Early voting for the General Election will run from Oct. 19 to Nov. 1
Central Florida supervisors say it’s time to get ‘election ready’
The following story originally published by Central Florida Public Media and is being republished in partnership with the News Collaborative of Central Florida
Supervisors of elections from throughout Central Florida find themselves battling misinformation as they promote voter participation and the safety and security of Florida elections.
Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Amy Pennock urged voters to contact their supervisor’s office for accurate information if they read a story that they don’t trust or that gives them “a bad gut feeling.”
“We are in the proactive confusion management business,” she said. “We all are out there trying to get you the right information so that when you get the wrong information you question it right away.”
The supervisors said they’re being transparent so voters can see the processes that keep Florida elections secure from tampering and interference.
That includes testing all devices used in each election, election audits and “layers” of cyber security.
“[I]n order for a bad actor to penetrate our election system with cyber breaches, they have to get on the internet,” said Lake County Supervisor of Elections Alan Hays. “Our tabulation networks are never ever connected to the internet. So you can sleep tight at night knowing that our tabulation system is not connected to the internet at any time.”
Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Lisa Lewis emphasized the security of their elections process. It’s something that she wants skeptical voters to see for themselves.
She said it’s “a little disheartening that people are so quick to believe the bad stuff rather than the good stuff.”
Hays said their goal is get all Americans, regardless of party, to participate.
“If you can fog a mirror and sign your name and you’re a citizen,” he said, “we want you to vote.”
Aug. 18 primary
The supervisors of elections said they especially want people to vote in the August primary, at which voter turnout can range from a dismal 17% to 24%.
Orange County Supervisor of Elections Karen Castor Dentel emphasized that the primary is important even if you’re not a registered Republican or Democrat.
“We have the county mayor, we have county commission, and these are all nonpartisan races,” she said. “School board, judicial, school board chair, some very consequential elections, and most of them will be determined in the primary.”
The supervisors underscored the need to be “election ready” and said they’re working to educate some voters about changes in their polling places due to congressional redistricting this year.
That includes making a plan to vote in one of three ways available in Florida: by mail, during early voting or at their polling place on Election Day.
ICE at the polls?
The supervisors also addressed fears that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers could be at polling places this year.
Brevard County’s Tim Bobanic says the FBI briefed Florida’s supervisors of elections at their latest conference. He cited a statute — Title 18 U.S. Code 592 — prohibiting troops at polling places.
“Armed federal agents,” Bobanic said, “are prohibited from conducting investigative activity in any place where election activity is being held.”
Hays, of Lake County, said Florida law has a 150-foot buffer around polling places that applies to those agents, too.
“There’s nothing in that law that excuses anybody from any agency, no matter whether it’s federal government, local government, or anything else, from being inside there,” Hays said.
He said law enforcement officers also are not allowed there, unless they’re voting, responding to an emergency, or working at the school where the polling place is situated.
The Winter Park Voice partnered with six other local new outlets to produce the first-ever voter guide by the News Collaborative of Central Florida. Use the dropdown menu below to learn about candidates in races that will appear on Winter Park voters’ Aug. 18. primary ballots. Candidates were invited to respond to a questionnaire developed by the seven NCCF newsrooms. If a candidate did not respond, that is noted in the guide, and when possible, publicly available information from campaign websites or social media is included. For more information about how and where to vote and election security click here.
So Far, No Response to Matt Morgan's Offer for Merrywood
The attorney and Winter Park resident now says he is willing to pay $12 million for the property in hopes of preserving the historic home
July 27, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Matt Morgan, who increased his offer this month from $10 million to $12 million for Merrywood, says he has not received any response from the sellers.
That means the future of the nearly 90-year-old estate designed by James Gamble Rogers II remains in limbo as an August vote nears for the City Commission to decide if the current buyer with a contract on the property will be allowed to split the large lot on Lake Osceola in two. Winter Park’s land development rules generally prohibit subdividing lakefront lots so Tara Tedrow, the buyer with the contract, is seeking special permission.
Morgan told the Voice he has not heard back since putting his offer in writing more than two weeks ago.
Mick Night, the Sotheby’s real estate agent handling the transaction on behalf of the longtime owners and for Tedrow, did not respond to requests for comment. Tedrow also did not respond to messages seeking comment on Morgan’s offer.
