by Beth Kassab | Nov 4, 2026 | City Commission, Election, News, Taxes
See How Winter Park Voted: Three Big Midterm Election Takeaways
Winter Park voters rejected Amendment 3 but have to live with it anyway, helped flip state seats and some turned in split ballots
Nov. 4, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Amendment 3 won 62% approval statewide, but Winter Park voters opposed the measure, which will reduce property taxes paid by homesteaded property owners and cut into the revenue cities and counties collect to provide everything from police and fire services to parks.
About 8,300 people voted against Amendment 3, representing approximately 51% of those who voted in the 10 precincts within Winter Park city limits.
Only three of the 10 precincts favored the amendment, and all did so by margins well below the 60% threshold required for passage statewide. A little more than half of the voters in Precinct 502 at First Baptist Church of Winter Park, Precinct 503 at Winter Park YMCA Family Center, and Precinct 504 at First Covenant Church of Winter Park voted in favor.
The measure is expected to prompt discussions about additional budget cuts or new ways to generate funds over the coming months, beginning as soon as next week.
Byron Donalds
The City Commission is scheduled to hear a presentation Wednesday on crash and pedestrian data related to red-light cameras. Commissioners will also consider an ordinance allowing additional cameras, which could generate new revenue through traffic citations.
At a recent work session, commissioners also discussed putting five mini-parks up for sale to raise money and reduce maintenance costs. Each park is approximately a quarter-acre and is located in a residential area. The parks include Bonnie Burn, Lakeview, Leith, Villa View, and Alberta Drive Lake Lookout.
Other potential cuts were discussed during budget hearings and the subsequent approval of the city’s $247 million all-funds budget. Those measures included freezing vacant firefighter positions, reducing operating hours at city swimming pools, and eliminating a vacant code enforcement position.
City Manager Randy Knight has estimated that the city will need to cut approximately $3.7 million from its $90 million general fund budget next year, followed by another $7.5 million the year after.
In addition to collecting less revenue from property taxes, which fund most city services, higher expenses propelled by inflation and anticipated slower growth in property values could further complicate the budget outlook.
Michelle del Valle, who will take over as city manager in January, said Wednesday that city officials will “discuss many options over the next six months” as they prepare the 2028 budget.
“It is too soon to speculate what specific actions the City Commission will ultimately approve to meet the challenges presented by Amendment 3’s passage,” del Valle said. “Fortunately, Winter Park is in a better financial position to meet this challenge than many other communities around the state, but it will not be met without some noticeable impacts.”
Seats Flipped
Winter Park and surrounding communities contributed to two legislative seat changes, with one seat each in the Florida House and Senate flipping from Republican to Democratic control.
In one of the night’s biggest upsets, Republican incumbent Jason Brodeur lost his District 10 Senate seat to Democrat John Lowndes, the mayor of Maitland. The district includes Maitland and Winter Park and extends north into Seminole County.
Lowndes won all three precincts with Maitland addresses, as well as all but one precinct in and around Winter Park. In Precinct 502 at First Baptist Church of Winter Park, Brodeur finished ahead by just 27 votes.
John Lowndes
Democrat Jane Aman also won in all three Winter Park precincts where some voters are part of House District 37. The district stretches from just west of State Road 436 east to Lake Pickett Road, then north into Oviedo and toward the Volusia County line. The seat was previously held by Republican Susan Plasencia.
Those victories followed a broader trend in Orange County, where voters elected Dr. Jarod Fox, a Democrat and infectious disease specialist at Orlando Health, over Republican incumbent Doug Bankson in District 39. The district includes Apopka, Winter Garden, and Zellwood.
Democrat Eric Gray also defeated Republican incumbent state Rep. Erika Booth, flipping House District 35, which stretches from southern Orange County into Osceola County.
“In Orange County there are now no elected Republicans to the state house,” said Allison Cassidy, executive director of the Orange Democrats.
Cassidy said her party benefited from strong turnout, with approximately 67% of registered Democrats in Orange County casting ballots. That figure is more typical of a presidential election year than a midterm election.
In 2022, the last midterm election, only 49% of registered Democrats in Orange County voted, compared with 64% of Republicans.
Some Voters Split Their Ballots
While voters in Winter Park overwhelmingly favored Democratic candidates at the top of the ballot including Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate and David Jolly for governor, some voters split their ballots between R’s and D’s.
In Precinct 503 at Winter Park YMCA Family Center, voters favored statewide winner and Republican Ashley Moody (50.3%) over Nixon (47.7%) in the U.S. Senate race.
However, the same precinct favored Jolly (53%) over Republican Byron Donalds (46%), who won statewide and will become Florida’s next governor.
