Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Deltona City Commission held a budget workshop on May 3, 2025, from 9:00 AM to 11:54 AM to review the preliminary FY 2025-2026 budget, focusing on the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), capital outlay, fleet replacement, and various fees and assessments. Present were Mayor Avila, Vice Mayor Heriot, Commissioner Avila-Vazquez, Commissioner Colwell, and Commissioner Howington. Commissioners Lulli and Santiago were absent.
Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Overview Finance Director John McKinney presented the preliminary CIP, noting that final project funding depends on forthcoming rate studies, property tax valuations (expected in June), and state revenues (July).
General Fund CIP (Fund 301): Projects include finalizing City Hall renovations (centralizing customer service), phase two of the Fire Training Complex at Day Road, and the relocation of Fire Station 62. The $3 million for Fire Station 62 in the next fiscal year is specifically for land acquisition. The relocation is contingent on approval by the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) board, as funds could come from the CRA.
Parks Capital Improvements (Fund 302): Staff presented $8.25 million in fully funded projects for parks including West Crowell, Dewey Boster, Thornby, Tom Hoffman, Festival, Harris Saxon, Keysville, and Manny Rodriguez. Commissioner Avila-Vazquez expressed disappointment that District 3 parks (Van Park, Lake Gleason) were not included. Staff explained that Lakeshore Park improvements are postponed pending completion of the adjacent 4B stormwater project.
Transportation Capital Improvements (Fund 303): Projects include $1 million for the Rhode Island extension study and roadway elevations for Catalina Blvd and El Cam Blvd, funded via a FEMA pass-through through the Florida Division of Emergency Management. Commissioner Colwell raised concerns about creating a dam effect with an elevated road; a potential bridge option and Blueway connectivity were discussed.
Water/Wastewater CIP (Fund 402): A $44 million project for the Fisher Water Reclamation Facility was presented. The project is 50% covered by a $22 million state grant, with the remainder potentially funded via state revolving fund (SRF) loans. Commissioner Avila-Vazquez raised the issue of persistent odor from the plant; staff stated the new advanced wastewater treatment process would resolve it. Staff disclosed that a strategic option to relocate the plant to the 90-acre Alexander Avenue (Rib) site is being explored to move it further from residents and allow for a larger, modern facility.
Stormwater CIP (Fund 422): A total of $1.2 million was identified for citywide drainage pipe rehabilitation and pond water quality improvements. Commissioner Avila-Vazquez highlighted flooding from clogged-right-of way drains and asked about the maintenance schedule. Staff committed to publishing the schedule online.
Capital Replacement, Fleet, and Equipment McKinney reviewed the fleet replacement program, noting that vehicles are being replaced at an average age of 15 years (against a 10-year policy) and that maintenance costs on some units have reached 183% of their acquisition cost. He proposed amending the vehicle replacement policy to include a maintenance-to-acquisition cost ratio. Commissioner Avila-Vazquez praised the early procurement of a fire apparatus, which saved significant money against current price inflation.
Enhancements and Technology Proposals included an $800,000 Tyler Munis ERP cloud migration, a sandbag storage structure for emergency management, and a city-wide fiber initiative. Vice Mayor Heriot confirmed the cloud migration aligns with industry trends and noted offsetting costs would be identified.
Affordable Housing McKinney presented options for fulfilling the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) recommendation to set aside 1% of the budget for a community land trust. He recommended the set-aside be based on ad valorem tax proceeds (approximately $333,000) rather than the full city budget (over $600,000). Commissioner Avila-Vazquez supported the staff recommendation, distinguishing the program from Section 8 housing and noting Deltona is the only city in its state meeting region without an affordable housing program. The Commission generally concurred, suggesting the program be revisited every 2–3 years and formalized via a resolution.
Fee Schedules, Special Assessments, and Impact Fees
Other Discussions The Commission discussed the comprehensive relocation strategy for fire stations (urging a big-picture view of coverage times), the backflow prevention project, lift station generator budgeting, body cameras for Code Enforcement and Animal Control, and the Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) program.
We're about to get started. Twenty seconds. Twenty seconds. Somebody spoke out in and see where it can. All right, we're gonna go ahead and get started with this May 3rd, 2025 budget workshop. If I can please have the city clerk call a little. Commissioner Villavasquez. Present. Commissioner Caldwell here. Commissioner Howington. Here, Commissioner Louie. Commissioner Santiago. Vice Mayor Harriet. Here. Mayor Villa. Here. We can please stand for the pledge and I'll have uh Vice Mayor Harriet do the pledge. Okay. This time we're gonna go ahead and start with business fiscal year 2025 through 2026 budget discussions. All right, thank you, Mayor. Uh welcome to everybody this morning. I appreciate you coming out on the Saturday morning force. This is the first of uh numerous budget workshops. Um I lost my voice a couple days ago, so now I sound like Suzanne Pouchette. Just give a heads up on that. Um this the CIP capital and service enhancements. Uh this is generally I want to use the word wish list because it sounds like un unnecessary things are absolutely uh necessary items, equipment as well as projects, but we don't have the final budget, which we're gonna be working on uh bringing to the commission and having several discussions over the next several months. This is big picture stuff to say uh is are you pleased with what we're bringing to you or the things that you would like to see uh or the things projects that you would not like to see, at least in this next year's budget. So when we get done with all the details of line items for each of the departments, we'll be able to look back then and say, okay, here's the projects that we discussed at this meeting and how we can fit them in as we combine then uh projects with uh everyday operations and have a final budget uh by uh August, September, October in place and October first. So uh today's just uh overall discussion. I'm gonna ask John to uh to speak to go through as much as he can through the the the actual slideshow and then maybe go back to questions afterwards so we don't get hung up too much on the first second slide and third slide and so on. Uh but maybe as you're going through if you can make some notes on your slides and then towards the end uh with questions we can go back to slide two, slide seven, and uh you'll have your notes right there what you wanted to ask at that point unless it's something obviously operational that you need to ask that moment. So John McKinney, finance director. Good morning, Mayor and Commission. How are y'all doing today? Um the first thing I'd like to point out, I handed um three replacement pages for you. Um the first replacement page is regarding station 62 as part of the general fund project list and fund 301. And then the last two pages we updated, just reorganized it by fund, and it's the last two pages of your binder. Okay, there's been no other changes um at this point. I've also um handed out Mayor, um the master capital outlay and fleet replacement and capital outlay to the public, so they all have um an overall uh copy of what we're discussing today. They don't have the binder, but it is available online. Okay. Okay. Um the first thing I'd like to do is you know, number one, thank um the the finance team, Tori and Kiang for helping to get this presentation and this book put together, as well as all the department directors and their staff over the last few weeks putting this together as well. So today we're gonna talk about the overall parameters, um, the various capital improvements of the various funds, capital outlay, enhancement request, affordable housing, city fees, and special assessments. So the parameters today is that you know, as I spoken about back in February, the budget process is very fluid, and the city manager just stated that as well. All the requests presented here in are preliminary and contingent upon the results of forthcoming rate studies, anticipated internet agency revenues, and the approval of the operating millage. We truly won't know where we're at with our taxable value until we get our pre-preliminary numbers on the first day of Jane June. Um the property appraiser has been given it out earlier and earlier, but you know, they typically put it give it out in June, and we won't even know where we are with our state revenues typically until mid to late July. Okay.