A demolition permit remains posted at 1020 Palmer Ave., though city officials say a list of tasks that must be done before the bulldozers roll in have not yet been completed such as certifying the water and power is shut off, an inspection for pests and draining the air-conditioning system.
A demolition permit is posted outside 1020 Palmer Ave. (Photo by Gabrielle Russon)
Morgan, a Winter Park resident known as a key face of the Morgan & Morgan law firm, first made an offer on the property in August 2025 for $10 million. Night said the offer was too low and that, at the time, he was unaware of Morgan’s desire to preserve the home.
The Voice first reported his offer earlier this month after Morgan came forward in response to news reports that the house was all but guaranteed to be torn down after Night told the City Commission that no one wanted to pay to maintain it despite nearly a year of searching by himself, Tedrow and local preservationists for a way to keep Merrywood. The City Commission voted 3-2 on June 24 in the first of two required votes to approve the lot split.
Shortly after that meeting, Morgan said his original offer still stood and then increased what he said he is willing to pay to $12 million, a price he said he based on his understanding of the amount Tedrow agreed to pay under her contract that is contingent on the city approving the lot split.
“In my view, my offer solves all of the current problems,” Morgan told Mayor Sheila DeCiccio and commissioners in an email on July 10. “Tara Tedrow has expressed her desire to have the historic home preserved and also build a personal residence on the other lot, which is very close to her childhood home. At the time of the hearing, my desire to preserve Merrywood was not known. After hearing there was a strong desire to preserve the home by the contract holders, I immediately came forward to offer this solution. My current offer is pending and I have not heard back yet, but I am very optimistic. My offer allows [current owners Ray and Cathy Gilmer] to receive their current contract price either which way.”
He said he would be willing to purchase the entire lot or a portion of the lot, if the split is allowed, that is needed to keep the home in place.
“I am offering to purchase the estate portion at the same pro rata value established by their own contract while preserving one of Winter Park’s most significant historic homes,” Morgan wrote. “The city no longer has to choose between fairness to the owners and preservation of Merrywood. It can accomplish both without changing its Comprehensive Plan for a single property.”
Morgan’s email to city officials was in response to an email from Night to the mayor and commission with the subject line “Merrywood Rumors.” Morgan said Night is a “man of integrity” in response to Night’s defense of his assertions to the City Commission that there were no alternatives to demolishing Merrywood.
“First of all, I stand by any representations at the recent June 24 hearing about the lack of interested buyers or offers to preserve Merrywood, regardless of errant rumors being circulated surrounding the Matt Morgan offer made last August 2025,” Night wrote.
He went on to explain that he did not discuss preserving the home with Morgan at the time of the original offer last year and that the sellers did not consider $10 million “within the range of what they were willing to sell the property for, then or now.”
Those points were reported in the Voice story about Morgan’s offer on July 6, four days before Night’s email to city officials.
“Matt and I have spoken several times in good faith this week, with a mutual interest in continuing to do anything either of us could to save Merrywood, in addition to the collective and well-publicized ongoing efforts for almost a year now,” Night wrote on the afternoon of July 10.
In Winter Park, the local historic register offers protections against buildings being demolished. But joining the register is voluntary and must be done by the owners. In the case of Merrywood, the longtime owners deliberately kept the property off the register in the event it would be worth more as a tear down.
The city’s historic preservation rules do not govern or prohibit interior renovations and apply to the look and materials on the exterior.
Vacant land on Winter Park’s picturesque chain of lakes is scarce.
But how much the property is worth has been the subject of varying views during the discussions over whether the home should be saved.
Night said at a public meeting that the entire lot is estimated between $13 million and $15 million. He said during a June 22 work session with the city commission that it would be just the seventh transaction higher than $10 million in Winter Park.
Commissioner Elizabeth Ingram asked Tedrow during the June 24 meeting what a “realistic amount” would be for the portion of the lot that included Merrywood if the lot was divided into two pieces.
“Real estate prices are going to be determined on a per acre basis,” Tedrow said. “And if you look at market comps, again I don’t set market comps those are set by recent sales data … I mean, you’re looking at just for the Merrywood site, you are over $12 [million].”
