An Honest Look at Our City's Finances

As a community, we trust our city government to be responsible stewards of our hard-earned tax dollars. While Largo is in a stable financial position today, a closer look at the trends reveals a pattern of spending that outpaces inflation and a reliance on increasing taxes and fees. This report provides an honest assessment of our city's fiscal health and outlines our commitment to a more sustainable and taxpayer-friendly path forward. We believe in smart growth, responsible spending, and providing direct relief to the residents of Largo.

General Fund: Rising Spending Despite Flat Tax Rate

The city's main operating fund shows a clear trend: while the property tax millage rate has remained flat, expenditures have continued to climb dramatically. This means the city is spending more money each year, fueled by rising property values that bring in more revenue without the political accountability of a rate increase. This approach masks the real growth of government spending and places an increasing burden on taxpayers through higher assessments.

The Rising Tide of Utility Rates

Beyond property taxes, every resident is impacted by the steady, and often steep, increases in utility fees. These are effectively hidden taxes that strain household budgets. The chart below shows how rates for essential services have consistently climbed and are projected to continue climbing. This raises a critical question: Are these rate hikes truly justified by operational needs, or are they fueling unnecessary surpluses?

Wastewater Fund: Rate Hikes Turn Losses into Surpluses

The data for the Wastewater Fund reveals a concerning strategy. After running a small operating loss in recent years, the city implemented a series of aggressive rate hikes, including three consecutive years of 10% increases. This has turned the fund's performance around, creating significant operating surpluses built on the backs of residents. With 5% increases planned for every year through FY2030, we must question if this level of increase is necessary or excessive.

Stormwater Fund: Healthy Surplus, Yet Rates Climb

The Stormwater Utility Fund consistently shows revenues that are substantially higher than operating expenses, resulting in a healthy and growing fund balance. Despite this strong financial position, residents have been subjected to a series of steep rate hikes, including three years of 20% increases, followed by two planned years of 15% increases. Fiscal responsibility means ensuring that residents are not overcharged for essential services, especially when a fund is already financially sound.

Solid Waste Fund: A Tighter Margin, But Rate Hikes Loom

The Solid Waste Fund operates on a narrower margin than the other utility funds. However, after several years with no increases, residents are now facing a significant 15% rate hike in FY25, followed by a 10% increase in FY26 and 5% annual increases thereafter. This fund should serve as a model for how our other utilities are managed—sustainably, but without generating excessive surpluses from rate payers.

Our Plan for a Fiscally Sound Future

Provide Tax Relief

With property values soaring, homeowners are facing massive tax hikes even with a constant millage rate. We will advocate for adopting a partial rollback rate. This will lower the tax burden on our residents, allowing them to keep more of their money, stimulating the local economy from the ground up.

Control Spending

To curb the unsustainable growth in city spending, we will put a stop to automatic, above-inflationary wage increases for city employees. Pay raises should be earned through merit and tied to reasonable economic indicators, not automatically baked into the budget. This single step will bring spending back in line with the rate of inflation.