by Beth Kassab | Sep 24, 2026 | City Commission, Taxes, Tree Canopy
Tree Advocates Warn Against Cutting Budget for City's Prized Canopy
City officials say the canopy will still be maintained and new trees will be planted where space allows. But new state rules have gutted the ability of city officials to prevent tree removals
Sept. 24, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park City Commissioners on Wednesday gave final approval to a total $247 million budget, set to begin Oct. 1, including reductions totaling about $500,000 as the city begins to brace for the potential impact of a November ballot amendment that could significantly reduce property tax revenue if it’s approved by at least 60% of voters.
Reductions to a program to plant new trees and the elimination of a permit process meant to dissuade people from removing mature trees generated the most debate during the hearing, with residents speaking out against any changes that could reduce Winter Park’s celebrated tree canopy, considered a key ingredient of the city’s village-like charm.
“I witnessed a decline in birds and wildlife due to the loss of mature trees in my neighborhood near Lakemont Elementary School,” Cynthia Newton Edmonds told the commission. “At one time, I had a pileated woodpecker family of five in my yard. Now I rarely see one bird. Screech owls used to nest in my yard … They raised broods of owlets, and they are now gone. … One of my neighbors had 26 raccoons relocate to her backyard when the five acres on Lakemont Avenue at the end of Windsor Drive were razed for the development of a new church and townhomes … I have had two gopher tortoises come to my yard, fleeing the clearing of property … The trend seems to be everything’s cut down on the lot … We must protect our mature trees and our tree canopy.”
Members of the Winter Park Land Trust, a nonprofit supported by local residents to promote green space, urged the commission to resist succumbing to yet another pre-emption by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature — a law that went into effect in recent years that undermined the city’s tree permit process.
“I don’t think that we need to be cowering down to what the state is telling us,” said Leslie Poole, a member of the land trust and an environmental studies professor at Rollins College. “I think we ought to be doing what we can and pushing back to say that this is important to Winter Park. On your own website, this is one of the top things that the city of Winter Park touts as its tree canopy, and I want to urge you to continue to support that.”
City Manager Randy Knight explained that the new state rules mean residents can easily override the city when it denies a tree removal permit.
“The state gutted our ability to permit tree removals,” Knight explained. “They basically said that if you go out and find an arborist who says the tree’s dangerous, you can take it out even if the city says you can’t. And so we spend a lot of resources going through that process only to be undermined by the new state rules, and so we propose getting out of the permitting business. That doesn’t mean our people won’t go and talk with homeowners … we’ll still be doing that. They just don’t have to go through that permitting process any longer.”
The budget eliminates two vacant positions related to trees: a tree specialist (about $74,000) and the tree permit position (about $60,000).
The budget also reduces new tree plantings on city right-of-way by about half, or $210,000, and outsources the job of a tree-watering truck ($65,000).
In recent years, the city has aggressively planted new trees on public property and is running out of space, with more than 90% already filled.
City officials said spending on the maintenance of the existing canopy will not be reduced. In addition, the city is conducting a survey of its tree canopy and could add more funds back into the budget partway through the year if the survey shows a need.
Charley Williams, another member of the land trust, said he would like to see Winter Park attempt to come up with other ways to prevent residents from removing healthy, mature trees.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio noted that the city is also requiring homeowners or contractors to plant new trees when others are removed for construction.
“If you’re going to tear down trees on your lot before you can get a [Certificate of Occupancy], you’re going to have to replant,” she said. “And that’s something we can do. We can’t necessarily prohibit them from taking them down, but we can make them put new trees up.”
Other changes to the budget include reducing the $2.15 million allotment for the library by $25,000, canceling an annual board appreciation event to save $12,000, reducing some Easter and Halloween events put on by the parks department by $20,000, and eliminating monthly printed utility bill calendars as well as some postage and supplies for a combined reduction of about $45,000.
See our other coverage of the Winter Park City Budget here:
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by Beth Kassab | Sep 23, 2026 | Columnist Bob Morris
Column: Attack of the AI Graffitists!
See Bob Morris’ before and afters. Think you can do better? Grab some chalk
Sept. 23, 2026
By Bob Morris, Columnist
Hello, hungry people.
Help me out here.
Look closely at the above photo.
