High Springs City Commission adopts final FY2025 budget and property tax rates, discusses minimum lot size changes

BY DAVID LIGHTMAN

HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – At their September 23 meeting, the High Springs City Commission passed a property tax rate of 6.7400 mills and approved the City budget, both on second readings. Commissioners discussed strategies to stem out-of-control development by implementing minimum lot sizes for future construction projects.

FY2025 budget and property tax rates 

Finance Director Diane Wilson gave a presentation on the proposed FY25 property tax millage rate and City budget. The proposed millage rate of 6.7400 is 3.58% lower than the previous year’s rate of 6.9900 and a 5.639% increase over the rolled-back rate of 6.3802.

Wilson showed a slide detailing the city’s proposed $27.2 million budget (see slide below).

Wilson said there will be no fee increases for sewers (wastewater), but every water customer will see a $3.99 monthly increase on their bills. Residential solid waste customers will see a $3.00 monthly increase, with no increase for commercial customers.

Commissioner Andrew Miller asked about the two dumpsters that are used by the Farmers Market. He said they are obviously being used by others who dump trash there, and it’s not fair to make the Farmers Market pay for all the garbage every week. Wilson said she plans to discuss the Farmers Market in more depth at an upcoming meeting, and the City may decide to do something like installing “lock bars” on the dumpsters to prevent their unauthorized use.

Mayor Katherine Weitz asked, “In terms of the Farmers Market itself, we know what the costs are, we know what money we’re bringing in, and we are not losing money on the Farmers Market. Is that correct?”

Wilson responded, “We are a few thousand higher on expenses than revenues. But again, we really want to sit down and kind of tear it apart, take a comprehensive look at it, get some history together for you. What types of vendors we’ve had, etc., because like I said, there’s so much more to it than just the dollars. You know, it’s the setup, the vendors, the days, the hours, fees for the tables, etc. So I want to make sure we give it the time that’s needed.”

Weitz said, “It’s been pretty robust. I’ve been going down there fairly regularly, and it’s got some really good energy going. The vendors are just lovely… They’re very happy to be there.”

Commissioner Tristan Grunder said, “I’m glad we’re bringing this millage rate down. Still got more to do, though.”

Weitz said Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe told her that Newberry will be increasing their impact fees for utilities over the next two years, which will increase their revenue without having to raise taxes for their residents. Wilson said that High Springs’ impact fees are relatively low, and there is definitely room to raise them. Acting City Attorney Danielle Adams said the City Commission can vote to raise impact fees at any time, but there is a 90-day waiting period before the changes can be implemented.

In response to a question from Weitz, Fire Chief Joseph Peters said they haven’t yet received any offers on the heavy rescue truck they are trying to sell.

Weitz asked Wilson about the possibility of securing more economical automobile insurance since employees won’t be taking vehicles home as much. Wilson said, “We’re absolutely looking at all of those things.”

Commissioner Wayne Bloodsworth made a motion to accept the millage rate resolution, and Grunder seconded the motion. It passed 4-0 in a roll call vote, with Commissioner Byran Williams absent throughout the meeting.

City Attorney Adams read the resolution to adopt the budget. Bloodsworth made a motion to accept the budget resolution, and Grunder seconded the motion. It also passed 4-0 during a roll call vote.

Public comment

During public comment, Bob Watson said he had asked City Manager Jeremy Marshall about using the outdoor portion of the Civic Center to host a forum for speakers to honor veterans on Veterans Day. Watson said, “I told him the National Guard would bring in military vehicles, a chopper, and a tank, and without me finishing the sentence, he says, ‘No tanks! They’re going to tear up everything.’”

Watson said he told Marshall that the tank would be on a trailer the entire time, and Marshall once again told him, “Nope.” Watson continued, “Based on those facts, we the vets have decided not to hold this event November 11th if that’s the attitude of the City Manager, who is also a vet… I will take it elsewhere. We’ve already have other offers, areas that will take to honor our vets.”

Julie Tapia-Ruano, a candidate for High Springs City Commission, reminded everyone that the Supervisor of Elections changed a precinct location in High Springs with very little time for public notice. She said, “Precinct 60, formerly at the United Methodist Church on 441, has been moved to the [recently-renamed] Douglass Community Center [formerly Catherine Taylor Park].” City Clerk Angela Stone said there will be signs at the Methodist Church to direct voters to the correct polling location.

Minimum lot sizes

Weitz said, “Next on the agenda: Discuss the possibility of establishing a minimum lot size for future development in High Springs. This was something that I asked for the City Manager to bring to us for discussion, because with issues like Bridlewood, we had very little legal ability to have any control over how dense that that was, and for me, one of the things that I hear about the very most from residents is ‘We’ve got to stop packing it in. We’ve got to, you know, make it feel more like High Springs.’ Well, we don’t have any teeth or legal ability to make that happen if we don’t talk about maybe changing some of our code, our Comprehensive Plan, our LDC [Land Development Code], our future land use map. There’s a lot that needs to be changed.” Weitz said it will take at least a year and may require additional help for City staff.

Weitz continued, “[We could go with] a minimum lot size of 10,000 square feet. That’s nominally a quarter of an acre. You know, we could go bigger, we could go smaller, it’s up to you guys to provide some input here. But this is just kind of an idea to get the conversation started.”

A staff member told Weitz that the R3 zoning category currently allows lots as small as 4,500 square feet, and R2 allows 7,500 as a minimum. Weitz said she would be interested in changing those.

Bloodsworth said he liked the idea but would not go below a quarter-acre lot size.

Grunder said he thought there might be some locations that would be suitable for higher density, but he agreed that they need to have a discussion.

City Attorney Adams said she could bring back information about what other cities have done, as far as requiring larger minimum lot sizes. Weitz answered, “Yes, please. Data would be great. Thank you.”

Fire Department temporarily located at Camp Kulaqua

During final comment, Weitz mentioned the mold remediation taking place at the fire station and said, “I wanted to thank Camp Kulaqua. I don’t know that we’ve really had an opportunity to do that for what they’re doing for our fire department. That is just above and beyond in terms of community involvement, and being able to relocate our trucks and everything there is amazing.”