Fort Lauderdale commissioners outline strategic priorities for FY2027, emphasize messaging and resilience

Fort Lauderdale’s City Commission spent its Jan. 13 workshop reaffirming six strategic goals — public safety; housing and homelessness response; infrastructure and resilience; multimodal transportation; public places and cultural initiatives; and economic development — and asked staff to translate those priorities into the FY2027 budget and work plans.

City Manager Raquel Williams opened the session and said staff will use feedback from this workshop "as we enter the budget development process" and bring a proposed budget in July that ties resources to commission priorities. A staff video recapped recent accomplishments including near‑completion of a new police headquarters, fire station replacements, new homeless outreach positions and progress on the Prospect Lake Clean Water Center.

Commissioners repeatedly returned to two cross‑cutting themes. First, several members said resident and business surveys show persistent negative perceptions on issues such as safety and infrastructure that do not match the city’s recent investments. Commissioner Glassman noted repetitive survey items and urged a stronger, coordinated communications and education effort. "It's a matter of messaging," the mayor said in discussion.

Second, commissioners pressed for clear milestones and funding pathways so priorities become executable. Staff outlined a process that will fold workshop outcomes into budget development from March to June, with a proposed budget in July and final hearings in September. Commissioners asked for regular milestone updates and for staff to identify immediate follow‑up tasks (report backs, funding requests, and community engagement plans) tied to each priority.

The workshop included extensive director‑level briefings on discrete programs — wastewater I&I work, broadband pilots, downtown policing, redevelopment of city‑owned parcels and a planned city hall project — that the commission said should be reflected in the FY2027 resource plan. The meeting ended with staff committing to consolidate today's feedback and return with draft term sheets, grant application proposals and targeted community outreach schedules.

Commissioners signaled appetite for maintaining the strategic framework while sharpening communications and ensuring funding alignments, particularly for resilience and downtown activation projects. Staff will present funding and implementation details during regular commission and conference meetings as the FY2027 budget process moves forward.