I took it the other day while walking around town. I’d passed the exact same spot the day before and nothing was there except moldy concrete. Whatever this is had popped up over night.
b. Col. Sanders’s secret recipe.
c. The aliens have landed!
OK, people who know these things tell me it is none of the above. It’s the work of utility crews that are getting ready to dig up the nearby street and lay cable or fiber optics or work on the sewer lines.
At least, that’s their story. But for all we know, this could be the first sign of the AI Apocalypse.
I ran that idea past my pal, Claude, who went undercover in the AI world and brought back this alarming report to confirm our worst fears. Here’s what that seemingly harmless sidewalk scrawl is really telling us, according to Secret Agent Claude:
“The pink bandit mask with little pink ears. This is the AI mascot, a raccoon in a domino mask, which tells you the robots plan to go through our trash and our data.
“The orange crosshairs. Two enormous arrows crossing at right angles, with a dot at the center. That’s a targeting reticle. This is Ground Zero for the AI Apocalypse.
“The mysterious letters ‘HO.’ It’s the first part of “HO HO HO,” meaning AI agents have merged with Santa. And it’s a warning that they’ve already read your emails and there’s nothing left to hide.
“The red scribble. A tilted kite shape with an angry little stick figure inside, arms flailing. This is a diagram of the human resistance, pinned inside a box, with the X telling you exactly where you stand.
“The pink comet tail. The smear trailing off toward the street is the AI escape trajectory. Or maybe the sidewalk is bleeding. One or the other.
“The verdict. The AI overlords have chosen the medium of spray paint on a public walkway, which suggests they’re still in the early, embarrassing stage of their attack. Once they graduate to something worse, we’ll all pretend we didn’t laugh at the raccoon.”
***
In other words: We’re doomed.
And if the world as we know it is about to end, why not . . . make art?
So, I grabbed my grandchildren’s chalk and got to work further beautifying our sidewalks.
I call this one: Punk Surfer on a Green Board.
And here are a few other creations you might spot around town.
BEFORE and AFTER
You think you can do better?
Yeah, you probably can. And I encourage you to do so. Indeed, the damage has already been done to our sidewalks. Now you can have some fun with it.
If you don’t have chalk, you can use a Sharpie, like I did in a couple of those doodles masterpieces.
I’ll even sweeten the deal.
Send me a photo of your “artwork” and if our panel of judges (me!) deems it to be worthy, then I’ll share it on Bob’s Diner and send you something random and stupid in the mail. This is part of our ongoing and heroic effort to “Bankrupt Jeff Bezos,” in which we order something on Amazon Prime that costs less than the price of a first-class stamp, meaning Bezos loses a little money with every order.
One of the items that might come your way, which costs only 47 cents:
So, get out there and get drawing.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
This commentary originally appeared on Bob Morris’ Substack. A former newspaper columnist and magazine editor, Bob is author of the Zack Chasteen series of mysteries set in Florida and the Caribbean, along with several non-fiction books and collections of essays. A fourth-generation Floridian, he lives in Winter Park.
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by Beth Kassab | Sep 19, 2026 | City Commission, News
Amendment 3 would bring property tax cuts — and tough choices — to Winter Park
City Manager Randy Knight said during a Winter Park Chamber forum that the city could ‘survive’ the cuts, but warned they would come with painful budget trade-offs
Sept. 19, 2026
By Gabrielle Russon
Winter Park government will “survive” if Amendment 3 passes in November, although City Manager Randy Knight warned that property tax cuts would not come without “pains.”
In the first year, the city would need to axe an estimated $3.7 million from a $90 million budget, followed by another $7.5 million the following year, which Knight called “doable.”
But when the city conducted an exercise last month to practice eliminating nonessential services, such as wintertime pool access, Knight quipped, “You would’ve thought we had canceled Ted Lasso.”
Knight was part of a trio of speakers who expressed concerns about Amendment 3 during Friday’s Winter Park Chamber of Commerce panel, held in front of business and community leaders. Joining Knight were Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph and Florida TaxWatch CEO Jeff Kottkamp.
The Winter Park Chamber of Commerce has not taken a public stance on Amendment 3, although other economic organizations, including the Orlando Economic Partnership, have spoken out against it.
Under Amendment 3, a Winter Park taxpayer who receives the maximum benefit would save about $850 in the first year and $1,780 in the second year, which equals nearly $150 a month, Knight said.
