Clearwater officials say they may have to cut almost 140 positions if the property tax amendment passes. The city staff told the Council at a special budget work session that they’ll need to find a way to make up more than $20 million in the two fiscal years after it goes into effect.

Clearwater Budget Impact

According to a memo city staff recently sent to City Council and staff’s presentation, the tentative plan would be to cut about 75 full-time positions in 2028, and about 64 in 2029. The layoffs would be divided across the city’s departments that use the general fund.

Property taxes are the biggest contributor to the general fund, paying for everything from police and fire, city staff says, to public works and administration. The memo also says they’d have to lower the police department’s technology budget for tools that help officers with investigations, cut down on park and rec services and more.

Local Budget Preparation

Council member Lina Teixeira said at Tuesday’s meeting, “It’s so easy to just dismiss this as just, you know, numbers on a graph or on a piece of paper, but it actually affects not only our staff, but our residents. So, every decision we make impacts humans. So that makes it very difficult.”

Council member Ryan Cotton said, “I appreciate everybody in this room taking the time to go through your budget and prepare for the potential worst. We do not know what’s going to be happening come November and being able to look and have the forward-thinking is important, and I appreciate everyone’s dedication to trying to get us there. But listen, the sky is not falling yet. It’s just, prepare for the worst and then hope for the best. So, we’ll see what happens in November.”

Alternative City Revenue

City staff say they’re looking at other ways to make money, like renegotiating ticket revenue sharing at the BayCare Sound, and increasing prices at the Pier 60 Bait House.

Original reporting: Tampa Bay Florida News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.