Winter Park approves new $214.6 million budget for 2025

The budget includes more dollars for infrastructure projects, public safety positions and local nonprofit organizations

September 13, 2024

By Beth Kassab

Winter Park’s city budget will grow to $214.6 million for 2025, a 3% increase from the current year driven by an increase in property tax revenue, higher fees paid by residents for stormwater projects and garbage collection along with sales tax revenue passed along by the state.

The City Commission voted 4-0 to approve the budget this week (Commissioner Marty Sullivan was absent from the meeting). Final approval of the spending plan is scheduled for Sept. 25.

The extra $6 million in the new budget will largely go to pay for new positions in the police and fire departments as well as public works projects for roads and other infrastructure.

Commissioners kept the city’s tax rate the same at 4.3302 mils, but higher home values drove property tax collections up by more than 8%.

Residents will also feel the impact from rising fees built into their water, sewer and garbage collection bills as well as the stormwater fee, which is collected as part of the annual property tax bill.

The higher fees account for an additional $3 million in the budget. The average customer will pay about $13 more per month or an extra $156 per year as a result of the rising rates, according to city budget documents.

Garbage collections skyrocketed as part of a new contract with Waste Management, the private contractor for the city.

The stormwater fees are rising as part of a three-year plan to raise rates to about 9 cents per square foot of what the city calls impervious surface (generally the amount of concrete covering a lot). The goal is to raise $2.7 million each year for flood prevention and to improve lake quality.

Commissioners will hold a work session later this month to discuss findings from a series of basin studies that are expected to identify stormwater improvements needed to manage flooding. The studies were ordered last year and are expected to be finalized in October, a city spokeswoman said.

Commissioners also approved an increase in the dollars they give to local nonprofit organizations.

For the first time in 10-years, the city will not provide $100,000 to the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts after it’s funding agreement ended. Those dollars along with an increase in total support from $2.3 million this year to $2.4 million mean two new groups will receive funding along with increases for the nonprofits already funded by the city.

Organizations receiving support include:

• Mead Botanical Gardens: $98,000, a $4,500 increase.
• Winter Park Historical Association: $93,000, a $5,000 increase.
• Winter Park Day Nursery: $41,000, a $2,500 increase.
• United Arts: $19,000, a $600 increase.
• Blue Bamboo: $12,000, a $1,000 increase.
• Polasek Museum: $27,000, a $1,700 increase.
• Winter Park Library: $2,028,600, a $96,600 increase
• Winter Park Institute: $25,000, newly added this year.
• Men of Integrity: $18,000, newly added this year.

The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, which is up for an extension and expansion from the Orange County Commission, will provide the following additional aid:

• Enzian Theater: $10,000, no change.
• Heritage Center: $50,000, no change.
• Welbourne Day Nursery: $41,000, a $2,500 increase.
• Winter Park Playhouse: $47,000, a $3,000 increase.
• Depugh Nursing Home: $23,000, a $1,000 increase.
• Winter Park Library: $368,000, an $18,000 increase.

The city’s reserve fund is expected to reach $21.2 million or about 27% of recurring annual operating costs in the General Fund, according to the city budget proposal. The percentage is decreasing because new expenditures are outpacing growth in revenue, according to the document.

Highlights of expenditures include:

•Spending on capital projects will remain stable at $25.6 million, mostly for undergrounding power lines and investments in stormwater.

• Four new public safety positions including two more firefighters/EMTs, a fire logistics manager and a full-time police grant and accreditation manager.

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