In Precinct 504 at First Covenant Church on Howell Branch Road, Jolly received 54% of the vote. Nixon, meanwhile, narrowly edged Moody, receiving just under 50% of the vote and winning by only 11 votes out of the 1,119 ballots cast.
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by Beth Kassab | Oct 19, 2026 | Arts and Culture, County News, News, Taxes
Jerry Demings Wins Approval for TDT Spending Plan
The amount for the Dr. Phillips arts center was reduced and commissioners rejected a bid to give the convention center more money
Oct. 19, 2026
By Beth Kassab
The Orange County Commission on Monday approved nearly $1 billion in projects funded by tourist development tax revenue, including new sports facilities at UCF and a $50 million reduction in funding for the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
A last-minute push to include several hundred million dollars for another expansion of the Orange County Convention Center, which has already cost $2 billion, failed to gain support from any commissioner except Mike Crabb, who was appointed to Seat 2 in August by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Representatives of the tourism industry joined forces with local labor union members in an unusual alliance to urge Mayor Jerry Demings to delay a vote on his plan to spend $860 million on 13 projects. Demings refused, arguing that a delay could mean many projects he considered worthy might never get another chance at funding. He also bristled at assertions that the decision-making process lacked transparency or had been rushed, rejecting the suggestion that he should leave the matter to whoever is elected mayor next month.
“Yes, [the end of] our tenure is for some of us just months away, but it doesn’t mean that we should just sit here and do nothing,” Demings said. “This is my home, where I was born and raised. For nearly seven decades, I’ve lived here. I have put my life on the line for this community. Been in some tough situations over the years. My blood, my sweat, my tears have gone into working on behalf of this community. I will not retreat from working in my home and taking care of the people who live here.”
The 6-1 vote followed five hours of public testimony and debate.
Commissioner Kelly Semrad, who represents Winter Park, voted against the plan. Demings, Nicole Wilson, Crabb, Mayra Uribe, Maribel Gomez Cordero and Mike Scott voted in favor. Demings and Uribe are set to leave office soon, while Crabb and Scott are seeking election on Nov. 3.
Kelly Semrad
Nine speakers, many of whom worked in hotel management or other senior hospitality positions, urged the commission to add the convention center expansion to Demings’ list of projects.
Demings, however, said he was unwilling to consider such a change. The previous expansion, for which he helped secure funding, is still under construction, and he questioned whether another expansion was necessary for the center to remain nationally competitive.
“How big is big enough?” Demings asked. “How big is too big? And there are citizens who think that that’s not the appropriate place to make investments.”
Crabb twice attempted to amend Demings’ plan. He presented a spreadsheet he had prepared with different funding amounts for the projects to make room for the convention center expansion. After his first motion failed, he tried again, this time seeking to delay votes on both the convention center and the arts center while funding the other projects. Both times the other commissioners sat in silence rather than offering a second for his motions and both failed.
At least 14 of the 78 speakers told commissioners they were concerned about transportation in Orange County and wanted some tourist tax revenue directed toward improving roads, bus service and rail.
“I point out all these venues that you want to additionally fund are functional. They have options,” said Eugene Staccardo, a resident and civic activist. “This community doesn’t have an adequate transit system for tourism, even after billions of dollars of upgrades to I-4. It’s functionally not meeting the needs of [the] community … Say no to these large TDT proposals that will financially tie our hands for decades. Reserve the money for the future and to be used on hopefully a future transit system.”
Demings said he did not believe the Florida Legislature would expand the legally permitted uses of tourist development tax revenue to allow Orange County to spend the money on local needs such as public transportation.
“This legislature and those in the immediate past have not been so kind to this community,” he said. “They preempted us left and right. We have been left to figure it out on our own … Every one of these projects that we talked about today will add jobs. You would think that not any of those jobs are good jobs, but I’m here to tell you, many of those jobs are good jobs.”
Florida lawmakers have, however, granted exceptions allowing specific communities to use tourist tax revenue for local needs, such as affordable housing and public safety, after those communities mounted strong campaigns for the changes.
Semrad questioned why her colleagues were willing to disregard both residents’ concerns about transportation and projections in Demings’ own plan showing that TDT reserves would fall below the recommended $300 million threshold in the coming years as a result of the spending.
Demings and county staff members said the projections assumed annual TDT revenue growth of 2% over much of the next 10 years, though actual growth could be higher. They also said the county’s convention center capital spending plan includes additional TDT revenue for projects such as elevator repairs and fire alarm system replacements. Because those funds are not always fully spent, they argued, the projections were conservative.
