Gainesville in September: Budgets, Primary Results, Downtown Ambassadors
The summer is over, the students are back, and the town is buzzing again. We’re starting to kickoff a lot in September as well. We have budgets, my minimum lot size item is coming back, inclusionary z
The summer is over, the students are back, and the town is buzzing again. I’m always amazed at how much energy there is in Gainesville at the start of fall. I like the small town, summer slowdown, but I was ready for the energy and events to come back into town1.
We’re starting to kickoff a lot on the commission in September as well. We’re passing budgets, my minimum lot size item is coming back, inclusionary zoning is coming back, and we’re moving forward on some downtown plans.
Here’s what the Commission has in September.
First, Some Good News
UF Health, alongside the City and County, cut the ribbon on the 8,900 sq. ft., $5.7 million UF Eastside Urgent Care Center. This is a huge deal. Getting more healthcare access in east Gainesville has been a goal of the city for decades, and now it’s a reality. It’s a full-service medical facility with x-ray facilities, procedure rooms, and a community room.
Check out the new “Arts, Culture & Entertainment District” signs when you’re out in downtown or Grove Street next. These signs let you know the areas you are allowed to “sip & stroll” down the road. I think they look really nice.
Forest Park in Southwest Gainesville is now called “Abby Wambach Park” after the famous soccer player and numerous “Athlete of the Year” award winner that practiced on the field when she was at UF.
The Hippodrome Theatre came to us in a pretty dire situation after the Governor vetoed $150,000 in grant funding for them in his massive veto of all arts and culture funding. The City Commission was able to make them whole with a $150,000 contribution, and the County Commission is committing to helping them long-term with sustainability. The Hippodrome is such a gem of this community that it would be a true shame to lose them.
More personally: check out this article in the Gainesville Sun featuring me and my Aventon ebike: “City Commissioner Bryan Eastman among those leading e-bike charge in Gainesville”. Ron Cunningham talks to me about my goal of riding every road in Gainesville (68% done!), why I love using it as my main form of transportation, and bicycle safety in the city. Give it a read.
Budgets Finalized
The big item in September for every local government is the budget. In Florida all governments start their fiscal year on October 1st, so in September we finalize what the budget will look like for next year. Specifically we’re voting on:
Overall budgets
Millage rates
Fees & charges
Most residents don’t pay much attention during these discussions, but the budget is what makes everything else run in the city. Here is what we’re likely to pass this year:
Taxes
The millage rate will remain the same at 6.4297 next year, the same as it was last year, so there’s no increase in the “tax rate”, though the assessed value on your house will likely increase.
According to city staff the average assessed tax value of a single-family home in Gainesville is $140,9792, which means a homesteaded property owner will be paying $642.97 per year in City property taxes next year.
City taxes make up 29% of your tax bill, with the largest being the county (34.5%) followed by the School District (29%), with the City just a hair behind them. In total, your tax rate will actually be going down a hair next year thanks to a 4% decrease from the St Johns Water Management District, a 3.3% decrease from the library, and a 2.4% decrease from the Children’s Trust.
Budgets
The GRU Authority has forced some serious cuts to our revenues next year, with around $7 million cut by the GRU Authority in the transfer as well as a random $3 million cut to the transfer this year.
Despite that, we’ve fared alright into next year thanks to conservative budgeting this year that is holding us over into next year. That’s also thanks to a sizeable $5 million growth in our tax rolls.
The City Manager is recommending a fairly modest .7% cut next year, $1,027,352, compared to the adopted budget in 2023/24. Some departments got it worse than others. We had some marginal cuts across most departments, about 5%, while the raising budget of police by 1.6%.
Police make up the largest portion of our city budget, so a marginal increase in police spending has a large impact across the organization. That budget increase was to help pay for higher starting salaries at GPD which are below the salaries of other agencies, which is hurting our recruitment.
So next year you’re not gonna see any major program cuts this year like you did last year. But that doesn’t mean this has no impact. Between the large budget cuts last year and the small ones this year we are, basically, doing less as a city. In the short term you’ll only see minor impacts, but long term underinvesting in roads, parks, and facilities will catch up to you eventually.
