History Coral Springs is one of the most successful planned communities ever built. Known as “the City in the Country,” Coral Springs has become the premier South Florida community, known for its abundant parks, quality schools, athletic programs, and attractive neighborhoods. Prior to its incorporation as a City in July 1963, the area that was to become Coral Springs was part of a huge tract of land that totaled over 20,000 acres of marshy wilderness in western Broward County. The biggest change to affect the City began in 1993 when City Management implemented a Total Quality Management program, designed to completely overhaul operations and service delivery by becoming customer-focused and quality-oriented. The central feature of the program was a new business model that would take us from “government as usual” to a high-performance municipal corporation. The strategic and business planning system we use today—allocating resources strategically through data-driven decision making—was instituted in 1995. It didn’t take long for the new model to prove itself. In 1997 Coral Springs was awarded the Florida Governor’s Sterling Award, making it the first municipality to be awarded a state-sanctioned, Baldrige-based quality award, and again in 2003, receiving the GSA for a second time validating our sustained commitment to delivering the highest quality of customer service to our community. In 1998, our “Time=Life Team,” a process improvement team that created the City’s outstanding Emergency Medical Services division, won the Florida Sterling Quality Conference Team Showcase Award and went on to place fourth at the National Conference. Soon after, the Forest Hills Resident Association, one of our older neighborhoods, was awarded the Neighborhood of the Year Award from Neighborhoods, USA. Recognition wasn’t the only positive outcome from the City’s business model. When 95% of our residential property was developed in the late 1990s, we reached “build-out,” a time when growth-related revenues dropped precipitately. We were able to make the transition smoothly, without any change to our current operating millage rates. The new millennium has brought even more exciting news. We have won the first ever Florida City of Excellence Award presented by the Florida League of Cities. The Award recognized overall excellence in city government, including leadership, fiscal management, innovation, customer involvement, and technology. We are also among an elite group of cities nationwide to have bonds rated “AAA” by all three rating agencies on Wall Street. We also received an upgrade to "AAA" by Fitch-ICBA for our Water & Sewer Revenue Bonds. These are the highest ratings from both organizations, further proof that our methods work even in uncertain times.   Coral Springs At A Glance Incorporated July 10, 1963  Commission - City Manager Form of Government Five-member City Commission, nonpartisan, elected at large City Manager appointed by the City Commission Population         1980    37,349  1999  111,724 1990  78,864  2000  117,549 1993  88,944  2001  120,085 1994  90,586  2002  122,687 1995  93,439  2003  124,000 1996  98,553  2004  126,711 1997  102,916  2005  126,852 1998  107,156  Est. 2006   132,611 (As of April 1st of each year from Bureau of Economic and Business Research-BEBR-Year 2000 is U.S. Census Bureau)                                        Median Age     34.1 Source: 2004 U.S. Bureau of the Census, American Community Survey Number of Households (COs thru 7/1/2005) 44,500     Single Family/Duplex 23,975     Multi-Family 20,525 Median Household Income      $67,419 Racial Composition      White  78.4%  Black or African American  12.6%  American Indian, Alaskan Native  0.8%  Asian  4.2%  Other  2.7%  Native Hawaiian & Other Pacific Islander  0.0%  Two or more races  1.6%  Hispanic Ethnicity 19.4% Source: 2004 U.S. Bureau of the Census, American Community Survey and Certificate of Occupancy data.  Education For School Year 2004-2005    Number of Public/Charter Schools 22     Elementary 12     Middle 5     High Schools (including Douglas) 5 Number of students 28,356 (Includes public schools and out-of-city limits Stoneman Douglas High School (3,259). Land Use  Land Area    23.5 sq. miles  Land Use:  % of Total  Residential  53.0%  Traffic Circulation  13.0%  Commercial  7.0%  Recreation/Open Space  8.0%  Waterways  8.0%  Schools/Community Facilities  7.0%  Industrial  3.0%  Downtown LAC 1.0%    100.0%      Developed  96.0%  Undeveloped  4.0%    100.0% Source: Community Development Land Data Record System and GIS. Economics Office Space 2.5 million sq. ft. Retail Space 5.4 million sq. ft. Industrial Space 2.5 million sq. ft. Assessed Taxable Property Valuation $8,222,956,965 (2005 Tax Year) Principal Taxpayers: % of Total Assessed Value  Coral-CS/LTD Assoc.  1.29%  Rayman Sutton Place Trust  0.66%  Florida Power & Light  0.64%  JPI Coral Springs LP  0.64%  Knickerbacker Properties  0.62%  ERP Operating LP  0.56%  Southern Bell Telephone Company  0.51%  Grand Isles LTD.  0.51%  Merry Land & Investment Company Inc.  0.43%  Imt.-LB South FL LLC  0.40% Source: FY 2003 Broward County Revenue Collection. Property Tax Millage Rate: General Operating $3.8715 Voter-Approved Debt $ 0.2510 Total $4.1225 Bond Ratings: Moody’s Investors Services        Aaa Standard and Poors                   AAA Fitch Rating Services                 AAA Per Capita Debt: General Obligation Debt Per Capita     $133 (Fiscal Year End 2004) Fiscal Year 2006 Net Adopted Budget:     $122,374,445 For more information, please visit www.coralsprings.org