“You’re okay with it, and I hear all the reasons why that math works,” Semrad told the group. “But I’m also familiar with market uncertainty and the conditions in today’s marketplace that are concerning, and that numbers could soften, especially in terms of travel. We all see it at the pumps. You guys, anybody who’s bought an airline ticket lately knows how expensive it’s getting. It’s going to impact our tourism industry … So I’m uncomfortable when I see red numbers.”
Ultimately, Uribe moved to keep reserves at the recommended threshold by reducing the allocation for the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts from $400 million to $350 million.
The arts center is receiving the largest share of the mayor’s TDT spending plan to build new theaters, add parking and make other improvements.
Kathy Ramsberger, the center’s president and CEO, addressed the commission and confirmed that the center could still move forward with its projects under the reduced allocation.
The following slides show the approved spending plan with the exception of the reduced arts center figure:
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by Beth Kassab | Oct 19, 2026 | Arts and Culture, County News, News, Taxes
What's Going On? I-Drive Chamber, Unions, Kelly Semrad All Call to Slow Down Giving Away TDT Money
The unusual allies expressed concerns ahead of a meeting today where the County Commission is set to consider Mayor Jerry Demings’ plan to give out nearly $1 billion
Oct. 19, 2026
By Beth Kassab
When the Chamber of Commerce that represents the largest tourism interests on International Drive aligns with both the local labor union and the county commissioner who was elected on a campaign of pushing back against tourism’s political power, it’s a rare day in Orange County.
Those unusual allies appear to have different motivations, but they’re calling for the same thing: They want Orange Mayor Jerry Demings to slow down his push to allocate nearly $1 billion in Tourist Development Tax revenue to 13 projects without subjecting each one to greater scrutiny or more fully assessing what local communities will need over the long term.
Today, those groups will be seeking answers to a number of questions when Demings and County Commissioners meet this afternoon for a special meeting at which Demings will seek approval of his recommendations for the 13 projects.
Among those questions, which center on a process that began in late July with the first meeting of Demings’ 34-member citizen task force to evaluate the projects, are:
- How and why was a proposal to spend $46 million on new soccer and track-and-field facilities at the University of Central Florida (UCF) added back to Demings’ list as his 13th recommendation after the citizen task force made only 12 recommendations and funding for UCF didn’t even garner enough support for a full vote?
- Will proponents of another expansion of the Orange County Convention Center succeed in getting that project added to the recommendation list in the final hours, even though the citizen task force also rejected it?
- Were all the projects evaluated using the same comparable metrics and standards agreed upon by the task force to justify the use of public dollars?
- If the County Commission funds all 13 projects at the recommended levels, will any additional hotel bed-tax revenue be available for transportation or other local needs if the state eventually allows the expanded uses of the tax revenue recommended by the citizen task force? Both candidates seeking to become Florida’s next governor have expressed support for expanding those uses.
“Government moves slow until you put a billion dollars on the table for the tourism industry then it moves at the speed of light,” said Commissioner Kelly Semrad, who represents Winter Park, describing the timeline, which began less than three months ago.
Today’s meeting could provide the last major opportunity for debate on Demings’ plan to spend more than $860 million, mostly over the next 10 years. Some of the financial obligations, however, would extend much longer. Debt service on a major expansion of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, for example, would cost about $32.8 million annually for as long as 30 years.
The plan outlined by Mayor Jerry Demings as presented recently to county commissioners.
The meeting comes just two weeks before Election Day, when voters will select a new mayor and four commissioners, and about eight weeks before the winners are sworn into office.
John Stine, chairman of the International Drive Resort Area Chamber of Commerce, called the process “rushed and flawed” in a letter to the editor published in Sunday’s Orlando Sentinel.
“County commissioners have a responsibility to independently examine the recommendations before committing funds,” Stine wrote. “A task force recommendation should begin that scrutiny, not replace it. Unanswered questions require answers. Incomplete financial information requires further review.”
Similarly, the union representing food-service, housekeeping, and other workers at Walt Disney World and hotels near Universal Orlando and the Convention Center called for more time before the financial commitments are finalized.
Union leaders said Sunday in a news release that they would hold a news conference just before Demings’ meeting to urge the county to “take more time to evaluate the size and scope of the proposed commitments, provide greater transparency on the TDT financial picture, preserve flexibility for future transportation investments, and ensure tourism workers and the incoming County Commission have an opportunity to weigh in before long-term decisions are finalized.”
According to the county webpage dedicated to the citizen task force, today’s work session will be followed by a special Tourist Development Tax meeting on Nov. 6 and then a regular County Commission meeting on Dec. 1, just days before Demings is scheduled to leave office.