It’s unclear how Tedrow’s figure for just a portion of the lot of more than $12 million reconciles with Night’s estimate of $13 million to $15 million for the entire lot and the reported price of $12 million for the contract held by Tedrow for the entire lot contingent on approval of a split.
City officials allowed one other lakefront lot split in recent years that also involved a Gamble Rogers home, but with two key distinctions from Tedrow’s request. In 2024, the commission changed the Comprehensive Plan in a way to allow for a lot split at 1290 N. Park Avenue, but in that instance the newly created lot was not on the lakefront and the owners were required to designate the existing 1930 home on Lake Maitland as historic on the city’s register.
City staff recommended approval of Tedrow’s request also come with a condition that Merrywood be designated historic, but both the Planning and Zoning Board and City Commission rejected that condition after they were told by the owners, Tedrow and Night that the home is in disrepair and no one was willing to purchase it and restore it. Morgan made his offer public after those votes.
The number of Gamble Rogers houses in Winter Park is shrinking each year as they are torn down for new construction. Fewer than 25 quality examples are estimated to remain.
Gamble Rogers is also known for designing the Florida Supreme Court, Olin Library at Rollins College and Greenada Court on Park Avenue, a Mediterranean-style courtyard with a fountain and tables often occupied by shoppers sipping Barnie’s Coffee. Casa Feliz, one of his most well-known works because it’s now a popular event venue and museum, was nearly torn down 25 years ago until the community rallied to raise money and move it to its current post just off the Winter Park Nine.
His body of work resulted in Gamble Rogers being credited with influencing the aesthetic and feel of Winter Park, which the New York Times has described as “more like a village than a suburb” because of its elevated planning, design and walkability and as a “sophisticated alternative to Disney.”
“As with [Frank Lloyd] Wright’s work in Oak Park, Illinois, and [Addison] Mizner’s work in Palm Beach, Rogers’ work in Winter Park created an architectural character for the town,” wrote Patrick W. McClane and Debra A McClane in “The Architecture of James Gamble Rogers II,” which featured a section on Merrywood. “It can be argued that the publication of many of his designs also exerted at least some influence on a national level by exposing Florida architecture to a national audience.”
Winter Park Contends with Higher Police and Fire Costs and How to Maintain Roads
The city’s proposed 2027 budget is also cautious of future cuts to property taxes if voters approve a measure on the November ballot. Winter Park homeowners would save less than $2,000 a year, but the city could ‘lose some of the things that make it feel extra special’
July 22, 2026
By Beth Kassab
The Winter Park City Commission is poised today to adopt the same property tax millage for the 19th year in a row, but the steady rate belies an increasingly complex financial picture for one of the region’s most high-profile cities as it contends with soaring costs for its police and fire departments, a demand from residents for better roads, increasing prices for electric and water customers and a governor and state Legislature looking to slash property revenues.
The All-Funds Budget, which includes the General Fund as well as the utilities and other funds, is proposed to increase this year by nearly 6% to $247 million. The General Fund, which pays for essential services such as police, fire, parks, public works and administration, is growing by about 5% to $94.6 million.
The growth in money collected by the city is being driven by higher bills for electricity, water and stormwater — the result of policy decisions in recent years and up for debate again this year by a City Commission facing big expenses to prevent storm flooding and to continue to underground all of the power lines for the city-owned electric utility. Property taxes remain a driver of growth in the general fund, where the taxes make up just under half of the revenue pie.
City Manager Randy Knight cautioned that a measure on the November ballot initiated by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature to significantly alter how local governments are funded by reducing property owners’ tax bills could eat into the kinds of services the city provides by 2028, when it is set to take effect if it passes with the required 60% approval from voters.
City officials are forecasting a hit of at least $5.4 million in the first year. Translated into savings for individuals residents, homesteaded property owners would pay about $818 less per year to Winter Park. The total tax savings per year for Winter Park homeowners if the ballot measure passes would be $1,783, including the reduction paid to the city as well as the reductions in taxes paid to Orange County and St. Johns River Water Management District. (Taxes paid to schools would remain unchanged under the tax proposal on the ballot.)
