More commissioners signal interest in raising property taxes
At the board's first budget work session of the year, city staff pitched a targeted increase to cover transportation or public safety costs
March 16, 2025
By Beth Kassab
With costs for police and fire, transportation and other city services continuing to rise amid stubborn inflation, commissioners discussed last week the idea of increasing how much residents pay in property taxes by a quarter mil.
The talks took place at the Commission’s first budget work session of the year where the elected officials heard an overview of anticipated revenue and costs for next year.
Warren Lindsey, who will be sworn in as a new commissioner in Todd Weaver’s seat later this month, attended alongside Weaver.
Commissioner Craig Russell voiced a willingness to consider a tax increase and pondered ways to get residents on board with the idea.
“It’s just a matter of telling the story,” Russell said. “We still have unfunded projects” and expressed concern about a decline in city services “where we won’t be a destination anymore, we’ll just be run-of-the-mill.”
Russell, who was backed by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce and is up for re-election next year, said commissioners must talk about the needs with residents and “agree on whether we can market it so that the messaging is cohesive across the board with the public.”
Commissioner Marty Sullivan, who is also up for re-election next year and who proposed a property tax increase recently in a written message to residents, responded, “Craig, you stole my thunder.”
Sullivan said he didn’t mind if an increase is unpopular with voters. He said a .25 mil increase for many residents would be about $8 or so a month or “not much more than a cup of coffee at Barnie’s.”
“I’m OK with people hating me for it,” he said. “If 10 or 20 years from now they say they’re glad we did it.”
Commissioner Kris Cruzada, who was just re-elected last week and is often one of the more fiscally conservative voices on the board, said some older residents are “aging in place” and could be more concerned with increased costs.
He said he encountered a variety of viewpoints on the matter when he canvassed door-to-door ahead of the election.
“Some are more concerned,” he said. “I did get other residents who said, ‘I wouldn’t mind paying a little bit more,’ to make sure key performance indicators can be met,” such as police and fire response times.
“So it is a bit of a mixed bag with some of the residents,” Cruzada said.
City Manager Randy Knight said commissioners will be asked to set a tentative millage rate in July, the city’s typical practice. Then, in September when the budget must be approved, the board can lower the rate if there is negative feedback or if revenue estimates change.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio recalled how the board attempted to push the rate higher in 2020 in response to the pandemic.
“And there was a public outcry and we brought it down,” she said.
Winter Park’s millage rate is 4.0923 and is the only local city that has not increased its tax rate “since the 2009 Great Recession,” according to last year’s budget document. The rate equals about $4.09 in taxes for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value.
City Management and Budget Director Peter Moore told the group that potential new costs in the city’s more than $214 million budget could total as much as $5.6 million, but potential new revenues under the status quo could reach just $3.5 million.
The potential new costs include: $900,000 in general fund operating costs; $700,000 for public safety positions; $250,000 for equipment replacement, which he said could face increasing costs as a result of federal tariffs; $300,000 more in the general fund for building projects; $150,000 for IT software and $140,000 to update the parks master plan.
He said the property tax base for Winter Park is expected to remain strong, though growth could slow or at least level out.
He added that he expects harder-to-come-by federal and state grants and higher electric utility costs down the road.
“We’ve seen cities target specific things,” Moore told the group such as raising taxes specifically for transportation or police as some other local governments have done. “Allocating a quarter point to public safety would help.”
At the City Commission meeting earlier in the week the board voted to pause offering more money for local nonprofit grants until later in the year as they wait to get a better picture of the budget numbers and after DeCiccio raised that federal and state grants will likely dry up.
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On a parting note, Todd Weaver questions WP Chamber's political activity
At the commissioner's final meeting, he asked whether the chamber can or should continue to operate its political action committee from a city-leased building
March 15, 2025
By Beth Kassab
At the end of his final meeting this week, Todd Weaver suggested the city could terminate or buy out the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce’s 99-year lease on a city building and questioned whether the group’s political action committee violated the lease agreement.
Weaver said he is unhappy with the group’s political activities and the city is in need of more space for staff and could use 151 W. Lyman Avenue, the city-owned building across from City Hall occupied by the chamber. He also questioned the quality of the Welcome Center the chamber operates in the building as part of its agreement.
