Like it did last year, the City of Plant City is making an economic development a top priority when determining the budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year.
City Commissioners adopted the tentative budget of $72,685,271 — over a $6 million increase from the previous fiscal year — at a Monday, Sept. 12, meeting.
Before the final budget is approved, a public hearing will be held Monday, Sept. 26.
According to the tentative budget released by the city, $290,000 will be allotted to economic development efforts if the final budget is approved.
The Plant City Economic Development Corp., which formed in 2015, is set to receive $175,000 for staffing, marketing and office expenses. Out of that funding, $25,000 will go toward Plant City’s ongoing membership with the Tampa Hillsborough EDC.
“In our first year of investments we made in the EDC, we were very successful,” Mayor Rick Lott said. “We’ve had one of the best years of creating jobs that we’ve had in the last decade. We think the first year was very successful, and we want to continue that.”
Lott said the continued success of the Plant City EDC will continue to bring jobs and investors to Plant City, eventually expanding the tax base and allowing the city to take care of existing infrastructure.
New to the budget this year is a $50,000 investment in Plant City Main Street. Like the Plant City EDC, Plant City Main Street will focus on promoting growth in specific areas of Plant City, including Historic Downtown.
City Manager Mike Herr believes the investment will continue to move the city in the right direction.
“You’ll see them concentrate on new ideas for design standards to make downtown more attractive in respect to infrastructure,” Herr said. “They’ll be promoting more events to bring people downtown. They’ll promote (Plant City) as a destination for Florida residents and for people to visit on the weekends.”
Further economic development investments include $65,000 earmarked for the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce. In addition to the $290,000 going toward economic development, the City of Plant City has invested $92,000 to be dispersed between the 1914 Building, the Boys & Girls Club of Plant City, the Railroad Museum Society, the Plant City Art Council, the Black Heritage Celebration, the Improvement League of Plant City and the Christmas Parade.
At nearly $73 million, the City of Plant City’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year has increased by a total of $6,372,459 over last year’s budget. The fiscal year will begin Saturday, Oct. 1.
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.