Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Deltona City Commission held a budget workshop on August 25, 2025, to review the proposed FY 2025-2026 budget. The meeting was called to order at 5:30 PM by Mayor Avila and adjourned at 7:10 PM. Commissioner Lulli was absent. Central topics included a proposed decrease in the millage rate to 6.7 mills, funding strategies for lake vegetation management, the initiation of a forensic audit RFP, and a consensus to invite a presentation from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
FY 2025-2026 Proposed Budget: Finance Director John McKinney presented the $245.1 million citywide operating budget. The General Fund is $76.9 million. The proposed millage rate is 6.7 mills, a decrease from 7.0 mills, continuing a 10-year downward trend from 7.99 mills. The average household tax is estimated to decrease to $508.54. Capital Outlay is set at $8.5 million and CIP at just under $78 million. Road resurfacing received $1.6 million in Local Option Gas Tax funding, with an additional $400,000 for street repairs. Two new code enforcement positions and vehicles were added.
Lake Management Funding: Vice Mayor Heriot requested a plan to address aquatic weed overgrowth in city lakes, suggesting a combination of special assessments and stormwater funds. He explored increasing the millage rate by 0.1 mills ($567,000) to fund this. Commissioner Colwell supported the initiative. Commissioner Howington opposed a tax increase and proposed reallocating funds from the Parks CIP budget to stormwater. City Manager Stafford noted that park impact fees must be spent within seven years.
Forensic Audit and DOGE: The Commission discussed proceeding with an RFP for a forensic and compliance audit. Finance Director McKinney estimated the cost could reach $2 million. Commissioner Santiago opposed the expenditure, citing clean past audits and calling it a waste of money. Commissioner Howington championed an alternative audit by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). After a heated debate, where Commissioner Avila-Vazquez called a point of order regarding decorum and personal attacks, the Commission reached a consensus to pursue both: issuing the RFP for the forensic audit and scheduling a free presentation by DOGE.
Purchasing Policy Threshold: Finance Director McKinney requested the Commission clarify the $25,000 purchasing threshold, stating it was impeding operations (e.g., AC repairs, vehicle transmissions). Vice Mayor Heriot preferred the higher previous threshold. City Attorney Good suggested differential thresholds for different departments. The Commission agreed to have staff bring back options for an amended policy in October.
Capital Projects Oversight: Commissioner Colwell requested a detailed list of roads scheduled for resurfacing and reports on road grading to avoid duplication and ensure proper coordination with water/sewer projects. The Deputy City Manager confirmed these would be provided by the September 3rd meeting.
Okay, at this time we're gonna go ahead and get ahead and get started with the city commission workshop scheduled for Monday, August 25th, 2025. If I can please have the city clerk call the roll. Commissioner Villa Vasquez. Present. Commissioner Calwell. Here Commissioner Howington. Here. Commissioner Lulley. Commissioner Santiago. Here. Vice Mayor Harriet. Present. Mayor Abela. Here. This time, if we can please stand for the pledge, and I like to ask Vice Mayor to lead us to the pledge. To the Republic for which it stands one nation under God. All right. So we're gonna be discussing fiscal year 2025-2026 proposed budget discussions, operational fund budgets to include revenue and expenditures, CIP, capital outlay, and special assessments. Mr. McKinney. Apparently, today you're the city attorney, so on my mic, it's a city attorney. Go ahead. Okay. Only on Mondays. Mayor Commission, good evening. This evening is just a brief overview of where we've come from July 14th to today. So I want to go over it for y'all. I might be too far away. It's not working. Okay. Thank you, Kat. Just point the laser referencial. Okay. Thank you. So this is just to show Mayor all the various meetings that we've had regarding this year's budget process. We started um February 3rd setting the calendar for this year, and this is on top of all the countless meetings that we have had with the staff, all the department directors, um, and budget team and I with uh the city manager and deputy city manager. So our overview as of today, the citywide total operating budget for fiscal year 2526 is set at 245,141,106. The general fund has increased to 76 million 928,238 dollars. We've been able to based on revenue estimates received to reduce the millage from 6.75 to 6.7 mills. We have investments in capital next year of in our CAP of just under 78 million, and for capital outlay of 8.5 million. Um as of August the 12th, the CPI has increased 12 for the last 12 months of 2.7 percent. When we started back in May 3rd, it was I believe 22.2 percent. So you can see the year-over-year change from um the last 12 months has increased just in the three and a half months since we started this process. Our historical trend, this is I believe important to show just the stewardship that the count commission has provided along with the city manager staff. You can see that we went from in the last 10 years 7.99 mils to today.