At last Wednesday night’s commission meeting, the City of Winter Park commissioners took a preliminary vote to set the city’s millage rate. The 4-1 vote was in favor of increasing the millage rate in Winter Park for the first time in 13 years, from 4.0923 to 4.5623. This means every homeowner in Winter Park will pay higher real estate taxes in 2020 and into the future.
The decision was made after the city showed a significant shortfall in its projected revenues of $3 million due to the COVID crisis. Businesses up and down Park Avenue and Winter Park Village are dark. Past commissions in recent years fought to keep millage rates the same or even proposed decreasing the rate.
What is more disturbing about this vote is that in the same meeting the Winter Park City Commission imposed a 270-DAY moratorium which could be extended indefinitely on any commercial development within the Orange Avenue Overlay. This overlay would have brought new tax revenue into the city. The overlay would have not only helped the city’s tax base but also could have stimulated much needed job opportunity as 15% of jobs have been lost in the Winter Park area since March 18th. The proposed developments along the corridor would have offered not only construction jobs but also service jobs in hospitality, hotel, residential apartments, retail, and medical services. To make matters worse, the ruling on this ordinance halts and turns away millions of dollars the city would have received in revenue from commercial property taxes.
For the last three years, the city has been working on a public/private partnership with commercial property owners on Orange Avenue who were committed to redevelopment in order to revitalize Orange Ave. and Winter Park while addressing areas of concern. The previous commission voted 3 to 2 in favor of the Orange Avenue Overlay. This was overturned three weeks later when a new commission stepped in reversing the decision. Then last week, further driving a nail in the coffin to any new mixed use development, the city imposed the moratorium, no doubt in a time when cities will be begging for revenue.
The economic impacts of the Orange Avenue Overlay had huge implications for the city and would have ushered in a path to economic recovery at a time when the City of Winter Park needs it most. And who knows, perhaps millage rates could have remained static for the next thirteen years.
Email mayorandcommissioners@cityofwinterpark.org to share your input on the proposed tax increase and moratorium on Orange Ave. Overlay development.
2020-07-31