Interview: Dean Trantalis, Mayor

Looking forward

Fort Lauderdale is in a strong position after forging ahead during the pandemic, but it’s not resting on its laurels

Dean Trantalis

Mayor – City of Fort Lauderdale

How is Fort Lauderdale positioned for a rebound? When COVID-19 came into our community, we did not stop the other things we were doing. Infrastructure projects that had been launched continued to move ahead, we did not miss a step. It was even helpful because with few people on the streets and fewer cars, we were able to allow our contractors to carry out drilling and installations when a busier time would have impeded such fast-paced progress. Our infrastructure projects are ahead of schedule and under budget.

We are looking for ways to work with the business sector to gauge how we can improve our norms and standards because we do not think that COVID-19 will be the last pandemic we experience in our lifetimes. Shame on us if we should be so unprepared. Our area has had hurricanes for several years now. We know how to anticipate and prepare for them. Today, South Florida has the strongest building codes in the country and the greatest weather forecast capacity nationwide. The same work needs to be done on the pandemic front.

Infrastructure is important. What is the role of impact fees in development? Funding our infrastructure needs requires different sources, we cannot just rely on borrowing money through bond issues. We raised the impact fees after 15 years of remaining at the same level because we came to realize the city had significant needs and that developers are able to absorb the impact of these fees and still ensure profits. Profit margins here in South Florida are much larger compared to pre-COVID New York City. The development community is extremely happy with what we are doing in terms of putting up pump stations and replacing old, worn-out pipes, creating a framework for growth. It becomes an imperative for a municipality that looks to continue to encourage growth to maintain a sound and strong infrastructure system. These needs go well beyond sewers and freshwater pipes to include sidewalks, street lighting and traffic infrastructure in close coordination with the county and adjacent municipalities to figure out solutions for managing traffic.

How do you balance economic growth and development with a safe environment for visitors and inhabitants? We realized throughout this pandemic that there needs to be a balance between saving people’s lives and protecting livelihoods. That balance proved to be an experiment because no one has really had experience with dealing with such a pandemic, especially in a community such as ours that has extremely transient factors, with millions of visitors coming here every year, meaning diseases can spread much easier as a result. Fort Lauderdale took a leading role in dealing with the pandemic.

Jenni Morejon

President & CEO – Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority

Downtown Fort Lauderdale is still a comparably young city that has emerged in just the past couple decades. It’s a place to not only work, but to live too. Virtually no residential units existed in Downtown until the late 1990s, and over the past 20 years, about 20,000 residential units have been built or approved, complimenting a strong base of commercial o ce space and cultural amenities. This growth in residential units has made it possible for Downtown Fort Lauderdale to become an attractive destination with a population of over 17,000 residents. Our approach has always been to encourage more residential development to create competition that would produce market-based a ordable rents.

( ) With an estimated 2020 population of 189,321, Fort Lauderdale is the 10th-largest city in Florida and the biggest in Broward County. The city’s diversity is one of its greatest assets. More than 21% of the population is foreign born, primarily from Latin America. The city also has one of the largest percentages of Haitian residents in the country. As of the most recent American Community Survey (ACS), the city’s racial composition was 46.6% white, 32% Black or African American and 17.8% Hispanic. The city has a median household income of $52,315.

Economy Like many Florida cities, Fort Lauderdale’s economy is boosted by the tourism industry, which was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the city is also welldiversified, which helped it remain resilient throughout the crisis. Strong marine, manufacturing, healthcare, educational and professional services sectors are among the key segments of the local economy. Manufacturing provides 10.4% of jobs in the city, while construction contributes 6.2%. Healthcare and social assistance employs 12.8% and professional services accounts for 6.7% of jobs. Total employment in the city is climbing again after the pandemic. In January 2021, 808,500 people in the Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach Metropolitan Division were employed compared to a low of 737,600 in April 2020.

The city’s FY2021 operating budget is $847.5 million, which is a $15.2 million increase on FY2020 despite a reduction in revenues caused by the pandemic. However, property remains strong, bolstering the city’s coffers. The median value of owner-occupied housing units from 2015 to 2019 was $334,000 and this number strengthened in 2020. The Broward County Property Appraiser’s 2020 estimate of the city’s table property value increased by 6.32% to $41.2 billion from $38.8 billion, which is expected to yield approximately $8.2 million in additional property tax revenue in FY2021. The millage rate remained low at 4.1193 for the 14th consecutive year. The biggest priority areas in 2021 are homelessness and housing, infrastructure, the Downtown Master Plan, waterway quality, transportation and traffic and resiliency. Positive credit ratings over the past year also suggest that Fort Lauderdale’s strong and diverse economic standing will help its growth prospects as the COVID vaccine rollout gains momentum and the pandemic subsides. Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) assigned its AAA rating to both the city’s special obligation refunding bonds and General Obligation bonds. S&P attributed the city’s ratings to a very strong economy, budgetary flexibility, management, and liquidity. Moody’s Investors Service rated the 2020 special obligation refunding bonds Aa2 with a positive outlook. ( )