Winter Springs delays budget vote, will hold special meeting July 22

The Winter Springs City Commission delayed a key budget vote on Monday, opting to have a special meeting July 22 to give commissioners more time to consider a proposed property tax increase requested by city staff. 

The city’s proposed 2024-25 budget would increase the city’s property tax rate from 2.41 mills to 2.62 mills. That would roughly translate to an extra $21 in taxes for every $100,000 in a home’s value.

Interim City Manager Phil Hursh is requesting the city commission approve the maximum millage rate of 2.62 mills, noting that commissioners could eventually approve a lower tax rate. 

But Mayor Kevin McCann said that doing that would send out notices to all homeowners in Winter Springs that their taxes could go up – in an election year. 

“I think people want questions answered before they vote on anything,” McCann said. “Even though I understand we can set that and then it can come down. But boy, once that letter goes out to every resident that their millage rate is going up.”

Year-over-year, it’s a proposed 8 percent increase in taxes. If the City Commission wanted to keep the actual dollars coming into the city from property taxes flat, the tax rate would theoretically need to be lowered to 2.2394 because of increasing property values – what’s called the roll-back rate.

Hursh said that if commissioners have ideas on where to cut to get down to a lower property tax rate, staff would need time to work that up. The city has to get a proposed maximum rate to the Seminole County Property Appraiser by Aug. 4. 

“It’s kind of like walking on rice paper too, because we have a fiduciary responsibility to the citizens not to over budget while raising the millage rate,” Hursh said. “We tried to skinny it up as best we could. … We really tried to be responsible and not overestimate our needs.”

Even though the city manager is requesting a tax increase, the city’s 2024-25 budget would actually be smaller than the year before. The total proposed budget for all city funds is about $68.3 million; that’s $4.4 million, or 6%, less than the year prior. 

Commissioners voted to have a special meeting July 22 at 6:30 p.m. just to discuss the budget. Commissioner Cade Resnick, who is not up for reelection, said he was concerned the city might need to raise the property tax rate even higher. 

“I really think the piper has arrived for us to take a serious look at what it’s gonna take to live in Winter Springs in this budget,” Resnick said. “As a bedroom community, our time has come. We’re gonna be raising taxes. I know it’s an election year. I think we’re at that point now, unless we can find commercial in this city somehow. So we have to make decisions from this dais. Are we going to find a way to bring a large portion of commercial somehow?”

You can listen to the meeting here. 

In addition to the budget, the Winter Springs City Commission voted to:

• Approve an agreement to bring the Scottish Highland Games to Central Winds Park in Winter Springs in 2025, 2026 and 2027. 
• Approve a contract with GAI Consultants Inc. worth a maximum of $150,000 to create a new master plan for Central Winds Park. As part of that master plan, city officials have asked the consultant to look at the possibility of putting a 2,000-foot boardwalk along Lake Jesup and to “provide narrative for feasibility and benefits of proposing a lodge/event center within (the) park.”