Budget calls for more full-time cops in schools
Property tax rate remains the same in $1.4 billion proposal
Orlando’s $1.4 billion proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year would pay to fill a gap among schools that don’t have a full-time police officer assigned to them and calls for the same property tax rate as the past five years.
Those were among the highlights of the city’s proposed 2019-20 budget, which calls for 77 new employees to keep up with rapid growth.
Commissioners were briefed Monday on the proposed budget, which takes effect Oct. 1 and will come before them for public hearings Sept. 3 and 16. The City Council set the tentative property tax rate at $6.65 for $1,000 of taxable value.
Despite leaving the tax rate the same, the city will pull in about $19 million more than last year as property values soared 9.7% across the city, according to the presentation by Chief Financial Officer Brian Battles. In all, Orlando’s total assessed value is $34 billion, with new construction counting for $856 million of that amount.
Most of the new positions are slated for the Orlando Police Department, which also receives the biggest chunk of the budget.
With eight new school resource officers requested, OPD would have an officer assigned to all 52 schools in the city.
Last year, the city allotted $7.5 million for 44 school resource officers to comply with a new state law.
Officers worked overtime to cover the other eight schools.
After the Parkland school shooting last year, Florida passed a school-safety law that required armed officers at each public school.
Adding eight more will cost $1.5 million, or about $191,000 apiece. Commissioner Jim Gray questioned the price tag, which is the same as outfitting a new officer.
Mayor Buddy Dyer said the city has been unable to negotiate a higher reimbursement from Orange County Public Schools, which pays the city $45,000 per officer, according to the presentation.
“We’d like the school district to reimburse us more, but we’ve been unable to accomplish that,” Dyer said.
Police Chief Orlando Rolón said he’s also had discussions about increasing the district’s reimbursement but said: “it’s been a challenge to try and figure out exactly what the amount would be.”
After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida lawmakers passed a school-safety law that required armed officers at each public school. Officers working overtime are paid at a higher rate — up to $50 per hour.
If the budget is approved, OPD would also gain funding for 25 new positions at the airport — two lieutenants, three sergeants and 20 officers.
Those positions would mostly be funded by the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, Battles said.
The budget also calls for an additional $200,000 contribution to UCF’s Research Foundation and business incubator, $1.8 million for Dyer’s homeless initiative and a $4.4 million increase in spending toward fleet and facilities, with those funds spread across numerous departments, including Families, Parks and Recreation, OPD and the Orlando Fire Department.