01/30/2025 - Strategic PlanningThursday, January 30, 2025
9:00 AM
City of Clearwater
Main Library - Council Chambers
100 N. Osceola Avenue
Clearwater, FL 33755
Morningside Recreation Complex, 2400 Harn Blvd, Clearwater,
FL 33764
Council Work Session
Special Work Session
Strategic Planning Work Session
January 30, 2025Council Work Session Special Work Session
1. Call to Order
2. Presentations
Review the strategic plan, long term financial forecast for the General Fund
and major utility funds, and strategies for budget planning.
2.1
3. Closing Comments by Mayor
4. Adjourn
Page 2 City of Clearwater Printed on 1/29/2025
Cover Memo
City of Clearwater Main Library - Council
Chambers
100 N. Osceola Avenue
Clearwater, FL 33755
File Number: ID#25-0064
Agenda Date: 1/30/2025 Status: Agenda ReadyVersion: 1
File Type: Action ItemIn Control: Council Work Session
Agenda Number: 2.1
SUBJECT/RECOMMENDATION:
Review the strategic plan, long term financial forecast for the General Fund and major utility
funds, and strategies for budget planning.
SUMMARY:
Per City Council Policy 3-11, Strategic Direction/Planning, prior to the development of the City
Manager’s budget, the City Council shall meet in a strategic planning session to review the
five-year financial forecast and update, as necessary, the City’s Vision, Mission, and Strategic
Direction.
·Welcome - Hal Beardall and Rafael Montalvo, FCRC Consensus Center at Florida
State University
·Background information (budget review, financial forecast)
·Measures for addressing upcoming key challenges
·Longer-term strategies for addressing budget challenges
·Next steps
Page 1 City of Clearwater Printed on 1/29/2025
|1CITY OF CLEARWATER
2025 Strategic Planning
Special Work Session
100 S. Myrtle Ave. | Clearwater, FL 33756
myclearwater.com
01 Introductions and Background
Review of Planning Objectives and Potential Outcomes
02 Review Strategic Plan
Strategic Planning Process
03 Background Information
Fiscal Year 2024/25 Budget Review
Review of Financial Forecast for Major Utility Funds, General Fund, Central Insurance Fund
04 Longer Term Strategies for Addressing Budget
Council Exploration of Approaches to Providing Needed and Desired Services & Projects
Agenda
|4CITY OF CLEARWATER
Our Operating Focus: Strategic Plan Deployment
Planning &
Policies
Community
Feedback
Interactive
Data
Strategic
Plan
Annual
Budget
Citywide
Alignment
toward
OutcomesInforms
Enables
•Continued Plan Alignment:
- Identification of Desired Outcomes
- Operational & Capital Planning
- Coordinating Links Between Plans
•Measure Plan Performance:
- Enhanced Performance Measures
- Creation of Transparency Dashboards
•Ongoing Team Engagement:
- Annual Employee Health Fair
- New Employee Orientation
- Executive Leadership Academy
•Organizational Culture:
- Clearwater Thrive Campaign
2025 Implementation Strategies:
Our Vision: A Community that Thrives from Bay to Beach
|5CITY OF CLEARWATER
Our Operating Focus: Measuring Work Plan Performance
|6CITY OF CLEARWATER
All Funds
Fund
Amended
FY 2023/24
Approved
FY 2024/25
Increase/
(Decrease)
General Fund 203,208,415 226,606,480 12%
Utility Funds 224,302,937 214,623,190 (4%)
Enterprise Funds 31,089,511 48,774,190 57%
Internal Service Funds 83,319,622 87,294,240 5%
Special Revenue Funds 42,596,317 23,384,897 (45%)
Capital Fund 160,836,802 152,838,700 (5%)
All Funds: Fiscal Year 2024/25
|7CITY OF CLEARWATER
FY20
FY21
FY22
FY23
FY24
FY25
93.9
96.9
100.7
109.2
119.4
134.5
19.7
21.3
24.5
28.9
32.3
35.4
17.7
16.9
18.9
20.3
23.2
24.6
17.1
12.1
53.5
36.2
29.1
33.9
0.9
0.6
1.0
1.0
0.8
2.4
Personnel Other Operating Internal Services Transfers Debt Service
General Fund: Expenses by Category (millions)
|8CITY OF CLEARWATER
Budget Strategies: Fiscal Year 2025/26
•Reductions to Department Operating Budgets
-Aligning Present Budget Levels to Historic Actual Spending
•Adjustments to Staffing
-Efficiency Gain through Technology Projects and Modified Service Hours
•Reductions to planned Capital Improvement Projects
•Reductions to Third-Party Event and Agency Funding
