Fellow Hollywood Residents,

Thank you for the opportunity to present the State of the City Address to the Hillcrest/Parkview Community on Thursday, March 14th. And many thanks to Dr. Frank Gaines and the Championship Academy of Excellence for providing the venue. 

In this year’s address, I highlighted the many ways we are working to achieve our city’s mission: “To provide a thriving community, where quality living is made available to all.”  My discussion began with a report on our city’s financial health, which is a critical component for the quality of life that a city can provide for its residents. 

For 2024, I was happy to report that through our continuing commitment to sound financial administration and governance that is future-oriented, our Operating Budget for 2024 is at a record 779 million dollars and it is again structurally balanced.  Add to that our commitment to maintaining recommended levels of reserves, achieving higher bond ratings and controlling expenses, and our city is on track to reinvest more and more dollars back into our community at a reduced or flat property tax rate.

With our stronger budget, we are able to invest more into public safety, housing affordability programs, neighborhood infrastructure, renewing parks, environmental resiliency and more.  We have many roadway resurfacing, street lighting and sidewalk improvement projects ahead.  We are planting more trees and installing new landscaping to continue beautifying our city’s thoroughfares.  We are also continuing to renew our parks with new playgrounds, ball fields, lighting, pathways, computers, fitness equipment, pickleball courts, basketball courts, dog parks and more. 

For our Water and Wastewater Utilities infrastructure, we are in the midst of completing a massive injection well projects that will end the disposal of treated wastewater into the ocean. We’ll continue expanding the sewer system where we can afford to, and we’ll continue upgrading our stormwater system to improve our city’s drainage, given it no longer delivers an adequate level of service for a community experiencing changing climate conditions. Lots of work is needed in this area. 

As you’ll read in greater detail in the pages ahead, our voter approved GO Bond projects are also progressing.  We’ll break ground on the new Police Headquarters this year.  We’ll begin constructing new sea walls and living shorelines to prevent high-tide flooding, and towards year-end, we’ll begin adding more speed tables to slow down speeding cars.  

Operationally, one important highlight is our complete overhaul of the city’s Building Department.  With completely new software ahead for easier permit submission and management, more personnel, and a new one-stop center for residents due to open in August, the building permit process in Hollywood is about to become way more efficient for our residents and businesses. 

These are exciting times for Hollywood.  We will be entering our city’s centennial year in 2025, celebrating 100 years of Hollywood in better financial health, with a future for Hollywood that is physically safer, operationally better, environmentally more sustainable, economically stronger, and visually more appealing.

Wishing you and yours the best. 

Josh Levy, Mayor, City of Hollywood

2600 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, FL  33020, Office:  (954) 921-3321

jlevy@hollywoodfl.org