July 2018

128 129 our staffing resources.” The State has reduced the amount of revenue it gives cities and counties and has limited earmark appropriations. At the same time, it is increasing Florida-wide exemptions on property taxes. Over 10 years, that would cost Altamonte Springs three million dollars of operating revenue. Martz ex- plains, “We also face increasing costs for supplies and goods and services. On our budget of $103 million, the inflation on the goods and services we buy amounts to about a million dollars more each year just to provide the same level of service as we did the previous year.” Altamonte Springs is rising to the monetary challenge with innovative environmental ini- tiatives that will help them well into the future. AFIRST is a project developed by the city, where storm water is captured from the interstate and recycled. The water is reclaimed and then used instead of water from the aquifer. The project cre- ates about one billion gallons of alternative wa- ter for the region. It also eliminated the expense of treating the water and discharging it to a local river that cost the city about $900,000 a year. “We partnered with the Florida Department of Transportation, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the St. John’s River Management District to accomplish that,” says Martz. “Strategic partnerships are a hallmark of our city.” AFIRST was just nominated for a national ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FLORIDA We all work hard ‘The Altamonte Way.’ It’s a different culture, intensely ritualistic, a manner of work that cre- ates a high bar. The residents in Altamonte Springs are always letting us know that they’re very pleased with our service. FRANK MARTZ CITY MANAGER award. Another city project –pureALTA–won the national award last year. Martz adds, “Our reclaimed water program actually began in the 1970s.We had the first dual distribution regional water/wastewater plant in the southeast United States. That reclaimed water is very clean, but in order to convert it to drinking water, we devel- oped pureALTA; one of the first projects to purify water without using reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis has a very expensive energy cost, so by developing an alternative process, we’ve reduced our costs substantially. And the water is purified to the same standards as surgical instruments are cleaned. In the future, as water costs rise, we’ll be able to use and reuse our water without having to buy from anyone else.” The outstanding success of Altamonte Springs is credited to five principal reasons: First is the city charter, which was rewritten in 1980 at a time when the city was “somewhat corrupt.” The