Primary Election Rundown
On August 20th 22.72% of the voters of Alachua County went to the polls to vote. It was the lowest turnout primary election in a decade, just inching out 2014 (19.53%). Here’s how they turned out (with some added editorials from me):
The City Commission races turned out well. Next year I’ll be serving with Commissioner-Elect James Ingle and re-elected incumbent Desmond Duncan-Walker. I’m happy to see these results, Commissioner Duncan-Walker will stay a strong voice with us and I was very enthusiastically supporting James Ingle. Reina Saco will continue in the position for another four months before James Ingle is sworn in in January.
Statewide, Debbie Murascal-Powell is the Democratic nominee against Rick Scott, and polls have her just 4% below him in the election. I got to meet her at a UF v. Miami tailgate with the UF College Democrats and she was very nice, thoughtful, and I think would make a great Senator for Florida.
Democrat David Arreola is taking on Republican Chad Johnson in a seat that is very close. District 22 voted for Donald Trump by 1% and Andrew Gillum by .03%. You can donate to his campaign here.
Former State Representative Stan McClain didn’t get an opponent and is the likely successor to Keith Perry in Senate District 9, which is a heavily Republican seat. He is taking on Democrat Sylvain Dore in the general. Democrat Chad Scott is taking on Republican Emery Gainey in November.
The biggest surprise and biggest impact result of the night was Thomas Vu defeating incumbent Diyonne McGraw for Alachua County School Board. Diyonne McGraw was a driving force on that school board, for better or worse, and her losing marks a huge change in direction/philosophy. I like Thomas Vu, I supported him, and I think it will be very positive for the board to have him. But it’s also another big change in leadership for a School Board that has gone through a lot of change in recent years. Hopefully they’ll see more stability in the future.
On the County Commission side, Chuck Chestnut did not get an opponent so he will be serving another 4-year term on the County Commission. Democrat Anna Prizzia is taking on Republican Jenn Garrett in the November election. Mary Alford defeated Dejeon Cain in the primary and is taking on Republican Lizabeth Doebler in the general election.
These County Commission races are district-only for the first time this year, so it will only be voted on by people that live in these districts. The result is that all of them are much more “swing seats” than they were in previous years, and you’ll only be voting on one if you live in their district.
The Downtown Ambassadors
In the next few months you’ll start to see “ambassadors” around downtown Gainesville. People walking or on bikes helping clean up and support the downtown area.
Their job is to be eyes, ears, and hands in downtown Gainesville. They circle downtown and work with the relevant departments to get things fixed and cleaned up, they do some basic cleanups themselves, they work with homeless people who are downtown, they answer questions to people in the downtown area, etc.
If you’re in this area between 7:30 am and midnight, you’ll start seeing them out in the next few months. The company that does this, “Block by Block”, works in cities all across the United States.
I’ll be honest, I was a little skeptical of this idea when I first heard it. I’m more of an infrastructure guy myself: design a better city with bricks and concrete, don’t hire people for that work.
But my view changed when I saw them in action and talked with the people that rely on them to support their downtown. I was in Miami for the NACTO Conference a few months ago doing a tour with the Downtown DDA in Miami. Their downtown is in rough shape, so they hired these “ambassadors” 10 years ago to help.
The result was rave reviews. The Executive Director of the Miami DDA was praising the ambassadors during a walkthrough I was on, saying “I don’t know what our downtown would look like without them.”
So I took some time to walk along with the Ambassadors and see their day-to-day. They were passionate about downtown Miami, they were doing real work to make downtown better, and businesses/customers seemed to really like the support they offered.
I’m optimistic this will be a good investment for downtown. If you know anyone passionate about downtown and whos interested in applying the positions will be coming out soon, so keep your eyes out.
MTPO Governance
The Gainesville Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization (MTPO) is a joint City/County transportation body whose job is to plan/coordinate transportation in the area. They’re an odd organization that doesn’t get talked about much, existing somewhere between the City/County/State/Federal transportation staff to try to bring it all together and get local transportation needs off the ground.