•Future Focus on Opportunities for Savings and/or Additional Revenue
-Review Fee Structures for User Fees across Departments
-Utility Rate Studies: Continuous Focus on Operating & Capital Savings
-Analysis of Development Impact on Public Safety Facilities & Service
Financial Forecast
Major Utility Funds, General Fund & Central Insurance Fund
CITY OF CLEARWATER
STRATEGIC PLAN IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOPS
January -February 2025
Workshop 1
January 30, 2025
Objectives
Review budget and revenue trends
Review upcoming budget challenges
Identify and explore potential measures and strategies for addressing budget challenges
9:00 Welcome
Agenda review
Summary review of interviews
Objectives and potential outcomes of discussions
Background information
Clearwater strategic goals and their relationship to budgets
Budget and revenue trends
Review trends
Key challenges for upcoming budgets
9:45 Measures for addressing upcoming key challenges
Review initial set of measures and/or alternative scenarios developed by staff
Council discussion to:
Understand measures and alternatives
Refine alternatives or develop additional, as appropriate
Explore pros and cons of measures and alternatives
Longer-term strategies for addressing budget challenges
Needs and wants
How do you think about what the city must do and what it should do?
Approaches to providing needed and desired services and projects
In an ideal world, how would you advise staff to approach service provision and
project development?
Next steps
Additional information or revision of alternatives, as needed
12:00 Adjourn
CITY OF CLEARWATER
CITY COUNCIL BUDGET STRATEGIES RETREAT
January — February 2025
Facilitator Summary Of Initial Interviews
INTRODUCTION
In early 2025, the City Council of Clearwater undertook a series of retreat discussions to explore Council
approaches to budgeting and budgeting related issues. The discussions were facilitated by the FCRC
Consensus Center.
During January of 2025, Consensus Center facilitators reviewed documents and conducted interviews
with all members of the Council. The purpose of the interviews was to inform the development of an
agenda for the discussions, and to provide a starting point for the first discussion.
The conversations were relatively unstructured and ranged widely over issues Clearwater faces. The
interviewers posed questions exploring members' approaches to budgeting and considerations each
member hoped the Council as a whole would keep in mind when making budget decisions.
This document presents the facilitators' summary of themes arising across the interviews. Because the
interviews were unstructured and the questions open-ended, the number of Council members who
touched on an idea does not necessarily indicate the level of support or the value of an idea.
INTERVIEW THEMES
A perception of similar or compatible approaches to fiscal issues All members described their approach
to budgeting and spending questions facing th' city (although not necessarily to other categories of
issues) as fiscally conservative. Members also believed that all of their colleagues on the Council shared
this orientation.
Mutual respect and fundamentally good relationships among Council members All members also
stressed that they believed they have good relationships with their colleagues: they get along well
professionally and personally and are respectful even when they disagree.
Wants and needs A consistent theme in members' descriptions of how they would like the Council as a
whole to approach budgeting decisions involved distinguishing between wants and needs.
Members varied in their approaches to identifying needs, and some supported also focusing on a
category of things the city should do. Some focused, although not exclusively, on what they saw as
essential services. Others looked at how spending would complement or enhance the economic life or
quality of life in the city. Others looked at the opportunity costs of not making certain investments. Most
appeared to approach this distinction largely on a case-by-case basis.