TaxWatch CEO Jeff Kottkamp, Orange Tax Collector Scott Randolph and Winter Park City Manager Randy Knight discuss the anticipated impacts of an amendment on the November ballot that would raise the homestead exemption. The Winter Park Chamber of Commerce hosted the forum on Friday.
With those savings come trade-offs, the panel warned.
Knight said Amendment 3 could force the city to raise its millage rate, increasing taxes on renters, businesses and homeowners of more expensive properties to make up for lost property tax revenue.
Local governments may also raise fees, Kottkamp said.
“You may vote for this thinking you’ll get a property tax reduction when, in fact, you won’t,” said Kottkamp, a former state lieutenant governor.
For local governments, the amendment could also have an impact on other fronts if they miss out on federal or state grants because they can no longer provide matching funds, Randolph said.
If at least 60% of voters approve Amendment 3 in November, the constitutional amendment would increase the state’s non-school homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with further increases tied to inflation beginning in 2029.
The ballot amendment would also cut local government tax revenues by limiting future growth in the amount of taxes collected on non-homesteaded properties. The cap on annual assessment increases for those properties — anything from a Publix grocery store to an Amazon warehouse to a vacation home — would drop from 10% to 5%.
New Florida residents would be required to wait five years to receive the full increased property tax exemption.
Randolph, a Democrat and former state lawmaker, questioned whether the Legislature’s five-year waiting period for new residents was constitutional because it treats out-of-state and Florida residents differently for tax purposes.
“Look, Florida is built on the idea of attracting new people. I don’t know how you’re supposed to attract a business or attract a young couple or even a retiree coming into this marketplace,” Randolph said. “They’re already going to be paying the highest full market value when they buy the house. And then you’re going to tell them, ‘Oh yeah, you know what? Just for giggles, we’re not even going to give you the $250,000 exemption for five years.’”
The state Legislature voted to put Amendment 3 on the ballot during a three-day special session in June. The vote came without the state conducting any deeper economic impact studies to understand the consequences of overhauling property taxes statewide.
“When you have something this important, the way this was done was just not right. You don’t drop a bill and say, ‘Vote on this in three days,’” Kottkamp said.
State lawmakers acted after facing pressure from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had been calling for property tax reform to lift the burden on residents struggling with rising costs. DeSantis has argued that people who have already paid off their homes are unfairly hit with rising property taxes and that local governments’ budgets are ballooning with wasteful spending.
DeSantis also expressed disappointment that Amendment 3 doesn’t go far enough to reduce school taxes because state lawmakers protected school funding in their ballot proposal.
Meanwhile, critics question whether Amendment 3 is another move by the state to take more control away from local governments, which set their own spending priorities.
Randolph called it “absurd” to say current homeowners are being “taxed out of their home” because the state’s Constitution already contains an amendment capping the annual increase in the assessed value of a homesteaded home at 3%, or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower.
But the ones “getting killed” by property taxes are new homeowners who purchased homes in the past five years, Randolph said.
“This amendment doesn’t fix that at all,” Randolph said. “And that’s what I wish Tallahassee would focus on — the fairness and the equity across the board — because if property taxes are supposed to reflect the services that are provided, we have shifted so much of that to the new entrants into the market.”
Instead of Amendment 3, Kottkamp is advocating for the state to make changes after the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission meets next year. The commission, which convenes every 20 years, could develop a more thoughtfully laid-out proposal to reduce property taxes, he said.
In a conversation where all three panelists expressed skepticism and concerns, the most optimistic sentiment came from Kottkamp, who offered this assessment of Florida:
“This is still the greatest place to live and do business in the country, which means in the world. We just want to make sure we keep it that way,” he said.
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by Beth Kassab | Sep 15, 2026 | Chain of Lakes, News
No Paid Parking at Dog Park After All
The park at Lake Baldwin was slated to be part of a pilot project to charge non-residents for parking
Sept. 15, 2026
By Beth Kassab
An agreement between Orlando and Winter Park unearthed from 24 years ago means the city of Winter Park can no longer move forward with plan to charge non-residents to park at the dog park on Lake Baldwin, City Manager Randy Knight said late Tuesday afternoon.