Linda Chapin, the former Orange County mayor who served as co-chair of the citizen task force, defended its process in an interview with the Voice on Sunday.
“We spent twice as much time on this task force as the last one did,” Chapin said. “We heard from three times as many applicants as the last one did, and we worked very hard to make sure this money benefited people across the community, so I will be very disappointed if they don’t move ahead.”
She said she was pleased that projects from Ocoee to Eatonville to more money to be handed out later to smaller arts organizations made it into the recommendations. She pointed to recent projects in Winter Park that received tourist development tax dollars such as the Rollins art museum and the Winter Park Playhouse as examples of how the tax is benefiting communities across the county rather than just in the central tourism areas.
Chapin did acknowledge, however, that she was “a little surprised” to see UCF’s project added to Demings’ recommendations after no one on the task force seconded a motion to include it among the projects the group endorsed.
She also said she was “very frustrated” that the task force was never given specifics about how much money it had to work with as it met in July and August.
A PowerPoint presentation provided to commissioners by county staff last week included a chart showing that the projected costs of the 13 projects would exceed revenues from 2028 through 2032 before the balance returned to positive territory in 2033. The tax’s unallocated cash reserves, or rainy-day fund, would dip below the comptroller’s recommended target of $300 million in 2031, 2032, and 2033, according to projections that assume 8% growth in TDT revenue in 2026 and 2% annual growth thereafter.
But Chapin dismissed the notion that funding the recommended projects would tie up all available funds for the next decade. She also said she was concerned about what might really be driving some calls to slow the process until a new County Commission takes office.
“I fear that for some of these people, not all, it’s a ploy to see if they can put it off until the next board so they can give money to the convention center,” Chapin said.
She plans to attend today’s work session and said, “if I need to issue a red flag about the convention center, I’ll stand up and do it.”
Semrad and others, including Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio, who advocate directing more of the tax revenue toward local needs such as transportation infrastructure, say the latest convention center expansion’s failure to win approval from the task force was a victory for the community. They view the convention center, which has already cost $2 billion, as primarily benefiting hotels and businesses along International Drive.
Mike Crabb, who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to represent District 2, which includes Apopka, and is now in a runoff on Nov. 3 against Kamia Brown, sent a memo to fellow commissioners last week urging them to add the convention center back to the list of projects slated for funding. Among other recommendations, he suggested allocating $523 million to the convention center while reducing the $400 million Demings recommended for the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts to $150 million.
Commissioner Mike Scott, who represents the International Drive area, along with Tangelo Park and Pine Hills, and is seeking reelection next month against Lawanna Gelzer, also pushed to reconsider the convention center at a recent commission meeting.
Roseann Harrington, Demings’ chief of staff, said in an email to Semrad that the mayor had the discretion to add UCF back to the list because “commissioners mentioned three times” when they accepted the task force’s recommendations in August that the action “did not limit them to only selecting among the 12 recommended by the TDT Task Force. Commissioners expressed interest in the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) and UCF.”
When Semrad, a UCF professor who studies hospitality economics, asked for more detail about how the projects were evaluated for economic impact and why the county used a traditional economic analysis rather than what she considered more informative measures — such as jobs and wages, geographic reach, long-term operating costs, financial sustainability, and future TDT revenue generation — Harrington suggested that Semrad conduct her own analysis.
“After speaking with six of the seven BCC members on the type of fiscal analysis they would like conducted, the consensus was to do a traditional economic analysis consistent with the work done by GSU,” Harrington wrote. “With that said, since you have expertise in financial and community analysis, please feel free to do your own research and we will be glad to distribute to the BCC.”
Semrad argued that clearer guidelines were needed not only for the metrics but also for the process.
“My concern is that both the applicant pool and the scope of that analysis appear to have changed without further public Board discussion,” she wrote to Harrington.
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by Beth Kassab | Oct 2, 2026 | News, Taxes
Maxwell Frost and Sheila DeCiccio hear from Winter Park residents on SunRail, Amendment 3 and More
At a town hall held at Mead Botanical Garden this week residents also asked about everything from AI policy to Tourist Development Taxes
Oct. 2, 2026
By Gabrielle Russon
On a Friday in March, more than 12,000 passengers rode SunRail to and from Central Park to visit the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival.
But that weekend, the SunRail shut down like normal for the remainder of the festival. No trains ran, no matter how much Winter Park officials wanted them.
“We beg them. We will pay you. Can we please have it on the busy weekend?” Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said. “Wouldn’t that be great for Winter Park?
The answer — still an emphatic “no.”
Now, DeCiccio said she is “leading the charge with the mayors in Central Florida to ask the Legislature to change the law and free up the hundreds of millions of Orange County hotel tax revenue to help fund public transportation.