Tools for meeting short term budget needs Members discussed a number of tools for meeting short-
term budget needs within current milage rates, if needed. These included spreading needed capital
spending over longer periods, limiting overtime, vacancy freezes, new sources of revenue including user
fees, and limited use of reserves.
1
January 27, 2025
CITY OF CLEARWATER
OFFICE OF THE &EY MANAGER
POST OFFICE Box 4748, CLEARWATER, FLORIDA 33758-4748
600 CLEVELAND STREET, CLEARWATER, FLORIDA 33755
TELEPHONE (727) 562-4040 FAX (727) 562-4052
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
City of Clearwater, Florida
FROM: Jennifer Poirrier
City Manager
SUBJECT: Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Preparation
Recent direction from the council has focused on a review of our budget process, to include, looking for ways to
reduce budget growth, as well as to postpone, or eliminate, the future need for a millage increase. In response, I
have asked our leadership team to begin the planning of our Fiscal Year 2026 budget with a focus on budget
constraint. The purpose of this planning ensures that as a public organization, we continue to deliver sustainable
and cost-effective municipal services, while identifying opportunities to provide enhanced public value to the
residents of Clearwater.
This approach of "belt -tightening" requires a further review of planned projects and services that will require
additional future investment, and a forecast of the impact this will have on our fiscal resources. To that end, our
priority is to maintain the high quality of essential programs and existing facilities; those that provide for safety,
recreation, educational and government services enjoyed by our community, residents, and visitors. As we look
ahead to Fiscal Year 2026, staff have identified the following reductions that will be incorporated into our strategic
planning and budget preparation process:
1. An annual reduction of $944,695 in the operating budget of departments funded by the General Fund:
This reduction is due to a forecasted decrease of funding requirements for select city operations, and where
departments have realized efficiency gains due to completed projects, new technology initiatives, and reorganization
efforts. Throughout the budget review process this spring, we intend to further review department's line -item
submissions looking for additional opportunities to recognize operational savings.
2. An annual reduction of $808,857 in the personnel budget of departments funded by the General Fund:
This reduction is observed by an elimination of 7.5 Full -Time Equivalent (FTE) positions within the Library
Department, resulting in a modification of service hours that reflect a better alignment to community needs, and a
transition of select administrative duties to other positions and city departments. Of the 7.5 FTE's, one full-time
position is vacant, and the remaining 6.5 FTE's are full- and part-time employees. The existing employees within
these positions would be transferred to similar roles within the library or other departments to the extent possible.
One full-time position will be eliminated in the City Clerk's Office due to the reclassification of other positions to
absorb the responsibilities of an existing vacant position that will no longer be needed.
Ryan Cotton, Councilmember
Mike Mannino, Councilmember
Bruce Rector, Mayor
David Allbritton, Councilmember
Lina Teixeira, Councilmember
Equal Employment and Affirmative Action Employer"
1
Staff plans to explore several options to increase our revenue streams. For the General Fund, this includes exploring
the option of convenience fees for departments that accept direct payments by credit card similar to other local
municipalities. Furthermore, I have asked departments that levy user fees for services such as recreational and
leisure fees, as well as permitting and inspection services, to plan to review their current fee schedules in an effort
to ensure that the city is fairly recuperating the costs to provide such services.
Other Enterprise Fund departments, which include the marina fund and parking fund, will additionally review their
applicable fee schedules to further guarantee that the city remains well-positioned to maintain the current levels of
service that are enjoyed by our residents and visitors alike.
As the city's enterprise funds prepare to undertake rate studies that examine the future projects and service needs,
each department will incorporate an evaluation of forecasted funding requirements and alternative operating
practices where efficiencies or other cost savings may be realized for ratepayers. The continued maintenance of
Clearwater's infrastructure is a top focus for our city, while ensuring that our utility rates remain competitive.
Finally, Staff will study the impact of growth and development on our city, particularly with a focus on public
safety. Identifying additional funding mechanisms that supplement the impact this growth has on our Police and
Fire Departments remains the highest priority in preserving the health, welfare, and safety of our community.
3