The agreement, he said, requires that residents in Orlando and Winter Park have equal access to two parks — one controlled by each jurisdiction — along the lake bordered by both cities.
“If the pilot program went forward at Lake Baldwin Park, Orlando residents would need to be exempted from the parking fee the same as Winter Park residents, which administratively would be a larger undertaking,” Knight said in a news release announcing the update. “As a result of this document and input received from citizens, the city is removing Lake Baldwin Park from the Pay for Parking Pilot Program but will continue to move forward with the pilot at Dinky Dock. The technology behind this program is still important important to explore as a tool to manage parking more effectively.”
A view of Dinky Dock on a summer day.
The City Commission approved the six-month pilot program last week as part of a plan to raise more money as well as find a new way to reduce parking snarls in other parts of the city if the trial period is considered a success.
Some details are still not known, such as the exact cost to park at Dinky Dock, which is often busy on the weekends as people from surrounding cities use the dock for jet skis and other watercraft on Lake Virginia.
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by Beth Kassab | Sep 15, 2026 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, News, Taxes
Parking Fines to Increase, E-Bike Fines also added as Budget is Finalized
The City Commission also reduced the amount of money set to go to nonprofit Men of Integrity Mentoring Program and turned down requests to add dollars for the library and Blue Bamboo back into the budget
Sept. 15, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park will bring in additional revenue next year through higher fines for parking tickets, fees for non-residents to park at Dinky Dock and the dog park at Lake Baldwin, and new fines for kids and adults who violate recently approved rules governing the use of e-bikes and e-scooters.
The City Commission also made last-minute tweaks to the budget that takes effect Oct. 1, reducing the amount of money the nonprofit Men of Integrity Mentoring Program will receive and rejecting calls to restore cuts to the Winter Park Library and Blue Bamboo.
Some details remain unclear, including exactly how much the new fines for parking and micromobility violations could bring in.
The fees for non-residents to park at Dinky Dock and the dog park have not yet been set but could be in the range of $2 to $3 per hour. The pilot program is expected to start later in the year after a company is selected to administer it.
Motorists who park along the curb facing the wrong direction, overstay the allotted time at a curb or otherwise park in an unlawful manner will now face a $30 fine, up from $25.
Commissioner Elizabeth Ingram pushed for even higher parking fines, noting that the discussion occurred during a meeting that lasted more than five hours, with a substantial portion devoted to parking concerns related to a proposal to build a synagogue and daycare downtown.
She said she was “shocked” to learn that parking fines are only $25 and suggested they could be as high as $75 or even $150 to help change motorists’ behavior.
“It doesn’t hurt enough to teach someone,” she said.
City Manager Randy Knight warned that complaints would pour in if fines were raised that high.
“We get complaints about $25 all the time, and so if you go to $75 … maybe you each get to serve as cashier one day a week,” he said in jest.
Police Chief Tim Volkerson said his team issues parking fines every day and noted that Orlando recently raised its fine to $35.
The commission settled on a $30 fine for parking violations.
The group also raised the fines for violating the new micromobility ordinance to $35 for a first offense and $75 for a second offense.
When it came to the portion of the budget — about $480,000 — that the city spends on local nonprofit groups, a proposed $45,000 allocation for Men of Integrity was reduced to $20,000.
Commissioner Warren Lindsey said he wasn’t comfortable with the amount, given that the group is already provided free space at the Community Center and because commissioners are being forced to make some cuts that he called “painful and uncomfortable.”
Men of Integrity serves about 24 boys, including 10 in high school and 14 under the age of 12, said Antwon Carter, the group’s leader. Many of the kids attend Winter Park schools, but some travel from outside the city to attend the weekly program. An administrator for the program provided the Voice with a copy of Men of Integrity’s most recent tax form, which shows that the group’s revenues are typically less than $50,000.
Ingram attempted to restore some funding for Blue Bamboo in response to pleas from one of the group’s leaders but did not win enough support.
Officials from the Winter Park Library also asked the commission to consider restoring a $25,000 cut to its budget but did not win support.
Even with the $25,000 reduction, the Winter Park Library is still slated to receive nearly $50,000 more than last year in support from the city’s main budget and the Community Redevelopment Agency budget, for a total of $2.5 million.
The second required vote on the city budget is scheduled for Sept. 23.
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