“For me, the chamber should be promoting all commerce in the city … they’ve lost sight of our residents,” Weaver said. “… I’m not thrilled that the chamber is actively working against the commission. They backed another person against someone who is an incumbent … I’ve gone over the lease with the city manager and I’ll let them talk about the pitfalls, but something we as a commission should think about for economic reasons is for the city to allow the chamber of commerce to operate as they have, but elsewhere.”
The move came on the heels of Tuesday’s election, which saw a heated contest for Seat 3 with the chamber’s PAC spending more than $30,000 in an attempt to defeat incumbent Kris Cruzada and support challenger Justin Vermuth.
Cruzada, an attorney who was first elected in 2022, won big — taking nearly 63% of the vote — despite being significantly outraised by Vermuth, a lobbyist for the timeshare industry who collected $94,000 and spent $91,000, according to the most recent finance reports. Cruzada raised $36,000 and spent $27,000.
The PAC was created last year with attorney Brian Mills named as chairman and has raised $85,000 and spent $67,000 during the 2024 and 2025 election cycles. In 2024, the group backed Commissioner Craig Russell, who narrowly defeated Jason Johnson to fill a seat left open by Sheila DeCiccio when she ran for mayor.
City attorney Kurt Ardaman said in response to Weaver’s questions at Wednesday’s meeting that it did not appear the city had the ability to buy out the chamber from its lease unless the chamber had sublet a portion of the building without notifying the city or unless the city negotiated a new arrangement with the chamber.
Ardaman said the lease started in 2005 and runs through 2104. In exchange for the century-long lease without monthly rent, the chamber spent about $900,000 to redevelop the site, he said.
Chamber President and CEO Betsy Gardner said through a spokeswoman that the chamber had not sublet any portion of the building to any individual or entity.
Winter PAC lists its address as the chamber’s address and Gardner is listed as its registered agent in documents filed with the city last year.
According to a “Frequently Asked Questions” sheet sent to the Voice, the PAC is operated separately from the chamber itself.
“The Chamber Board and CEO do not control Winter PAC,” the FAQ reads. “While the organizations are associated and aligned with the tenets of the Chamber’s Prosperity Scorecard, they are separate entities with separate bank accounts and independent boards of directors.”
Commissioner Marty Sullivan, whose term is up next year, said, “I believe it deserves a deeper look,” in response to the questions brought up by Weaver.
Cruzada, who will be sworn in for his second term later this month, said, “I wouldn’t mind an inquiry to see if there is a provision in the lease they may be violating.”
Russell, the only current commissioner who had the backing of the chamber and who will also be up for re-election next year, said “nothing from me” when his turn came to speak and then questioned the timing of the discussion.
“Why now?” he asked.
Weaver, who opted not to run for re-election this year, responded that the the PAC was formed after the lease went into effect.
“I get it,” Russell responded. “I’m not interested.”
But with three commissioners — Weaver, Sullivan and Cruzada — signaling interest, the city attorney was asked to research the matter further to determine if there are any concerns related to the lease.
BusinessForce, a political action committee based in Orlando, split from the former Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce years ago after starting out as an affiliated organization similar to Winter PAC.
PACs are routinely used in Florida politics to infuse races with more money than a candidate can often raise through a campaign account alone. That’s because individuals can give unlimited contributions to political committees while candidates are limited to accepting no more than $1,000 per individual or entity each election.
The catch is that, under Florida election rules, political committees can not coordinate activities with a candidate.
The chamber’s own FAQ sheet spells out the rules this way: “The primary purpose of a Political Committee (PC) is to support or oppose any candidate or issue. A PC may also make an independent expenditure, meaning it can spend money to expressly advocate for the election/defeat of
a candidate/issue as long as it is not controlled by, coordinated with, or made upon consultation with any candidate, political committee or agent of such.”
Throughout Vermuth’s campaign, Winter PAC reported multiple expenses labeled as “independent expenditure regarding a candidate” for mail pieces.
For example, two appear on the most recent report filed: one for nearly $8,000 and one for $2,300. All such expenditures on Winter PAC’s reports were paid to MDW Communications LLC at 7765 Lake Worth Road, Suite 210 in Lake Worth.
MDW Communications is a political advertising firm that, according to its website, designs “digital and direct mail strategies that have helped over 150 progressive campaigns and causes win since 2014.”
Vermuth, on his own candidate financial reports, listed a number of expenses for polling, palm cards, mail pieces and paid calls to a group called “Claughton Consulting” that also lists as its address 7765 Lake Worth Road, Suite 210 in Lake Worth.
