HOLLYWOOD UPDATE

By Mayor Josh Levy

Fellow residents, Let’s talk Hollywood. What’s our purpose? Our mission is to provide you with a thriving community, where quality living and the opportunity for success is made available to all.

We have a vision to make Hollywood “South Florida’s top city to live, learn, work, invest, and play” and we recognize that amidst the vibrancy of the many cities in South Florida that this is a bold vision. But our pride in Hollywood is driving us with great enthusiasm to achieve our vision, because we know the gem that Hollywood is, situated here at what’s referred to as the 50 Yard line of South Florida – a/k/a “the best seats in the house.” J

To lead Hollywood toward this destination, we adopted and are executing upon a strategic plan that aligns all municipal activities toward achieving our vision – in order to ensure that our city’s leadership is making calculated decisions while we manage the precious resources we have to work with year to year. So let’s review where we are and what’s to come in 2023 in the context of our primary strategic focus areas and goals. It’s historic and a big lift. Starting with financial management and administration, which is critical for any corporation, as it is for our municipal corporation.

For a city to be successful it must ensure that its finances and general administration activities are well managed, and that begins with maintaining a sustainable city budget. One that controls expenses and maximizes the opportunities for revenue generation.

For Fiscal year 2023 our Operating Budget totals 672 million dollars and represents a turning point for our city – as this is the first structurally balanced budget in over a decade - where revenue equaled expenditures, 17% in reserves was maintained and not used to help balance the budget, and new appropriations were not implemented unless they were off-set by a new revenue source, an existing revenue source increase, or another expenditure was reduced.

Now, speaking of revenues, and as we all know, whether we are managing a household, a business or a city, what we can provide for our family, our customers our employees, and in our case, our city - all starts with how much money we can make our enterprises generatewhat we have to work with.

For a city, the largest revenue source we have is the taxable value of the real estate in our city, residential, commercial, and industrial – and we are fortunate in Hollywood, that this year, our taxable real estate values increased by a whopping 11.5% - to 21 billion dollars, that’s a record total, and its 5.8 billion or 39% better than each of the record years of the past five years, with a flat operating tax rate.

And we can thank this current real estate market and the new development we have been able to usher in for those incredible numbers, because, regardless of what happens on the revenue side from year to year, up or down, the city’s annual required contributions for pensions, healthcare costs and our operating expenses in general, are nevertheless projected to keep rising.

Fiscal sustainability requires decision making & governance that is future oriented and ensures that a local government can protect the public health, safety and welfare of present and future generations. This is a core principle through which I evaluate the expenditures and revenue opportunities that come before us. Hollywood is turning 100 in a couple years, and we will keep working to ensure that our collective enterprise celebrates its centennial in good economic footing.

Sincerely,