Longboat proceeds cautiously on new hires in 2026 budget proposal

Although not written into the town’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year, a pair of new firefighter positions could find their way into Longboat Key’s preliminary spending plan by the end of the week.

A new road-patrol position for the police department likely won’t make the cut this time around, though.

As town commissioners close in on their annual summer break, which runs through July and August and into September, town budget pencils typically get sharper and sharper.

This week, during a workshop that focused largely on revenue and expenses that connect with property taxes — the general-fund portion of the budget — Town Commissioners heard from Town Manager Howard Tipton and Finance Director Sue Smith on several hiring possibilities.

One of them wasn’t even a living, breathing employee, but a “robot” to help with purchase-card transactions, something Smith said was a time-consuming process.

On Friday, commissioners will meet for a final time before their summer break to put a finer point on Tipton’s budget recommendations. And they’re expected to potentially give an initial thumbs up or down to not only the potential new first responders but also the rest of the preliminary budget.

Personnel costs amount to about 80% of the town’s expected operating expenses in 2026. That’s about $19.1 million when salaries and benefits are taken into account, about $700,000 above the current budget.

Fire Chief Paul Dezzi has requested the addition of two new firefighter positions for the 2026 spending year. Because rescue operations that involve the department’s boat, or more serious medical calls such as heart attacks or strokes require more personnel, Tipton said there are times when one of the town’s two fire stations “goes down, and that happens more frequently than you would think,’’ Tipton said, referring to staffing levels.

“We can talk about that on Friday when we get together to see if there’s maybe a late-year implementation that has less of an impact this fiscal year but would get us started on this path going forward,’’ Tipton said.

In a March 9 memo to Tipton, Dezzi states adding two firefighters with the goal of upping minimum staffing levels from nine to 11 firefighter/paramedics per shift will cost $252,819 in 2026 and $259,692 in each of 2027 and 2028.

Dezzi writes that call volume on Longboat Key has risen 35% in the last 10 years with no increase in staffing. Over the same period, overtime has risen 40%.

He also raised the issue of continued new construction on the island, including the St. Regis residences and hotel spaces. 

Tipton said a new police officer, as requested by Deputy Chief Frank Rubino in his role as interim police chief, likely now set aside until Russ Mager assumes his new role, which is planned in August.

Mager is expected to be at Friday’s Town Commission meeting as well. Tipton said the department recently created a detective position out of a road-patrol position, opening up that slot, but he would leave it up to Mager to decide.

The preliminary budget already included other personnel moves.

Among them:

• A building permit front-counter position, funded by revenue generated by fees paid to the Planning, Zoning and Building department.
• An analyst position for geographic information systems, work that is now contracted out. “We are not where we could be with GIS capabilities,’’ Tipton said, adding such an in-house conversion would mean the difference between about 40% of a staffer’s attention to 100%. Other work could be accomplished within the boundaries of the additional 60%, he said. All expenses considered, the town would likely face a $35,000 difference as compared to the contracted cost.
• Retirement of Senior Office Manager Lynn Curreli in 2026 and Human Resources Manager Lisa Silvertooth in 2028 are being planned for now. Tipton listed a panoply of responsibilities under Silvertooth’s umbrella, “it’s really a tent, not an umbrella,’’ he said. Tipton’s plan would be to create a 20-hour position preceding Silvertooth’s retirement and hire a full-time HR staffer to train under Silvertooth for possibly 18 months to get the feel for the range of responsibilities. “If Lisa won the lottery and left tomorrow, there would be a big hole,’’ Tipton said.

Smith said she was considering an artificial intelligence “robot” that could not only save the town about $36,000 annually in a return on investment but also allow other staffers to pursue work beyond the laborious accounting of town credit-card use,

“I’m not saying that we would be laying somebody off, but we’d be able to do some things that aren’t being done,’’ she said. “Because we have a lot of things to do, and some stuff just doesn’t get done.’’

One of the uncertainties facing budget considerations date back to 2024’s hurricanes. Town Commissioner BJ Bishop said properties that were extensively damaged but not demolished until 2025 still show up on tax assessments as useful structures.

Though property values were up islandwide for 2024, appeals to county property appraisers could have an effect as could the tally of damaged or demolished properties for the 2027 budget.

Likewise, St. Regis resort property is showing up on tax rolls for the first year, and Smith said the property’s corporate ownership might dispute initial tax assessments as part of the appeal process.

“The notion for us should be to focus on needs rather than wants but especially in a time like this where we’ve had some financial issues and may be facing some more that we have to be even more careful about adding to personnel, because these are recurring expenses,’’ Mayor Ken Schneier said.