“It will have an impact on city services that will be felt,” Knight said in his annul budget memorandum to the City Commission. “Winter Park will still be able to provide essential services, but the city may lose some of the things that make it feel extra special … A loss of over $5 million is like losing almost half of the Parks Department, so it will not be a small issue to determine how best to prioritize spending, but it is likely that a combination of service reductions and revenue increases will end up balancing the budget in future years.”
With just six months to go before his retirement after decades at the helm of the city and 36 years since he helped prepared his first budget in 1990 as the city’s finance director, Knight was reflective in his final budget memo of past challenges.
“As we face potential impacts from the so-called tax reform, I want to remind you that we have faced tough times before and always endured,” Knight wrote. “The 2004 hurricane season cost approximately $18 million for recovery and wiped out our reserves. The 2008 housing bubble coupled with tax reform resulted in a huge hit on city revenues. The Pandemic shuttered businesses and locked down communities, but we survived and thrived. Today Winter Park is the envy of the region, with commercial properties with the lowest vacancy rates and highest asking rents, exceptional schools, and beautiful walkable residential communities and amenities. Over 3 million visitors come to the crown jewel of downtown Park Avenue each year and our financial reserves have grown to over $24 million.”
A graphic from Winter Park’s proposed budget document shows how money in the General Fund is spent.
But the budget document also described in stark terms how expenses for basic needs like police and fire are simply outpacing revenues.
Record-high pension costs for police officers and firefighters as well as a new labor contract with the Fire Union that included a 12% pay increase in 2026 will account for 70% of new costs in the proposed 2027 budget.
“Of the $4 million in the increase in personnel wage and benefit costs in the General Fund estimated for the next fiscal year, almost a third (30%) is due to increases in public safety pensions for police and fire
retirement plans,” according to the budget proposal.
The city will have to spend $1.2 million more on the pensions, according to the document, the result of “changes in actuarial tables, the addition of new employees and the weak 2022 stock market year that still affects their formulas.”
“Staff is reviewing the possibility of making adjustments to the pension plan in the future to attempt to mitigate this growing cost,” the document said. “With property tax reform on the horizon, having a quarter of the entire annual growth in revenue going solely to public safety pensions, is not sustainable.”
Police pay has increased by nearly 50% in Winter park in recent years and the proposed 2027 police department budget is $23.2 million, up from $14.9 million in 2020. The department will keep a community services position vacant next year to help reduce some costs, according to the proposal. The city has 121 full-time police staff and three part-time staff slated for 2027, up from 115 full-time staff and 13 part-time staff in 2023.
The budget for the fire department is up from $13.2 million in 2020 to a proposed nearly $19 million for next year. The department has grown from 81 full-time staff and two part-time staff in 2023 to 84 full-time staff and three part-time staff.
Winter Park is not alone in what has amounted to an arms race in public safety pay across Florida as departments have struggled to recruit and keep candidates for jobs that require personal risk, physical stamina and no work-from-home privileges in a post-pandemic world where many offices have emptied out.
For example, the pay for a starting deputy at the Orange County Sheriff’s office in 2020 was $49,296, according to the office. By 2025 it was $62,566. That’s in addition to increases in bonuses, the number of paid holidays and minimum compensation for off-duty pay and longevity pay.
A graphic from the city’s budget presentation shows the potential cumulative effect of the property tax measure on this November’s ballot.
In addition to public safety costs, roads emerged as Winter Park’s other main budget priority this year.
That’s the result of a survey of residents with about 800 responses that identified the quality of both brick and asphalt streets as a major need for improvement.
“This has been an area in which funding has been added in the past, but it has been insufficient to keep pace with the level of street deterioration and the cost of repairs,” read the budget memorandum.
The budget includes more money for contractors to resurface roads and doubles the amount for road materials with an additional $500,000. Winter Park has fallen short of its own goal of redoing 9 lane miles o road each year, typically completing just 4 or 5 lane miles with the exception of in 2025. The new goal will be to achieve repaving of 7.5 lane miles each year.
City Commissioners are slated to vote on the property tax rate this afternoon. More discussion and debate over the full proposed budget is scheduled for August with a final budget vote in September before the start of the new financial year in October.