Searched on a map, the address appears to be in or near a Publix shopping plaza, just east of the Florida Turnpike in Palm Beach County.
The Voice asked Vermuth for information about Claughton Consulting in February and he declined to answer the question. He did not respond to emails seeking comment about the election this week.
An email address on a web site found for Claughton Consulting is invalid. No response was received to questions submitted through a form on the web site.
Only one other local candidate has used Claughton Consulting, according to a search of the state campaign finance database and a search of Orange County campaign finance records.
Steve Leary, the former Winter Park mayor and unsuccessful candidate last year for Orange County Commission, paid the firm through his campaign as well as through his political committee. Neighbors for a Sensible Orange County paid the firm $65,000 last year. Leary’s own campaign account paid Claughton $105,000 last year, according to finance records.
Gardner said the chamber did not recommend Claughton to Vermuth.
“Winter PAC did use MDW for its communications in this cycle,” she said. ” MDW had done a fantastic job on another project for the Chamber. We did not recommend Claughton Consulting to Mr. Vermuth’s campaign.
MDW Communications did not immediately respond to e-mailed questions about why MDW’s address appears as the same address for Claughton on campaign reports filed separately by Winter PAC and Vermuth’s campaign.
MDW is frequently used by mostly Democratic candidates across the state. The firm has been paid more than $16 million going back to 2013, according to the state campaign finance database. Multiple addresses are listed for the firm in the database, including the one in Lake Worth.
Orange County elections records show the firm has taken in more than $100,000 dating back to 2020 for work in local races.
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Kris Cruzada elected to second term and residents reject leaf blower ban
The incumbent fended off a challenge from a candidate who was endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce and far outraised him
March 11, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Commissioner Kris Cruzada won a second term on Tuesday night with 63% of the vote, defeating first-time candidate Justin Vermuth, who took 37%.
Cruzada, 51, was outspent by Vermuth, 43, by more than 4 to 1 in the race. Vermuth, who was endorsed by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce and raised more than $86,000 compared to Cruzada’s $28,000, said he wanted to cut taxes and the city’s spending.
Cruzada, an attorney who was first elected to Seat 3 in March 2022, defended his record on the commission and warned that revenue and spending cuts could also mean a loss of quality in services such as parks, roads, utilities and more.
Neither Cruzada nor Vermuth, who is also an attorney and the lobbyist for the association that represents timeshares, immediately responded to requests for comment about the results.
Cruzada’s victory represents a win for a coalition of residents who consider themselves skeptical of new development that could alter the charm and character of the city known for its chain of lakes and the Spanish-Mediterranean architecture of Rollins College.
His supporters largely support the current version of the Orange Avenue Overlay development rules, which limit building height and density.
Cruzada’s donors included $2,000 bundled from Full Sail University Co-Chairman and CEO Edward Haddock and one of his companies; $2,000 from former Mayor Phil Anderson and Jennifer Anderson; $500 from former Commissioner Carolyn Cooper and $250 from David Odahowski, president and CEO of the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation.
Vermuth’s donors included $10,000 bundled by Golden Corral franchisee Eric Holm and his companies, $10,000 bundled by the Holler family’s companies, which own car dealerships and property impacted by the Orange Avenue Overlay; $2,000 from the tourism industry, $1,000 from Jacqueline Siegel, known as the “Queen of Versailles” and wife of timeshare magnate David Siegel and $500 from former Mayor Steve Leary’s political committee.
The chamber’s political action committee spent more than $30,000 for several mailers and other efforts on his behalf. Last year the chamber used a similar strategy to help elect Craig Russell, a football coach and teacher at Winter Park High, who won by 34 votes.
Justin Vermuth
Meanwhile, residents rejected a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers that the commission put into place in early 2022, but never enforced.
Voters said no to the controversial ban, which drew the ire of landscaping companies and state Sen. Jason Brodeur, with 55% of the vote.
The vote means a repeal of the ordinance that was set to take effect this summer.
A total of 4,638 ballots were cast in the Winter Park election, putting turnout at nearly 21%, the highest of the five cities in Orange County that held elections on Tuesday. Winter Park has 22,533 registered voters, including 7,858 Democrats, 8,449 Republicans, 5,590 without a party affiliation and 636 registered with other parties.
The turnout was lower than last year’s in Winter Park, which topped 30% and was boosted by Florida’s Republican presidential preference primary on the same ballot. This year surpassed turnout of 19% in 2022, when Cruzada was first elected.
