Fiscal Impact

Order-of-magnitude fiscal exposure.

Orlando's FY24 general fund is approximately $740 million. Roughly 55% is committed to public safety and about 62% of the full fund is personnel-heavy once salaries, benefits, and pensions are counted. The remaining discretionary slice is the part of the operating budget any new recurring city program has to fit inside unless another service is reduced or a new revenue source is identified.

Exposure Summary

Priced subset against the general fund.

8Priced itemsinventory items with order-of-magnitude ranges attached

$148MLow-end recurringannualized exposure across the priced subset

$338MHigh-end recurringannualized exposure before full inventory pricing

Fiscal Impact Calculator

Test one recurring program against the baseline.

Test a proposed recurring program against the general fund, the discretionary slice, and the city's state-shared revenue exposure.

Scenario spend · $million / yr

Share of general fund13.5%of the $740M general fund

Share of discretionary104.2%of the ~$96M flexible slice

vs. state-shared revenue93.5%of the $107M the city receives

General Fund Allocations

Where the money already goes.

Public Safety (Police + Fire)

$407M · 55%

~55% of the general fund, including the largest share of sworn-officer payroll.

Other Personnel (non-public-safety payroll, benefits, pensions)

$52M · 7%

Brings total personnel exposure to roughly 62% of the general fund.

Debt Service, Fleet, Facilities, IT

$148M · 20%

Contractual and operating obligations that are not freely reallocated in-year.

Parks, Permitting, Admin, Neighborhood Services

$96M · 13%

The most flexible operating slice, where many new programs would compete for room.

Residual / Reserves

$37M · 5%

Reserve buffer used for bond stability, emergencies, and storm response.

Plus an additional $107M in state-shared revenue the city depends on. That money sits outside the fund above, but remains part of Orlando's implementation risk profile.

Unfunded Inventory Items

Eight initiatives without a dollar figure.

The ranges below are order-of-magnitude figures derived from public comparables so the fiscal conversation can begin from a documented baseline.

Item 10

Universal childcare & early education

$120M–$260M / yr

Basis

Roughly 25,000–35,000 Orlando children under 5 with family need; Head Start / Florida VPK blended per-child cost of $5,000–$9,500/year. Municipal share after federal/state draws still lands in the nine figures annually.

Funding Source

Unspecified in platform. DCF licenses providers; no city currently delivers universal coverage at this scale.

Trade-off

Would exceed the entire discretionary slice of the general fund. Requires new tax, new federal/state match, or cuts to parks, permitting, and neighborhood services.

Office of Disability Services (new city office)

$2M–$6M / yr

Basis

New city office comparable to Orlando's existing Office of Multicultural Affairs or the Office of Sustainability: 8–20 FTE, director-level lead, program grants, ADA compliance augmentation. Personnel-heavy, ongoing.

Funding Source

Unspecified in platform. Would create a new permanent line item in the general fund.

Trade-off

Permanent headcount increase; funded either by reducing an existing office or by new recurring revenue.

Item 05

Innovation & Industry Council

$3M–$10M / yr

Basis

Comparable regional innovation councils (e.g., Tampa Bay Innovation Partnership, Nashville Entrepreneur Center): 5–12 staff plus grant and convening budget. Duplicates functions already inside the Orlando Economic Partnership (OEP) and the existing Economic Development department.

Funding Source

Unspecified in platform. No indication whether it replaces or augments OEP contributions.

Trade-off

Either pulls from existing OEP membership dollars or expands the Economic Development line, competing against downtown and small-business grants already running.

Item 26

One Orlando Civic Corps

$4M–$12M / yr

Basis

Fellowship/AmeriCorps-style program sized to 100–300 fellows at $30,000–$40,000 stipend plus overhead and supervisory staff. Range brackets a modest pilot and a citywide rollout.

Funding Source

Unspecified in platform. AmeriCorps match money is competitive and capped.

Trade-off

Recurring program costs compete directly with existing neighborhood-services and volunteer-coordination lines.

Item 07

Expanded Community Violence Intervention (recurring)

$8M–$15M / yr

Basis

Current CVI footprint was funded by a one-time $5.1M ARPA allocation. Converting to a sustained, expanded program at the scale of successful CVI cities (Oakland, Baltimore pilots) requires $8–15M/year in recurring dollars — not a one-time grant.

Funding Source

Unspecified in platform. ARPA funds expire; no recurring source identified.

Trade-off

Must come from the public-safety line (competing against police/fire headcount) or from the discretionary slice.

Item 03

Transit pass subsidies (LYNX / SunRail)

$6M–$18M / yr

Basis

Subsidized monthly passes for 15,000–40,000 qualifying Orlando residents at LYNX full-fare equivalence ($50/month), net of rider co-pay. Range widens quickly if SunRail is included.

Funding Source

Unspecified in platform. LYNX is a regional board and SunRail is FDOT-owned; city cannot direct either to discount without buying down the fare.

Trade-off

Annual transfer payment to LYNX/FDOT on top of existing city contribution — displaces street-paving or transportation capital dollars.

Item 02

Legal aid fund for workers

$2M–$7M / yr

Basis

City-funded employment-law legal aid comparable to San Francisco's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement: 8–25 attorneys/paralegals plus case support. Range reflects pilot vs. full rollout.

Funding Source

Unspecified in platform. State preemption (HB 433) blocks local wage mandates, narrowing what the aid can actually enforce.

Trade-off

New permanent program; competes with the City Attorney's office budget or adds a new department line.

Item 04

Business disruption assistance fund

$3M–$10M / yr

Basis

A revolving fund covering small-business losses during construction, storms, or policy shocks. Comparable to CRA façade/disruption grants scaled citywide: 200–700 awards/year at $10,000–$15,000 average.

Funding Source

Unspecified in platform. CRA dollars are geographically restricted; citywide rollout would need general fund or bond backing.

Trade-off

Either expands CRA borrowing or pulls from existing Economic Development small-business lines.

Aggregate Exposure

$148M–$338M in new recurring spending against a $96M discretionary slice.

Even the low-end sum of just these priced initiatives exceeds the portion of the general fund not already committed to public safety, personnel, and contractual obligations. That is before the remaining inventory items are fully priced.

Audit note: a recurring program needs a recurring funding source, not just a policy objective.

Methodology

Dollar ranges are independent, order-of-magnitude annualized estimates built from public comparables, per-unit costs, and the City of Orlando's adopted budget line items — not figures drawn from the platform itself. Ranges are wide by design: the gap between a pilot and a citywide rollout is exactly what a feasibility audit is supposed to surface.