Winter Park Voice Partners on Upcoming Voters Guide with Local News Outlets
The Voters Guide is the latest project of the News Collaborative of Central Florida, which is endeavoring to work together to bring more people high-quality local news
July 13, 2026
Staff
The Winter Park Voice is partnering with six other local news outlets to create a voters guide for the primary election on Aug. 18 and the general election on Nov. 3.
The project is part of the News Collaborative of Central Florida, a group of independent local news organizations and aligned partners working toward a more informed and engaged Central Florida.
The Voters Guide aligns with the mission of the nonprofit Winter Park Voice, which aims to provide its readers with high-quality reporting about their local government and matters that influence life in Winter Park.
“At the Winter Park Voice, we serve an audience who cares deeply about local civic and political happenings and this collaboration will help us deliver more of the election coverage our readers deserve,” said Winter Park Voice Editor Beth Kassab. “Our regional News Collaborative is still new, and many people are still learning about it, but it’s already showing how our news organizations can combine resources in ways that we hope make a bigger impact than any one of us could make on our own.”
The news organizations collaborated to create questionnaires for candidates in federal, state, county and judicial races to answer. Questions range from asking candidates what are their top issues, how they would address affordability and even where they stand on Florida’s proposed constitutional amendment on property tax reductions.
In the most recent episode of Talking Central Florida, a podcast funded by the News Collaborative, host Steve Mort and Sentinel Executive Editor Roger Simmons discuss the Voters Guide. Pictured is Mort (right) with Donovan Myrie from WKMG News 6, from the same episode, who discussed Florida’s new approach to tax holidays and whether changes adopted by the Legislature in 2025 could have an unintended impact on hurricane preparedness.
The goal is to give more people access to the candidates’ positions in their own words on the topics that matter most to people in Central Florida.
The city of Winter Park doesn’t have any races on the August or November ballots — those occur in March. But voters in Winter Park will play an important role in deciding races for Orange County Mayor, School Board Chair, Clerk of Court, judicial races and the Orange Soil and Water Conservation District on top of this year’s open race for the next Florida governor and other state and federal seats.
“This is the first time we have news outlets in our region cooperating to create a guide to help voters make informed choices at the polls,” Sentinel Executive Editor Roger Simmons said. “It’s really extraordinary to see these newsrooms come together to work on an important project like this.”
Candidates have already been contacted several times to respond to the questionnaire. If a candidate does not respond, it will be noted in the voters guide. The news organizations may then try to answer the questions for the candidates from information posted on campaign sites or social media.
“Of course our preference is for all candidates to answer themselves,” Simmons said, “but it may be telling for voters to see who responded and who did not.”
The goal is for the voters guide to publish by the end of July, in time for early voting and primary election day on Aug. 18.
The News Collaborative of Central Florida was a result of the Central Florida Journalism Ecosystem Summit, created in 2024 by Central Florida Public Media, Central Florida Foundation and Oviedo Community News. Collaborative members worked together last year on a project focusing on the impact of the state’s homeless camping ban.
Commission Approves Contract for Next City Manager Michelle del Valle
Randy Knight will retire from the post in January after 19 years in the role
July 9, 2026
By Beth Kassab
The City Commission this week quietly approved the contract for Michelle del Valle to take over as city manager when Randy Knight retires early next year.
The city will pay del Valle $290,000 a year plus benefits including a $775 monthly car allowance and memberships to two civic organizations or other clubs of her choosing, according to the contract approved without discussion as part of the commission’s consent agenda on Wednesday.
Knight, who has a similar contract, is projected to earn $294,000 a year by the time he leaves the post in January after 19 years in the role and more than 30 years with the city.
Commissioners voted unanimously in April to name del Valle, who has served as assistant city manager since 2008, as his successor. She is projected to earn $263,665 in her current job.
Winter Park has a city manager form of government, which means the person in that job sets the tone and oversees every department — from the $247 million budget to parks to police and fire rescue — helming more than 500 employees. The elected commissioners set policy, but the manager is responsible for overseeing the execution of that policy.
Del Valle is slated to take over the top role in January.
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The Winter Park Voice is a trusted nonprofit journalism site that covers our City Hall and beyond. We endeavor to engage, inform and connect citizens on all sides of issues affecting the quality of life in Winter Park.
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