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Election Day Updates: Kris Cruzada, Justin Vermuth and the leaf blower referendum
Voters will decide who takes Seat 3 on the City Commission and the fate of a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers
March 11, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Update at 4:45 p.m.
Turnout has continued to pick up throughout the day, now at just under 18% in Winter Park or 3,943 votes cast.
That’s an increase of more than 1,400 votes since 11 a.m. this morning when turnout stood at 11% or 2,479 votes cast, including mail, early and Election Day votes reported in near real time by the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office. There are 22,533 registered voters in Winter Park.
Polls remain open until 7 p.m.
Republicans have slightly edged out Democrats in turnout in Winter Park, where the GOP also holds a lead in voter registrations.
Next highest is Windermere at 16% turnout and and Belle Isle12% turnou t. Windermere is deciding a single city council seat and Belle Isle is deciding its next mayor.
Maitland, which is deciding a council seat, saw turnout at about 9% so far.
And Ocoee, which has three charter questions on the ballot, sits at just higher than 3%.
Winter Park will determine with Seat 3 incumbent Kris Cruzada gets a second term or if challenger Justin Vermuth gets a turn in City Hall.
Cruzada said it’s been a “positive” morning so far and he’s out waving signs at precincts.
Vermuth posted on Facebook that he and his wife voted early this morning and waved signs with their children.
Around the time the polls opened, Vermuth posted a photo of himself with Commissioner Craig Russell, who won last year’s election by just over 30 votes.
“The last City Commission race came down to just a handful of votes — so please, if you stand with Justin and want to ensure that we keep our taxes low and our spending responsible, support our small local businesses, prioritize hiring SRO officers over code enforcement officers, make sure our first responders have all the resources they need, and enhance our local parks, playgrounds and green spaces, get out and vote,” he wrote.
The City Commission has never had to choose between school resource officers and code enforcement officers. Both are funded. And school resource officers remained in schools even as Winter Park — along with others cities — and Orange County Public Schools negotiated how much each local government will pay for the costs of the officers. City Manager Randy Knight said he hopes to have a resolution to the negotiations soon, though not in time for Wednesday’s City Commission meeting.
Winter Park honored one of the officers assigned to Winter Park High School as its officer of the year in January.
For a Q&A with both candidates click here. For the latest update on who is funding the candidates click here.
Voters will also decide the fate of the city’s gas-powered leaf blower ban, which has prompted campaigning by Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford.
A “yes” vote will repeal the ordinance and lift the ban on internal combustion, or gas-powered, leaf blowers. A “no” vote will allow for the ban to remain in place. If voters keep the ban it would take effect in July.
The ban was unanimously approved by the commission in January 2022, but has never been enforced.
Other Florida cities like Miami Beach, Naples, Palm Beach, South Miami, Key Biscayne and Pinecrest have similar ordinances to reduce noise from leaf blowers.
Warren Lindsey was elected to Seat 4 without opposition after incumbent Todd Weaver decided not to seek reelection.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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Senator and commissioner duel in final days before vote on leaf blower ban
Ahead of Tuesday's election, voters are hearing from Sen. Jason Brodeur and Commissioner Todd Weaver about the ban on gas-powered leaf blowers
March 7, 2025
By Kathryn Brudzinski
In the final days and weeks leading up to Winter Park’s election on Tuesday, a state senator and a city commissioner faced off with dueling emails and campaign ads over the ballot question about a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers.
Sen. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, used a political committee he controls to pay for ads that call the ban “bad for local businesses.”
Brodeur, who got involved in the controversy over the ban last year and forced commissioners to put the issue on the ballot by threatening state action, told the Voice this week he didn’t think the commission adequately addressed the needs of the business community and the “obvious burden” to consumers through increased costs.
“If people want battery powered blowers, they can just hire them now,” Brodeur said in a text message. “A ban on choices in the marketplace is a slippery slope. Next it will be trimmers, then lawn mowers, then they’re telling you what color your house is and that you must have a brick mailbox. They are not a homeowners association, they’re a city commission.”
Jason Brodeur
Brodeur is the chairperson of Citizens for Solutions, the political committee that sent the mailers and emails.
In a Feb. 28 email signed by Brodeur, the committee argued that the ban was “not just about leaf blowers – it’s about stopping unnecessary regulations that hurt working families and small businesses.”
Commissioner Todd Weaver, one of the most outspoken advocates for the ban, sent an email to residents this week and questioned what he called Brodeur’s “strange attention to local issues,” while so many critical state issues loom such as low wages and homeowner insurance rates.
