Start with Vision, Not Numbers for Budget, Residents Say

Mayor Bill Foster asked St. Petersburg residents Wednesday night at the first of three budget summits what they wanted, or did not want, to see in the fiscal year 2014 budget. 

"This is your money. This is your budget," Foster said Wednesday night. "Last year the people took that to heart. It is the people’s budget."

Foster said he was not ready to release any budget specifics until he heard from the public. Summit attendees, many representing the People's Budget Review, last night agreed. 

"Before we start talking (numbers), we must determine the vision of what St. Petersburg is," said Louis Brown III with the People's Budget. 

A People's Budget survey completed by more than 500 residents showed residents are ready for community unity and are focused on jobs and the economy. 

In its first survey the People's Budget asked: what residents like about St. Pete, the one thing they would change about St. Pete and what St. Pete should be 10 years from now. 

Top likes were the waterfront, parks and downtown. Things survey respondents would change or focus on is more jobs/improve wages, improve public transportation, pier related and help midtown/Southside. In the next 10 years respondents said the city should focus on the economy, the environment and culture. 

"This is the vision of St. Petersburg from the people by the people," Brown II said. "This should be the starting point of developing the budget." 

To read the rest of the survey results, click here. 

Foster said that while the city is nearing the end of the tunnel of the recession, "we are still in the cutting mode." 

Foster said he challenged every department to spend less. He asked department heads, "Just because it's in your budget a do you have to spend it? Is this something that involves the general fund? Is this something that we can defer"?

"We are always going to look for efficiencies," Foster added. "We are not through the end of the tunnel, (but) we are close." 

City employees, Foster said, have gone without raises for the last 3-4 years. In the 2014 budget, that will change, he said.

"And at home their living expenses are going up. Health insurance is going up," Foster said. "We’re at that point now where we have to provide some type of general wage increase for employees."

City employee Dennis Coley agreed. 

"We are public servants. We work for you and we work for you," Coley said point to city council and then to the crowd at Wednesday night's forum. "We are the ones that do the actual work. We dig the ditches. We take out the trash and we fix the fire trucks. Keep that in mind. We are the one’s that keep things going." 

Wednesday's budget workshop was held at the Willis S. Johns Recreation Center. 

The other budget summits are on May 15 at the J.W. Cate Center, 5801 22nd Ave. N; and on June 12 at the Enoch Davis Center, 1111 18th Ave. S. The forums begin at 6 p.m.

Sign up for the St. Pete Patch email newsletter to get our top headlines delivered straight to your inbox so you won't miss a thing!