The public is invited out to a special meeting on Aug. 9 to see the proposed city budget for the next fiscal year and to discuss the Former Post Office Development Request For Proposal.
The meeting will be held in the city commission chambers of the Nettie Berry Draughon Municipal Building (City Hall), 302 W. Reynolds St. They will discuss the post office first in one section of the meeting and then will have a budget workshop following that presentation. Each year the city holds workshops to go over the proposed budget and discuss whether or not city leaders agree with the financial agenda for the next fiscal year, which begins in October. This will be the first of those workshops.
“We have a special city commission meeting scheduled on Monday, Aug. 9 at 4 p.m. in (City Hall) for the presentation of an RFP response regarding the development of the former post office property,” City Manager Bill McDaniel said. “On that same day, Aug. 9, at 5 p.m. we will have our first budget workshop and of course then later that evening at 7:30 (p.m.) we also have a city commission meeting. So Monday altogether is going to be a long and busy evening.”
At the first meeting the city will discuss the future of the former post office on Reynolds Street that has long been a point of interest in the community. The City of Plant City is the current owner of the building and land and while original plans were to refurbish the site, issues with mold and asbestos made the concept quite a financial commitment. Then the city began discussing tearing down the building and using the location to build something new. A RFP was sent out by the city and there was one response, which will be discussed in detail on Aug. 9.
Commissioners will listen to the proposal and then see if they wish to negotiate and move forward with the plan.
The budget will follow that meeting in the first workshop. Commissioners will listen to a presentation on a breakdown of where the city’s funds could be allocated for the next year. This encompasses everything from the General Fund to Stormwater and Solid Waste and everything in-between. The city also allocates money to outside agencies each year like the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce, the Railroad Museum Society, the Plant City Economic Development Corp. and Plant City Main Street.
The very first workshop is a much broader scope, so the details on topics, like projects spearheaded by the city, will be featured in the second workshop. The first meeting will run through the actual numbers of the overall budget itself.
The public hearing for the tentative budget will be held Sept.13 at 7:30 p.m. and the public hearing for the final budget will be held Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m.