|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
District 3 Links
Around District 3:
City Commissioners |
2009-2010 BUDGET INFORMATION
Budget Hearing Dates
Frequently Asked Questions Q: How can I find out information on my property, i.e. my assessed value, previous taxes paid, etc. A: The Property Appraiser, Bill Donegan's website is very informative and user-friendly. Just go to www.ocpafl.org and click on the left-hand side tab that says Property Searches. Q: How do the costs of starting construction on our new downtown venues potentially affect our budget for the next five years? Is there a possibility we will be saddled with these costs if their revenue projects are incorrect? (from a constituent) A: The short answer is "no," there is no possibility that revenue shortfalls in Community Venue project sources will create a City burden that will be addressed through property taxes or any other general revenue. The reason is that our bonds are "secured" by a revenue stream (such as Tourist Development Tax) defined narrowly when we issue the bonds that finance the projects, and general revenues cannot be accessed to make up shortfalls. Bondholders cannot demand that general revenues pay Tourist Development Tax Bond payments. The long answer is that we have put forth significant effort to make sure that the bonds for the Community Venues are not secured by any other City revenue. Before our bonds can be sold, we are required to estimate the likelihood of revenue shortfalls and demonstrate to bond rating agencies and potential bondholders that our reserves can service the debt during those periods. Further, we insured this debt so that the bondholders can look to the insurers for payment when there are revenue shortfalls beyond that which can be paid by reserves. In short, the bonds are secured only by the specific revenue stream (such as Tourist Development Tax)backed by the bond reserve (equal to 1 year's debt payments) and by bond insurance. Any further risk is assumed by the bondholder. I think it is important to point out that we have used very conservative revenue assumptions in our planning across all three venue projects. Although there is some disappointment in the current level of Tourist Development Tax, it is still greater than what we assumed when we marketed the debt and is higher than the amount budgeted by Orange County for the year. We will have no trouble paying our debt payments this year, and we know that we could sustain payment of this debt even in a 9/11 type economic downturn. In the very unlikely event that we can't make payments, we then go to reserves and then to insurers, never to general revenues. (answered by Rebecca Sutton, CFO for the City of Orlando) Q: Why can't the Tourist Development Tax be used to pay for general revenue-type expenses, such as police, fire or public works projects? A: Florida State Statute created by the Florida Legislature governs not only where and how the Tourist Development Tax can be levied but also narrowly defines how the money, once collected, can be spent- mostly on items or programs that have some relationship to the tourism industry, such as a county convention center. You can read the full statute at the following link, F.S. 125.0104
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
