Fort Lauderdale, Fla. - Today, the Fort Lauderdale City Commission unanimously adopted a resolution that eliminates transfers from utility funds to the General Fund. The practice, called Return on Investment or ROI, was used by the previous City administration to transfer as much as $20 million a year from the Water/Sewer and Central Region/Wastewater Funds in order to balance the City’s general operating budget.  

“Today marks a significant milestone in our City’s efforts to comprehensively address, improve and strengthen our infrastructure,” said Mayor Dean J. Trantalis. “My fellow Commissioners and I fulfilled our promise to the residents of Fort Lauderdale to discontinue this past practice and ensure that utility funds are used for their proper purpose. Ending the practice two years ahead of schedule will enable us to make a greater impact on our infrastructure improvements in a shorter amount of time.” 

The City was already in year two of a four-year plan to eliminate the $20 million annual transfers by $5 million per year. The resolution passed by the City Commission today accelerates the process by immediately eliminating the remaining $10 million and ending the practice moving forward.  

“The action taken by our City Commission reflects our commitment to investing as much as we can as fast as we can to upgrade our water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure,” said Fort Lauderdale City Manager Chris Lagerbloom. “We are making significant progress on infrastructure improvements throughout our City, as evidenced by last week’s successful installation of the first section of a new 7.5-mile redundant wastewater transmission line.” 

To learn more about infrastructure projects that are underway throughout the City, please visit www.fortlauderdale.gov/infrastructure.