City of Haines City Florida

FY 2016 (Oct 1. Increase) (%) Date of Hire Range
4% Before 9/30/11
3% 10/1/11 – 9/30/12
2% 10/1/12 – 9/30/13
1% 10/1/13 – 9/30/14
0.5% 10/1/14 – 9/30/15
Also, as a philosophical and organizational change, this budget takes a strong policy stance as it relates to
organizational compensation. As an employer, we as an organization have decided to establish that no fulltime
regular employee shall make below $10 per hour, this pertains to only full-time employees that are
benefits eligible. This philosophical change allows for us to be more competitive in the market, but also
realize that our employees who deal with our young people in various parks and recreation capacities should
not be making less than their private-sector counterparts that work at fast food chains and other restaurants.
It is also our obligation as a humane employer to ensure that our employees receive a livable wage,
especially for those working over 35+ hours per week. This change will have a profound impact
organization-wide and will actually allow for us to be more attractive to prospective employees.
Furthermore, in order to fund the City’s compensation plan, the City must withdraw from the City’s
Undesignated Unassigned Fund Balance approximately $344,500. To balance the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget
will require the City to utilize reserves for the purpose of funding this organization’s largest compensation
initiative. Over the last two (2) years, Haines City has not utilized any General Fund Reserves to balance
the budget (Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015). We have provided you with quarterly financial updates for the
purpose of keeping the City Commission abreast of all the changes in the market. We also created a Budgetin-Brief
document that is intended to provide the utmost transparency relating to the budgeting process.
Additionally, Staff has presented quarterly Citywide priority updates for the purpose of informing you, the
elected officials, of City operations. Staff has worked with an independent third-party group of residents
and prominent business leaders to review our budgetary processes. The Finance Advisory Board (FAB) has
worked diligently to review the organization’s fiscal practices to ensure they are consistent with the
ideologies of the community, as well as of the City Commission.
Many conversations have been had relating to the City’s Fund Balance Policies. This is a policy you, as the
elected officials, have complete control over. Many organizations have various policies that vary in scope.
It is my opinion that this step is absolutely necessary in the best interest of our organization. Services cannot
be provided without the men and women that provide those services. We have surveyed multiple cities and
looked at their fund balance policies. Currently, we carry an undesignated General Fund Balance of 23%
($5.5 million). As part of this budget I have recommended that the City Commission support the Staff’s
recommendation to withdraw the necessary funds ($344,500) to balance the Fiscal Year 2016 Budget and
consider future measures to continuously offer compensation initiatives in subsequent budget cycles. Please
note that from Fiscal Year 2010 through 2013, $3.5 million was utilized for the purposes of balancing the
annual budget in Haines City. In Fiscal Year 2013, $400,000 of the $502,700 was attributable to the
Roadway Resurfacing Projects that were completed in Fiscal Year 2015; the other $102,770 was for other
projects that were re-budgeted. Below you will see a list of organizations and their Fund Balance Policies:
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