City management is recommending a 2025-26 budget that spends 7.87% more than 2024-2025 in a less than 2.5% inflation environment. Revenues are up a similar amount primarily due to increases in property valuations and increases in utility taxes resulting from proposed electric, water, and sewer price increases. Again, staff recommends spending every penny they can.
Unbelievably in this environment, two commission members are on record as supporting an increase in the property tax rate that would increase revenue and spending even further.
The Winter Park City Commission will set the “tentative” property tax rate on July 23th. Put this date on your calendar. Tell them to reduce spending and our property tax rate.
Inflation since 2019 would have resulted in $72,725,000 in Winter Park annual general fund spending by 2025. Instead, we are now spending $82,537,000 and city management wants to spend 89,516,000 next fiscal year. Since 2019, the commission has approved spending such that we now spend $10,000,000 each year over and above inflation.
In addition to bloated operating spending your commission has committed and wasted over $125,000,000 in capital and opportunity cost since 2019. Below is a list of some of the wasteful indulgences by this city commission. And they want to increase our property tax rate? Tell them to reduce spending and start creating value.
$84,000,000 fiduciary failure: This is the mid point of expected Winter Park property taxes to be wasted in an expanded and extended CRA by 2037, that would otherwise be available to 90% of our residents who do not live within CRA boundaries and to fund general expenses for all of us. See this link. See this link. See this link. This decision takes $84,000,000 away from 90% of Winter Park residents. Commissioners want to raise your property taxes to compensate (let that sink in). The CRA needs to be terminated, now.
$8,000,000 to buy Winter Park Pines golf course without a voter referendum, promising it would pay for itself. Reality? Winter Park Pines is losing $500,000 a year and they are budgeting $400,000 in capital spending for 2025-26 on top of that loss. Non resident rounds account for about 44% of usage. Why are we subsidizing non residents? We need major changes to assure this land adds value for all Winter Park residents. See: https://winterparkperspective.org/2025/04/29/mayor-puts-lipstick-on-pig/. See: https://winterparkperspective.org/2025/04/22/more-fiduciary-failure/.
$1,000,000 down the drain for a “Memorial Corner” recognizing Martin Luther King, to include at least a 1x life sized sculpture of MLK. MLK never set foot in Winter Park and had no part in its history. A life size sculpture and memorial for $1,000,000? Why?
$20,000,000 down the drain: Seven Oaks Park (a.k.a. Pointless Park, a.k.a. Homeless Park) sits on about 3.75 acres of city land at the corner of Orange Avenue and Denning Drive. This 20% over budget and years late boondoggle now has a direct cost of over $5,250,000 plus annual maintenance, and an opportunity cost of about $15,000,000 plus $150,000 per year in new property taxes if the land were sold, redeveloped to code, and added to the tax rolls.
$8,000,000 down the drain: The old library building has been leased for 20 years at 65% below market rate when it could have been sold for $8,000,000 and used for residential condominiums generating about $140,000 a year in new property taxes.
$6,250,000 down the drain: They have spent $5,500,000 for 1.3 acres at the corner of Denning Drive and Fairbanks Avenue and $750,000 to add a Denning turn lane onto west bound Fairbanks. This spending serves the Florida Department of Transportation, not any credible interest of Winter Park residents.
$2,800,000 in park spending without planning, outside the budget process, funded by borrowing from our Water and Sewer fund. Was supposed to result in two artificial turf playing fields but we only got one. Non-residents account for about 65% of total field useage. We are spending hundreds of thousands each year subsidizing non resident use of our playing fields. Why? See: https://winterparkperspective.org/2020/12/13/out-of-control/. See: https://winterparkperspective.org/2020/12/19/response-to-commissioner-sullivan/.
What about the millions they threw away our money to purchase the booby trap to demolish and sell at an incredible loss how do they justify that and we voted against new library ONLY time parking lot full is during elections
Some details: The city bought the land at 2600 Lee Rd (former Booby Trap) for $990,000 in 1996 and sold it for $830,000 in 2023. The loss is peanuts compared to other more notable wastes of our money I have highlighted. I don’t understand you comment about the library.