Treasure Island starts putting a price on what it can live without

A library card became a stand-in Friday for a much bigger question facing Treasure Island: If the city needs to cut spending, what services should residents be willing to give up?

During the city’s second workshop on its proposed fiscal 2027 budget, commissioners moved from broad calls to rein in spending to discussing what could actually be cut. The possibilities ranged from Treasure Island’s $166,623 annual contribution to Gulf Beaches Public Library to conference travel, recreation programs and city vehicles.

Commissioners also reopened a larger and more contentious question over the cost of maintaining the city’s own police department and building a new police and fire headquarters.

The discussion comes as Treasure Island prepares its next budget while facing uncertainty over possible changes to Florida’s property tax system. Part of that concern stems from Amendment 3, which Florida voters will consider Nov. 3. The measure would expand property tax exemptions and tighten assessment limits, potentially reducing property tax revenue available to cities.

Separately, a new state law requires municipalities to identify how they could cut their budgets by 10%. Treasure Island does not have to make those reductions, but officials said the city will have to show where the savings could come from.

Commissioners disagreed Friday over whether to start cutting now or wait until the financial picture becomes clearer. Commissioner Chris Clark has pushed for roughly $2.6 million in reductions, a figure based partly on an earlier version of the budget that would have used about $1.9 million from reserves, along with roughly $700,000 he said the city could lose under future property tax changes.

Clark said he would rather have staff prepare a budget with those cuts already built in and let commissioners decide what should be restored.

“There’s no way that we can all be the experts on this,” Clark said. “What I think should have happened is they should have come back to us with a budget that was $2.6 million lower and not have to sit up here for eight hours.”

Mayor John Doctor favored waiting until the city has a better idea of what property tax changes, if any, will take effect.

What the cuts could mean for residents became clearer when commissioners turned to the library. Treasure Island currently pays $166,623 a year toward Gulf Beaches Public Library, with the city’s share based on population even though 854 Treasure Island residents currently hold library cards.

Commissioner Tammy Vasquez suggested changing that arrangement so the city would reimburse the library based on actual cardholders. At $75 per card, paying for all 854 current cardholders would cost about $64,000, saving Treasure Island roughly $102,000 a year.

Clark favored making library users pay for their own cards.

“The people who use the library should have to pay,” Clark said. “I’m never going to go to the library ever, so why do I have to pay money for something that I’m never going to use?”

Commissioner Arden Dickey said he had visited the St. Pete Beach library several times in recent months and saw people using it. He suggested asking the library cooperative to divide its costs among participating cities based on the number of cardholders rather than population.

Under that formula, Dickey said Treasure Island’s annual share could fall to about $55,000, saving roughly $111,000. Commissioners made no decision and asked the city attorney to review the agreements governing Treasure Island’s participation in the library cooperative to determine what the city can change.

The debate later moved from library cards to one of the largest expenses in the city’s capital plan. Clark said Treasure Island should again find out what it would cost to contract law enforcement through the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and raised the possibility of housing police operations at City Hall rather than building new space for the department.

“I think we’re at a little bit of a do or die situation at this point,” Clark said.

Treasure Island has budgeted $8 million for a new public safety building, a price Clark questioned.

“The safety building seems to be like a runaway freight train,” Clark said. “The price just keeps going up and up and up and up.”

The project is part of the city’s broader rebuilding effort after Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Treasure Island plans to build a combined police and fire headquarters on the same municipal campus where it is rebuilding storm-damaged Public Works facilities and constructing a new master wastewater pump station.

The city has secured $4 million in state funding for the public safety facility, which remains in the design phase. Plans call for Fire Rescue operations on an elevated second floor and the Police Department on the third floor, placing critical operations above flood levels.

Vasquez pushed back strongly on reopening the question of whether Treasure Island should maintain its own police department.

“These people who are out here working hard for the citizens of Treasure Island have to hear this all the time,” Vasquez said. “It’s ridiculous. Quite frankly, I’m over it.”

Commissioners also looked at much smaller expenses. Vasquez questioned Treasure Island’s membership in the Florida League of Cities and the cost of sending elected officials and staff to conferences.

She said membership and education expenses totaled more than $8,000 and estimated that sending three Treasure Island representatives to a recent South Florida conference cost just under $15,000.

“If I thought the benefit was there to the residents, it would make sense,” Vasquez said. “I think that is something we need to look seriously at eliminating.”

Dickey disputed the $15,000 figure but agreed the city should review the total expense. He defended the conferences as a chance for local officials to learn how other cities handle similar problems.

“To meet your peers and your counterparts at other cities is very, very helpful, seeing how other cities handle problems that we have to deal with,” Dickey said.

City vehicles and recreation programs also came up as places to look for savings. Despite the talk of deeper cuts, the proposed budget has already moved much closer to balance.

Finance staff said an earlier plan to use about $1.9 million from reserves has fallen to roughly $335,000 after changes made during the budget process. The city also expects about $17 million in carry-forward money, much of it tied to capital projects that were started but not completed.

Treasure Island is not proposing an increase in its current 3.8129 millage rate. The city nevertheless expects to collect about $11.17 million in property taxes next year, about $661,000 more than budgeted this year as taxable property values change.

None of the larger cuts discussed Friday are final. Treasure Island will hold its first formal budget hearing Sept. 9, followed by a final hearing Sept. 15.

For Doctor, that is reason not to dismantle services based on losses the city does not yet know it will face.

“I think we need to be careful about cutting and slashing and burning before we know what’s going to happen,” Doctor said.