It might sound a bit wonky, but what they do really matters.
15% of the roads in the City of Gainesville are owned and maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation, but those roads are our major corridors: University Ave, 34th St, Archer Rd, Williston, 13th St. These 15% of roads are responsible for 65% of fatal crashes in the City.
Advocating for local transportation needs/wants on state roads is a central role of the Gainesville MTPO, so having a good MTPO staff is critical.
For decades we’ve contracted with the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council to do this work. They’re a very small staff that works over six counties, with one person fully allocated to the duties of the MTPO.
Next year this “Gainesville MTPO” is leveling up, going from a Gainesville urbanized area to a County-wide organization, and with that comes more money and more responsibilities. I’ve been convinced for a while that we need to change the management of this organization and alter the structure to make it an independent organization that answers directly to the Board. The old structure isn’t working, and with these new responsibilities and funding there needs to be dedicated staff and more streamlined accountability.
So on September 16th the MTPO board will be meeting to discuss a transition plan to move this organization from being nestled under the Regional Planning Council to being a separate, independent entity. It’ll be a big change, but it’s one that I hope has the support to move forward.
Ironwood Golf Course
Gainesville’s city-owned golf course is a beloved golf course that has, like many golf courses around the country, been steadily losing money for years.
After years of cost overruns, last year the City Manager had it slated to shut it down, but after community pushback the Commission was able to keep it in the budget for this year. But it was in a precarious position. It’s been under “management watch” ever since, as our parks department tries to find ways to increase revenue, reduce expenses, and make the financials of Ironwood more sustainable. The assumption up til now is it would be on the chopping block again this year.
In June we got some positive progress: while last year Ironwood had a $118,236 deficit in June, that has been shrunk to $21,594 this year. It’s still a deficit, but Ironwood is on a much better trajectory.
On September 26th the City Manager will be coming back with the results of study by Barry Dunn about the future of the golf course, and from what I’m hearing the recommendation will be to keep the course open to the public as a city-owned course. That doesn’t keep them open for good, but it’s a positive forward direction for Ironwood.
Congratulations to the community advocates who pushed for that.
In the past three years we’ve seen Meadowbrook Golf Club, West End Golf Club, and Gainesville Country Club shut down. There are only four courses left in the Gainesville area and only two of those are open to the public. It’s great to keep this city-owned course open for those who love it.
Local Small Business of the Month
This summer has been really hard on our local businesses, particularly our restaurants and bars. Summer in a college town is always hard, but this year has been particularly hard according to every business owner I’ve spoken with. “This is the slowest summer we’ve seen” is a typical refrain.
So get out and eat at a local restaurant you like.
One downtown business that has been hurting recently is Paramount Grill, which has been a staple of downtown for nearly 25 years. The owner, Clif, passed away in 2020 after a battle with cancer. Despite that, it’s remained one of the best places to get a nice dinner in downtown, and is my go to spot on a date with my wife.
Anyway, go grab a bite give them some love to help them as they move beyond the summer slowdown.
Local Band of the Month
The Lowly Worm and the Fantastic Beverages is a family band with lead singer Jared Hart and his wife Rachel, alongside Jacob Larson (owner of the Bull) and his wife Jackie, along with singer Allie Brockner, drummer Mike O’Malley and bassist Matt Stanland.
You may have seen them out and about or recently being the headliners for the “Tribute to Gainesville Bands”, where they played everything from Crosby, Stills & Nash to Against Me!
They’re going to be playing some of these Gainesville songs at the “Vote Yes for Local Public Utilities” kickoff to Keep Gainesville Local. This is the kickoff to keep GRU local and eliminate the GRU Authority.
The Lowly Worm will be joined by “The Weeds of Eden”, local elected officials, and a bunch of community leaders. So come check it out Friday, September 13th at 6:00 in Downtown Gainesville in front of the Bull: 18 SW 1st Ave Gainesville, Florida 32601
Sign up for the event on Facebook
I could do without the traffic though
This is the average assessed value based on the property appraiser, which is very different than what the Federal Reserve’s listing price or Zillow’s average prices show.