City Budget Passes with Last-Minute Changes

A makeover for a Howell Branch retention pond and adjustments to the cost of Farmer’s Market tables and cemetery plots were added just before the vote

Sept. 24, 2025

By Beth Kassab

City Commissioners passed a $233 million budget that will take effect next month with a few minor changes to parks and recreation fees and a set aside of $250,000 from the contingency fund to redo an eyesore retention pond project near Howell Branch Preserve.

The budget, which holds the line on property taxes, includes higher electric rates and fee increases for a variety of city services from after-school programs to golf rounds.  Commissioners opted to cut the proposed fee increases on two items: The cost paid by vendors at the Farmer’s Market and plots at the Pineywood and Palm cemeteries.

The current vendor cost for the Winter Park Farmer’s Market is $120 to $150 per month. The Parks & Recreation Advisory Board recommended raising it to $145 to $180 per month to bring fees more in line with two other popular regional markets in Winter Garden and at Lake Eola, which charge up to $200 a month.

But commissioners decided to go with a recommendation from city staff for a slightly lower increase to $130 to $160 a month.

Commissioners also decided to stick with a staff recommendation for smaller increases at Pineywood and Palm cemeteries.

Plots at Pineywood will go from $2,900 to $3,090 while plots at Palm will go from $5,800 to $6,090.

There are 549 spaces available at Palm and 621 spaces available at Pineywood.

A new columbarium is being added at Palm to replace the existing maintenance facility on the fourth hole of the Winter Park Nine, which will add several hundred new niches for cremated remains. A new columbarium, which opened in 2024 at Pineywood, still has 580 spaces available. The niches at both cemeteries are rising in cost from $2,625 for residents to $2,760.

Annual revenue from the cemeteries topped $700,000 in 2025 and is about $650,000 so far this year.

Commissioner Warren Lindsey also moved to mark $250,000 from the city’s contingency fund for a makeover of a retention pond at Howell Branch Road and Via Tuscany.

The project is contingent on a private $400,000 donation.

Steve Goldman, chairman of the Winter Park Land Trust, said the group is willing to make the donation as a first step toward beautifying the property and, eventually, connecting it to nearby Howell Branch Preserve Park. (Full disclosure: Goldman is a key funder of the Voice. Editorial decisions are made independently and not on the basis of donor support.)

He said the idea is to move the pond farther away from the road and reshape it so that it no longer requires a chain link fence for safety reasons. The design would call for more greenspace and also the replacement of a large concrete weir that the group considers an eyesore.

“We would like to see sufficient space between the pond and the road and also move the sidewalk farther from the road so it’s not so dangerous,” said Goldman, who lives nearby. “It’s getting rid of an eyesore basically and making it a more beautiful pond and park.”

Commissioner Warren Lindsey moved to add the project back to the budget after the commission was left with more contingency funds as a result of a 7% increase in the non-fuel portion of electric bills. 

“It is a very civic and wonderful thing they have agreed to do as conservationists and helping with the park and stormwater issues at the same time,” Lindsey said of the private donation from the land trust.

Commissioner Marty Sullivan, who is set to leave office next year, had long championed finding a solution for the property and said he was pleased the donation combined with city funds could finally kick-off the project.

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