—The City Council voted 4-1 to hire a Tallahassee law firm for up to $4,200 and begin the process that would let the city place a special assessment on November 2027 tax bills. No assessment has been imposed.
—With the passage of Florida’s Amendment 3, City Manager Jamie Booth proposed 19 cuts and revenue changes worth about $194,000 a year, including ending city-run events and Fourth of July fireworks. The council took no action on them.
—Even with all 19 changes, Booth said the city faces a shortfall of about $330,000 a year for roads, sidewalks and stormwater after Amendment 3 and failed state grant requests.
Geraldine Robbins said Amendment 3 was a vote against excessive taxation and that replacing taxes with fees or special assessments went against it. Photo by Jenn Samsel.Deirdre Murphy, chair of the Keystone Heights Heritage Commission, urged the council to keep the commission for at least another year, saying a nonprofit would weaken the city’s advisory voice on historic resources. Photo by Jenn Samsel.Councilman Brandon Ludwig: “Your city, if we do not find a way to replace this (lost revenue), will cease to exist.” Photo by Jenn Samsel.“The message is don’t find some other way to tax our people,” Councilman Dan Lewandowski said. “If our roads go to hell, our roads go to hell. That’s what the people wanted.” Photo by Jenn Samsel.Councilman Ryan Knight warned that state lawmakers, who are expected to return to Tallahassee for a special session, could remove cities’ ability to levy such assessments. Photo by Jenn Samsel.
This site uses cookies to help personalize content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Functional
Always active
This site uses cookies to help personalize content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.This site uses cookies to help personalize content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
