Airport Expansion, Big Park Grant, Electric Rate Hike, Highlight New Williston Budget

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

Williston’s city budget for next year is a mix of outstanding news and one blast of bad news associated with higher electric rates.

The 2022-23 fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.

Williston City Council members Tuesday tentatively adopted a $21 million budget that keeps the property tax millage rate at 6.75 mills, raises the electric rate by 8.9 percent, and contains millions of dollars of grants.

The council defunded the position of deputy city manager after the resignation of Deanna Nelson. Defunding the position eliminates it from the city budget.

Nestled in the budget is a state grant of more than $400,000 to improve facilities at Cornelius Williams Park, an attractive park that has no ballfield lighting, no security lighting, and no concession stand or picnic pavilions.

It isn’t clear at this point how the money will be used. Resigned City Manager Jackie Gorman had her own ideas for how the money should be spent. The city is developing master plans for all the parks.

Williston’s expanding airport, a gem on the Levy County landscape, has $4.4 million in state grants in the city budget to build a new terminal building and a new t-hangar to park 8-10 aircraft.

Airport Manager Benton Stegall said Williston Municipal Airport has been designated a regional facility. Stegall said the airport’s name will change to Williston Regional Airport when the terminal building is finished in 2024 and a new airport sign is added.

He said $2.2 million of state grant money is slated to be spent on the new terminal and the remainder on the t-hangar. The terminal building will have better airplane crew quarters, an airplane crew resting area, more restrooms, a crew break room, and locker room, a maintenance area, and a large conference center.

Stegall is hopeful the grant money will stretch far enough to build a second-story observation deck for the public to watch incoming and outgoing flights. The city is waiting to see how the bids shake out on the terminal building before deciding whether the observation deck can be built.

Grants for the airport were written by Passero Associates, LLC working in collaboration with Stegall, the Florida Department of Transportation, and the Federal Aviation Administration. The airport is a stand-alone budget within the city budget. That’s because the state insists that all money generated by the airport remain with the airport for future improvements. However, the city owns the airport and therefore must include its operations in the city budget.

City staff added a new department to the budget for stormwater. The state wants cities to pay more attention to stormwater. The city has placed $50,000 in the stormwater department to position itself to apply for state grants.

The city has decided to pay its new interim city manager, Terry Bovaird, $80,682 annually, nearly identical to what Gorman was earning. He was earning $69,689 as the city’s deputy police chief.

Gorman was being paid $5,000 annually for car allowance because she was using her own car. Bovaird won’t need the allowance. City police will allow him to continue using his unmarked police car for city manager duties.

The city will start paying its five reserve police officers for their work. Council President Debra Jones said she was shocked to learn they weren’t being paid anything. The reserve officers assist city police. Jones said they deserve an hourly wage for their service to the city.

Williston’s budget also contains a $1 million Community Redevelopment Agency loan. City officials said $700,000 will be used to pave the Block 12 parking lot and finish other Block 12 work. The arcade archway between the parking lot and sidewalk is being restored. Block 12 is the city’s former business district across from City Hall.

A portion of the $1 million will finish improvements to Heritage Park. City Planner Laura Jones said the city will work with the bank on a line of credit for the $1 million, spending only as much as needed and paying interest on what is actually expended for improvements.

The human resource director position will remain in the budget. Jones said she doesn’t think the city needs a credentialled HR director. Larger cities often use a person who is college trained in HR, but she said an HR person will be hired.

Mayor Charles Goodman suggested having the HR director answer directly to the council. Jones said that type of arrangement isn’t possible because the HR director isn’t a charter officer and only charter officers answer directly to the council. The city’s two charter officers are the city manager and city clerk. Administrative Assistant Rene Nipper will work in an office space between the manager and clerk, helping both officials.

The city has also set aside $49,955 to continue using Folds Walker LLC as the city’s legal counsel.