construction of the Naples Bay Restoration and Water Quality Improvements Project at the Cove kicked off in May of 2019 with completion at the end of October 2019. The goal of the project was to remove approximately 1,000 tons of material in Naples Bay just downstream of the Cove Stormwater Pump Station that has accumulated over decades.
After removal of the material, the channel was armored with various layers of rip-rap and a “Living Shoreline” was created on the south side of the Cove consisting of oyster bags and spartina plantings. The sidewalk along the seawall was improved with landscaping, irrigation, benches, trash receptacles, and 2 educational signs. This project received the Envision® Silver Award for sustainable infrastructure from The Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI). The project delivers a heightened range of environmental, social, and economic benefits to Naples and surrounding communities
Construction of the 2019 Basin V Stormwater Improvement project began in July 2019 and will continue through December 2019. The goal of this project is to improve the stormwater system along 8th Terrace North in the Lake Park Neighborhood where several houses have experienced major flooding in recent years. Several new stormwater pipe segments were added on 8th Terrace N and Forest Avenue which flow into the stormwater pond known locally as Willow Lake. The existing pipe network into and out of the lake are also being replaced with larger pipes as part of this project. Additional water quality improvements include over 2,000 linear feet of reclaimed swales.
Mobile Command Center
The City of Naples Police Department is committed to reducing criminal victimization and Part 1 crimes through the development of planned responses to emerging crime trends.
The city acquired a Mobile Command Centers, which is dispatched to places where there is an emergency to help Police officers communicate among each other so they can act as quickly as possible.
The Command Center provides safety for emergency personnel as well as safety for citizens to properly handle threatening situations.