Tampa city councilors working to close $45 million budget gap

TAMPA, Fla. - Tampa city councilors are meeting Wednesday night to close a $45 million budget gap.

Last week, city councilors voted down a new tax increase proposed by the mayor, meaning the city is facing a budget deficit for the next fiscal year, one it must close by law.

The city will be able to count on new revenue from a rise in property values.

But councilors are meeting Wednesday to decide whether to move pots of money around, increase fees on those who do business with the city, or cut items from the budget.

RELATED: City of Tampa to hold public hearing on mayor's proposed budget

All three of those things could happen.

"We can't write political checks that we can't cash," said councilor Luis Viera. "So when we tell the public that we can spend all this money without more taxes, we have to come up with the revenue."

But they also have a long to-do list, including road projects, fixing and building fire stations, upgrading police communication equipment and hiring 30 new officers.

The mayor says the only way is to compromise, but councilors are starting to work out who will do the compromising and on what.

READ: City displays plans for 'Tampa Thrives' budget for 2024 fiscal year

"We're confident that we'll be able to continue to provide for the level of services that we do now," said Mayor Jane Castor. "It's just figuring out how we provide for those for quickly growing community and then how we address those."

Fox 13 spoke with one city councilor who suggests that the push to fund road repair and 1,300 miles of sidewalks could move in the direction of finding other local funding sources. 

Nearly half of Tampa streets are graded as being in "poor" condition.

"Other communities struggle with the same thing, but we've had decades of deferred maintenance," said councilor Alan Clendenin. "Time after time, people have kicked the ball down the street and waited for someone else to fix it."