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Mayor’s Message

Dear neighbors,

ecently, the City Commission adopted its annual budget. I’m pleased to report
that we have maintained our fiscally conservative approach to city finances
Rwhile at the same time addressing critical priorities including public safety.
For the 17th year in a row, the commission has maintained the property tax rate.
The millage rate stands at 4.1193. This ensures the burden on our residents
remain low compared to other cities even as we maintain stellar services. While
our tax rate has not gone up, the average city millage rate in Broward County has
increased more than 30 percent since 2007. Some cities in Broward now charge
residents twice as much as Fort Lauderdale.
Dean Trantalis
MAYOR Our low tax rate has been part of a large financial strategy. Through better fiscal
City of Fort Lauderdale management, the city earned a coveted AAA rating from national credit rating
dtrantalis@fortlauderdale.gov
agencies three years ago and has maintained it ever since. This means that we are
paying lower interest rates on money borrowed for major projects from the new
water treatment plant to upgrades to our flood control system. And lower interest
rates keep the cost to the taxpayer lower than otherwise would be the case.
We recognize that public safety is a concern both locally and nationally. So, in the
budget, the commission increased the size of the police force for the second year
in a row. We have added a total of 35 officers — 14 officers in this new fiscal
year and 21 last year. Once hired, this will allow us to put more police on patrol to
prevent crime, respond to calls for help and ensure our streets are safe.
City Hall, 8th Floor At the same time, the budget includes several other important police measures.
100 N Andrews Ave We are expanding the coverage area of the innovative ShotSpotter Program that
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311
detects the location of gunfire and directs response by officers. We are building
a full-service police substation in the YMCA on Sistrunk Boulevard. And we are
advancing our partnership with other law enforcement agencies to increase crime
clearance rates by sharing violent crimes intelligence information through the
processing of bullet shell casings into a national database.
As with the Police Department, we enhanced the staff of the Fire Rescue Department.
We have increased the department’s personnel 26 positions over the last two years
— 10 in the new fiscal year and 16 last year.

With this year’s staffing increase, we will be able to increase the number of rescue units
Mayor's Office Contact with three firefighters. This is important because it decreases the amount of time units
Scott Wyman are offline and allows engines to operate separately from the rescue unit. That means,
Chief of Staff
swyman@fortlauderdale.gov a fire engine can respond to a fire call while the rescue unit is at an EMS situation.
954.828.5314
The commission also is stepping up its efforts to address homelessness. The new
budget increases the number of police officers assigned full time to homeless
outreach so we can expand night and weekend coverage. We also increased
money for our reunification program that reunites homeless individuals with family
who can help them.
In another step to address homelessness, we doubled the money appropriated for
our housing navigation program, a unique collaboration with the TaskForce For
Ending Homelessness to reduce the number of displaced individuals locally. In its
first three months, it achieved a 60 percent success rate at individuals accepting
housing placement.

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