DeCiccio and U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost held a 90-minute town hall Thursday night at Mead Botanical Garden to listen to residents’ concerns and talk about the citywide issues, including parking, traffic and a lack of public transportation.
One resident asked if it was a good sign that SunRail got special late-night weeknight trains to transport theater-goers seeing “Hamilton” this month at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
“I hope so,” DeCiccio said as she said she keeps working on expanding weekend SunRail service.
Winter Park is a regional tourism destination with a thriving Saturday farmer’s market, weekend Track Shack running races and beloved holiday traditions in the downtown that draw thousands. And the city’s train station allows passengers to hop on and off the rail from the center of most of the action: Central Park.
“Really it should run all weekend because there’s so many people that come in and out,” the mayor said.
DeCiccio sent letters to other local mayors urging them to join the fight in reforming the 6% hotel tax which is also known as the tourist development tax (TDT).
Frost, who represents the city of Winter Park in Congress, also called transportation one of his top priorities. He expressed support for using TDT money for transportation but said he hopes federal funding from an infrastructure package emerges after the November election when Democrats are predicted to make up ground in Washington, D.C.
The lack of public transportation “is really holding us back” and preventing Central Florida from attracting large-scale events and helping tourism workers get to their jobs, Frost said.
US Rep. Maxwell Frost and Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio speak to residents on Oct. 1 at at town hall at Mead Botanical Garden.
At Thursday’s town hall, other residents used their moment of face time with the two elected officials Thursday to complain about Winter Park’s brick streets, express their fears about the threat of artificial intelligence and ask about other issues.
Don’t hold your breath for any immediate federal laws to protect humanity from AI.
“I’m going to be honest with you guys. Part of the problem is Congress lacks the expertise and technology to be able to move forward and pass real comprehensive legislation,” Frost said.
Dominating Thursday’s discussion was Amendment 3 as both DeCiccio and Frost expressed their concerns about the constitutional amendment to increase non-school homestead exemptions.
Amendment 3 is the latest threat to local governments after the state has been eroding away at local home rule for years, they said.
“We had an ordinance you couldn’t just take down a big beautiful oak or tree in your yard,” DeCiccio said, citing an example of how the state is superseding Winter Park’s authority to make decisions. “We love our trees. It’s part of our charm. It’s part of our character. It keeps us cool.”
Instead Tallahassee passed a 2022 bill allowing people to cut down a dead or dying tree without a local permit which developers are taking advantage of to remove trees, DeCiccio said.
Local governments losing millions of revenue would be forced to ask Tallahassee for approval and funding.
“They’re trying to push our local governments to have to go to Tallahassee and beg for crumbs and money to be able to do anything. And that’s about power,” Frost said.
DeCiccio warned the city would be forced to close the library “a few days a week” and its police and fire response times would get slower. Also potentially getting cut would be city festivities in the park to celebrate holidays, “all of the things that make Winter Park so very special,” she said.
One resident asked how people can get involved to help defeat Amendment 3.
“One thing is to have conversations with people in your neighborhood,” said Frost, whose political career started as a community organizer. “You know who are the homeowners, who are the tenants. Reach out to a neighbor and talk to them about it. … If everybody in this room spoke with 20 people between now and Election Day, that could literally mean the difference between it passing and it not passing.”
If at least 60% of voters approve the Amendment 3 on Nov. 3, the constitutional amendment would increase the state’s non-school homestead exemptions to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, and tie further increases in 2029 annually to inflation.
New Florida residents would be required to wait five years to get the full property tax break.
Under Amendment 3, Winter Park City Manager Randy Knight previously said the city would need to cut an estimated $3.7 million in the first year, followed by another $7.5 million the second year.
The Florida Realtors, which spent $10 million on its Vote Yes on 3 political committee last month, are the loudest advocates for Amendment 3, along with conservative state lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis who have been calling out for property tax relief for months.
Real estate agents make their livings off commissions from home sales and a report published on Realtor.com asserted that eliminating property taxes on owner-occupied homes would increase prices by 7% to 9%. In turn, such a move would also juice commissions for Realtors.
“Florida families are facing rising costs from every direction, from housing and insurance to groceries and everyday necessities. Amendment 3 provides meaningful property-tax relief at a time when many homeowners need it most,” said the Florida Realtors in a statement this week.
Meanwhile, the Florida Sheriffs Association, the Florida State Fraternal Order of Police and the Florida Professional Firefighters have come out strongly against Amendment 3 with the groups saying it could have the opposite effect by eating into the appeal of safety and other amenities provided by local governments that make many neighborhoods so desirable.
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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 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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