“One must wonder why we have a state senator, who lives in Sanford, and who continues to meddle in local Winter Park affairs,” read the email from Weaver, who opted not to run for re-election this year.
In January, Brodeur sent residents emails to argue against an unrelated city matter, but one also personal to Weaver. He urged residents to speak out against Weaver’s request to add his home to the city’s historic register. The request was ultimately tabled.
Brodeur’s mostly Seminole County district folds in a small piece of Orange County, including Winter Park.
Weaver argued the commission provided contractors “ample time” to make the equipment switch by delaying enforcement multiple times since the leaf-blower ordinance was first passed in 2022.
He also emphasized the long-term cost and public health benefits electric blowers can offer, despite the equipment being more expensive up-front.
“The energy to run electric lawn tools costs about ¼ of what gasoline currently costs,” the email read. “This does not translate to higher costs for customers as Brodeur implies. Worst case: the cost difference is a wash … More importantly, it is about the health of landscaping workers using gas-powered tools.”
Voters will find the question on their Tuesday ballots along with the race for City Commission Seat 3 between incumbent Kris Cruzada and candidate Justin Vermuth.
Todd Weaver
A “yes” vote will repeal the ordinance and lift the ban on internal combustion, or gas-powered, leaf blowers. A “no” vote will allow for the ban to remain in place. If voters keep the ban it would take effect in July.
The ban was unanimously approved by the commission in January 2022, but has never been enforced.
Other Florida cities like Miami Beach, Naples, Palm Beach, South Miami, Key Biscayne and Pinecrest have similar ordinances to reduce noise from leaf blowers.
Winter Park’s ban received major pushback from local landscape companies in the months before it was set to take effect last year. They complained about the cost of changing equipment and concerns about battery power that would slow them down and hurt business.
That’s when Brodeur stepped in as the state Legislature was still in session. He threatened to write a law that would cancel out the ban if the city didn’t once again delay enforcement and put the question on this year’s ballot for voters to decide.
The result was a 3-2 decision by the commission in April 2024 to place the issue on the ballot. Mayor Sheila DeCiccio, Commissioner Craig Russell and Cruzada voted in favor. Commissioner Marty Sullivan and Weaver voted against.
Brodeur still added language to the state’s budget attempting to prohibit cities from enacting gas-powered leaf blower ordinances until after a $100,000 study on the life cycle of gas-powered versus battery-powered blowers was completed.
The study was vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
During the commission’s April 2024 meeting DeCiccio and others voiced their concerns about Brodeur’s approach and the future impacts of the referendum.
“I am worried about the precedent that this will set if any time someone does not like what the commission does, they can complain to the senator and threaten preemption,” DeCiccio said.
She also said that landscapers had nearly three years to make the transition to electric leaf blowers from the time of the original ordinance.
Weaver said during that meeting that in addition to numerous noise complaints, severe health and environmental impacts associated with the use of the gas-powered lawn equipment were also cause for concern.
“The reason this tool was picked out, not only for the noise, is because it’s the only one of the arsenal of gas-powered tools that almost always run at full-throttle,” Weaver said, adding that he was concerned Brodeur had not effectively researched the issue.
The ordinance came following noise complaints, which intensified as more residents worked from home during the pandemic, and environmental and health concerns. The commission gave residents and their landscape contractors 30 months to make the switch to alternative equipment like electric leaf blowers.
The city offered a one-per-household $50 rebate for electric leaf blowers purchased between Jan. 15, 2024 to Jan. 1, 2025 that would be applied as a credit to a resident’s utility bill.
Gas-powered leaf blowers typically use a two-stroke engine that mixes gasoline with oil to operate, burning a portion of the mixture and emitting the rest as an aerosol exhaust. Studies have shown public health concerns related to the exhaust because it contains known carcinogens and can be linked to diseases such as cancer.
Another concern is the level of noise the equipment produces. A 2017 study found that the sound produced by gas-powered leaf blowers can travel long distances in a community at “levels known to increase the risk of adverse health effects.”
Populations like workers, children, the elderly, the sick, those who work from home or work overnight shifts are considered most vulnerable to the impacts.
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Kathryn Brudzinski is a reporter based in Orlando and a University of Central Florida graduate with a degree in journalism, as well as a certificate in public and professional writing. Her work has appeared in Oviedo Community News, VoxPopuli and The Charge.