COT Projects $3.8 Million Budget Deficit for FY2025

On Wednesday, the City of Tallahassee will hold a budget workshop and report on the first seven months’ financial results for the 14 funds that comprise the City’s FY24 operating budget.

The agenda for the workshop notes that the city’s general fund currently has a FY25 projected deficit of $3.8 million. Significant increases include $1.5 million for the estimated increase in health costs, $1.2 million increase in the transfer to StarMetro to return to the pre-pandemic level of funding, $755,000 increase in pension costs, an increase of $447,156 for utility costs, and $427,342 for other transfers.

The FY24 operating and capital budgets, which total $1.122 billion, were approved by the City Commission in September 2023. The operating budget is $868.4 million, and the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget for FY24 totals $253 million.

This quarterly update presents the first seven months’ financial results for the 14 funds that comprise the City’s FY24 operating budget. All of the funds were given a “Green” rating except the StarMetro fund. which received a “Yellow” rating.

A “Green” rating indicates the fund is within budget as of the current quarterly update. A “Yellow” rating indicates that monitoring of the fund’s key drivers is needed. There is a budgetary issue that requires ongoing attention. And a “Red” indicates that he status of the fund requires action to return it to a balanced state.

StarMetro Details

StarMetro is the City’s public transit service which provides fixed-route and special transportation services under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provisions and serves as the Community Transportation Coordinator (CTC) for Leon County.

The StarMetro Department comprises six divisions and operates 14-weekday cross-town routes and other weekend and night routes, including university service or student ridership programs for FSU, FAMU, TCC, and K-12 students in Leon County.

The chart below shows that fixed route ridership has increased in the last two years but is still well below pre-pandemic levels. Staff notes that the slow return to pre-pandemic numbers is a common trend nationwide.

The agenda item states “paratransit and other “on-demand” trips must be closely monitored to ensure services are provided within available resources.   The department is reviewing methods to improve the coordination of on-demand services with fixed routes and providing options for contracted on-demand services to ensure competitive rates are paid per trip.”

The budget workshop is scheduled for April 10th at 1:00 p.m. in the City Commission Chambers.