At a budget workshop Wednesday, Aug. 20, the Loxahatchee Groves Town Council continued to review a set of numbers for fiscal year 2026 that represents a significantly slimmed-down budget.
The council was set to take initial votes on the budget at a meeting Wednesday, Sept. 3, but the results of that meeting were not available at press time.
The proposed budget of $9.1 million is more than $3.5 million lower than last year’s budget of $12.7 million. The change is largely due to a drop in money in the budget for capital improvements.
In recent years, the town has collected extra money for capital projects from the federal and state governments, as well as a share of the countywide sales surtax. The federal and state money has largely dried up, and the surtax money is about to expire, leaving the town without an easy source of money for capital projects.
The town was counting on $750,000 in the state budget to continue its stormwater capital improvements, but that money was vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in June.
At the Aug. 20 workshop, Chief Finance Officer David DiLena made a presentation explaining that cuts to the budget have managed to set aside $817,000 for capital improvements, assuming a 3.0 mill property tax rate, which is unchanged from last year. Due to rising property values, however, it is above the rollback rate, which would bring in the same amount of revenue as last year, and would require a supermajority council vote to approve.
The council appreciated the cuts that had been made, but wanted to see more cuts, treading a fine line between fiscal responsibility and cuts that would eliminate services.
Mayor Anita Kane said that some administrative positions should be defunded.
“We have to find some way to restructure the organization to cover what those positions do,” she said. “Not funding some top positions will free up quite a bit of money.”
For example, removing new Town Attorney Jeff Kurtz’s previous project coordinator position, Kane said.
“We were bare bones with free money flowing in, so I worry that now we are actually spending taxpayer money on this,” Councilwoman Lisa El-Ramey said.
There was some discussion of removing money for lobbyists, but Councilman Paul Coleman offered a word of caution, since the town needs grant money to survive.
“If you don’t have somebody knocking on someone’s door, it’s not going to happen,” he said.
The council questioned whether money in the town’s tree mitigation fund could possibly be used for projects, and Town Manager Francine Ramaglia said that is a possibility, as long as the projects can be described as environmental in nature.
Councilman Todd McLendon made several references to cutting the town’s contract with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, an issue he has championed for many years.
He asked Kurtz to look at the current PBSO contract and “see what our options are.”
Coleman added that any cuts that are made could always be added back later.
“We may find in six months that we need a project coordinator,” he said.
Coleman noted that this budget process has not been a surprise.
“We knew that this was going to be a very challenging year. We have an insurmountable task because we have to figure out how to squeeze blood from a stone,” he said. “I’d love to go to the rollback rate, but there is stuff out there that has to be done, and we’ve got to figure out how to do it.”
Ramaglia suggested moving some of the budget money in a “contingency fund,” which can then only be spent if the council agrees.
She added that a fee study is needed, since fees for certain services haven’t been updated in a while, which might bring in some additional revenue.
McLendon suggested that such fees should automatically go up with inflation.
“We should be putting in an escalation clause of about 3 percent so that it doesn’t get forgotten for five years,” he said.
He also added that Palm Beach County may be responsible for some of the maintenance work that is necessary.
El-Ramey asked about grant money and reimbursements, of which the town potentially has much coming in, but could take years to materialize.
Ramaglia said that Loxahatchee Groves should be getting about $1 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and another $350,000 from the state. A request is being prepared for an additional $1.4 million from the state.
While not directly part of the budget discussion, El-Ramey asked about the status of the town’s contract with Ramaglia, which expires on Sept. 30.
“If we do not get some performance standards put into that, I say we go out for a new manager,” she said.
Ramaglia invited each of the council members to meet with her regarding changes to her contract, noting that she sent out her current contract with suggested changes when the council asked for it in March.
Ramaglia added that she met with El-Ramey and made several changes that she requested. She has also had several meetings with Kane, who was designated by the council as the primary negotiator on a new contract.
“If there is not an appetite to negotiate with me, I think we should save everybody some time and make the decision that you want to make,” she said.
Ramaglia added that while she is willing to renew her contract, the past six months have been very difficult.
“When I listen to discussions about how terrible we’re doing, it’s really deflating for the staff,” Ramaglia said. “It also really isn’t what the town looks like… We have finally gotten some things done that previously people just sat around and argued about.”
She said that a new manager will walk into exactly the same problems.
“When you go to replace me, you will not find a different set of problems or a better set of solutions, because until the town and the council embrace the issues that have long been disregarded, the town will not move any further than it has in the past.” Ramaglia said.
Kane noted that the council held a vote to negotiate a new contract with Ramaglia and should continue down that path.
The new contract is awaiting the report of a review of a SWOT analysis, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, by an outside consultant.
McLendon said that while Ramaglia may not be perfect, he warned against all the doom and gloom.
“When you guys get up and talk about how horrible things are, you are hurting the town, and you’re hurting yourselves,” he said, urging others to think about that before harping on issues with the town manager. “Every town manager who had been here for so long ends up being the bad guy — every single one of them. And that has happened because of decisions by council members.”
El-Ramey said that it is the council’s job to hold the manager accountable and did not believe that stating those concerns was the same as “attacking the manager.”
