The DeLand City Commission, and the Spring Hill and Downtown DeLand Community Redevelopment Agencies, will meet to finalize their budgets on Monday, Sept. 19.
Spring Hill CRA — 6 p.m.
First is the Spring Hill CRA, which will meet at 6 p.m. at DeLand City Hall, 120 S. Florida Ave. The board will vote on whether to adopt a $765,181 budget. Most of those dollars will help fund the Dr. Joyce M. Cusack Resource Center.
The resource center serves as a hub for events in the Spring Hill neighborhood and offers meeting locations to local organizations, as well as services for low-income residents of DeLand and surrounding areas.
Downtown DeLand CRA — 6:30 p.m.
The next board to meet is the Downtown DeLand CRA, which will convene at 6:30 p.m. The board will discuss plans for the coming fiscal year, and its $1,417,489 budget. Of that budget, $700,000 will go toward the Voorhis Avenue streetscape project. Other budget items include Downtown DeLand’s Christmas decorations and celebrations, which cost the CRA $30,000.
DeLand City Commission — 7 p.m.
Finally, the City Commission will meet to finalize DeLand’s budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year. At its first budget hearing Sept. 7, the City Commission gave the OK to a 6.5841 millage rate to help fund the city’s tentative $153,295,660 budget.
Last year, the city passed a 6.7841 millage rate, but rising property values mean taxes will still increase for DeLandites.
Millage: The millage rate states the number of dollars that will be collected on each $1,000 of property value. With a millage rate of 7, for example, the owner of a home worth $100,000 after exemptions would pay $700 in property taxes. The “taxable value” of a property is the value that remains after exemptions.
— Al Everson. You can read more about local budgets HERE
DeLand’s rate of 6.5841 mills is 7.02 percent higher than the rollback rate — or the rate that would raise the same amount of taxes for the city as the previous year — of 6.1520 mills.
The city’s $150 million budget will fund the city’s CRAs, its various funds for wastewater, sewer and more, as well as the city’s $41 million general fund.
The new general fund budget includes money to increase salaries for city staff and fund a number of capital projects, like a new recreation center on the city’s south side, extensions to the Paiva Greenway walking and biking path and plans to turn Lake Moore into a conservation area.
A look ahead — 2050 Vision Plan and GlassHouse on Sept. 26
The DeLand City Commission will hold two special meetings on Monday, Sept. 26.
The first, at 5:30 p.m., will be to discuss the city’s 2050 Vision Plan. More details about that meeting will be available next week.
The second special meeting, to discuss the latest plans for GlassHouse Square, will begin at 7 p.m. GlassHouse Square will, if approved by the City Commission, replace the historic and dilapidated Old Jail at 130 W. New York Ave.
The project was OK’d by the DeLand Planning Board in July, and the next step for GlassHouse Square is to be heard by the City Commission.
Elements the developer, GlassHouse LLC, will need to iron out with the City Commission include finalizing a proposed parking plan.
This meeting and the three meetings on Monday, Sept. 19, will take place in the City Commission Chambers at DeLand City Hall, 120 S. Florida Ave.
You can view the agendas and proposed budgets for the CRAs and the City of DeLand on the city’s website, HERE.
The City Commission and Downtown DeLand CRA meetings will be broadcast live on the city’s website, HERE.
