My prior email recommending closing the CRA was addressed to the City Commission. Many of you received a response from the City Manager because commission members asked him to respond, avoiding accountability. He later sent me this defense of his position.
The City Manager dismissed the key points:
- If CRA spending does not measurably add to property values, and thus does not contribute increased tax revenue to benefit the residents, why does the CRA continue to exist?
- The reality is that CRA spending does not measurably increase taxable values, only new development approvals do.
I am eager to address any questions about this issue. This is not about what the CRA has done in the past. It is about the likely failure of future CRA spending to add to the tax base. Look at their current projected projects (page 15). How do these help you? Note that we have had project lists in the past that get changed at the whim of the commission and result in such things as a $1,000,000 MLK memorial and statue, an $7,000,000 “Park Avenue Refresh” that adds nothing for residents. How about a $20,000,000 street scape on 17.92? The only people benefiting from this spending are special interests and those with commercial economic interests, NOT the residents of Winter Park.
The City Manager’s response accused me of “a lot of misleading information” without evidence and was laden with political speak. Again, please read the City Manager’s public response and his personal email to me. He offers “purposes” of the CRA that eat our money with no return to the residents at large, along with generalizations about “improvements” that have no demonstrated benefit. He draws a connection between CRA spending and increased valuations with no evidence (as it is clear the valuation increases are primarily a function of development approvals). The squishy reasoning is intentional, designed to allow any city commission to invent projects to spend millions of dollars of our money because they “believe” it will be an “improvement.” It is not too strong to call the CRA a slush fund.
I am not being critical of the City Manager here. He is doing the job he was asked to do, that is, dodge and weave. The problem is the avoidance of accountability by city commission members.
Based on past history, spending $70,000,000 in projected incremental Winter Park CRA property tax on the proposed projects (page 15) over the next 10 years has a very low probability of adding meaningful benefits for Winter Park residents. If spending the Winter Park CRA property tax doesn’t create value for all residents, spending an additional $45,000,000 in incremental county taxes is even more wasteful. We need that projected $70,000,000 of incremental Winter Park CRA property tax in our general fund where it can serve all residents, securing our public safety, parks, roads, and rainy day financial reserves.
Again, please ask city commission members if they support closing the CRA, and if not, to provide their personal defense of maintaining the CRA. You can contact the individual commission members as follows:
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio – sdeciccio@cityofwinterpark.org
Commissioner Craig Russell – crussell@cityofwinterpark.org
Commissioner Warren Lindsey – wlindsey@cityofwinterpark.org
Commissioner Kris Cruzada – kcruzada@cityofwinterpark.org
Commissioner Elizabeth Ingram – eingram@cityofwinterpark.org