7/30/26 – FY27 Budget Presentation & Army Navy Development Moves Forward

I’ve hyped it up for the last 3 months and the time has finally arrived for Mayor Jane Castor to present her final budget proposal to Tampa City Council. Originally planned for July 16, the mayor requested it be scheduled for last week, July 23, which council declined as it was a CRA meeting. Unless her plans have changed, Mayor Castor will not be in town to present her final budget in person and instead will rely on staff and a pre-recorded message. Likewise Council Chair Alan Clendenin had scheduled a city related trip to Columbia for this week and will not be present.

He will also be missing a vote to move the Army/Navy Development forward as council will be voting to approve the land disposition agreement — how the developer will acquire the land from the city as units are completed and the city compensated per unit. All told, the developer will pay the city a minimum of $8.6 million over the multi-phase project.

What Tampa Monitor will be watching for in the FY27 budget

I’m not going to try and speculate what is in the budget this year. I will say my preliminary look at the tax roll showed the real-property taxable value is $63.94 billion for Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27), up 4.3% over FY26, with an expected tax revenue of $396 million. FY26 was up 6.9% which means the difference between an additional $16 million versus $25 million in ad valorem tax collected. Where the rest of the revenue falls will be the first thing I watch for.

I do expect there to be many, many references to the proposed homestead exemption increase amendment, “property tax cuts”. How much anyone recommends setting aside just in case we’ll see.

Other things I’ll be watching:

Will the mayor include Community Investment Tax (CIT) funds for the Rays in the 5 year Capital Improvement Program (CIP)?

The MOU outlines $80 million from the city, $20 million a year, starting in FY27. And while there are suggestions in other media reporting that the Rays and Hillsborough County might go it alone and the City of Tampa not contribute funding directly, where the mayor stands might be spelled out Thursday morning.

What else is in the 5 year CIP?

The point of the 5 year CIP is to have some level of long range planning and continuity. Certainly an incoming mayor and council will want to make adjustments but they are inheriting this budget. By the time they know where the bathrooms are in their offices the city will be entering Quarter 3 of the fiscal year and wheels will be in motion. The single biggest thing I’ve been critical of this council is their failure to use the 5 year CIP. There was this misconception that approving something in the capital improvement program was somehow only conceptual and that before anything went in motion there would be another vote. Hopefully everyone understands now that if you approve $500,000 in this fiscal year for a study for a project, and there’s $10 million over the next 2 fiscal years earmarked, the next time council might see the project on their agenda is when the RFP comes back. So while funds can’t be obligated for FY28, once the train leaves the station, it’s often difficult to stop.

Paving

I am going to be real interested to see how much is budgeted in FY27 after $41 million was budgeted last year (includes $21 million in projects through county and All For Transportation Tax refund). I wrote that was “setting the Mobility Dept up for failure”. Item 48 on this week’s agenda is moving $2.1 million within the Local Option Gas Tax Capital Projects Fund for use by the West Riverside Heights Improvements project. Look closer and it’s moving $2.1 million out of “Street Resurfacing” and into “Professional Services Capital”. That said, the project lists improvements such as “street resurfacing, traffic calming and pedestrian infrastructure.” A project that was first presented to the public in 2023. Which sounds great and needed but should have been funded in the fiscal year CIP so it’s clear where money is going instead of a headline grabbing number that’s really an opaque bucket the admin decides on where it’s spent. But that might require spending some actual time on the 5 year CIP and see above.

What council does with it.

How council conducts their workshops and public hearings from a procedural process is as much of an interest to me as what is in the proposal. Which what it is. It is the mayor’s proposed budget. From here, it’s council’s to decide what to do. There should be no expectation that after the budget is presented the mayor is going to negotiate and help council make changes to it. It’s their budget now. They need to be prepared to make motions to amend the budget including how they intend to fund their change. It’s a pretty standard process that somehow has eluded Tampa City Council with the exception of Council member Lynn Hurtak. Her proposals to fund the pilot for bus route 1 in FY25 and modifications in FY26 came with specific a source of funding. More often, council members complain and talk to the camera pointing fingers but don’t actually offer a suggestion where to cut funding to make room for their priorities. Grandstanding, not legislating and then quietly approving the 5 year CIP as presented by the mayor. Which as a refresher, is a required document and a separate vote that needs the mayor and 4 council members or 5 council members to change.

Starting next week Tampa Monitor will begin publishing looks at every department’s budget comparing it to the previous 3 fiscal years and what’s changed.

Army/Navy Development

One of my prized possessions is a Swedish Navy peacoat I bought at the Army/Navy Surplus downtown when I was 19. It was an odd shaped lot with a squat building with bars over the windows and an old bomb and siren tower out front. 13 years ago it closed and in the ensuing years the city with funding through the CRA purchased the property along with the land south.

A developer was selected earlier this year and Thursday council will be voting on the “land disposition agreement.” Item 40 outlines how the land will be transferred to the developer. The agreement outlines:

• minimum of 1,150 residential units
• including at least 568 units at or below 80% Annual Median Income (“AMI”)
• at least 230 units between 80% AMI and 140% AMI
• for a minimum of 50 years
• various amenities that will be provided.

The units will be developed in phases and the land transferred as phases are completed. The developer is agreeing to pay the city $7,500 per residential unit, “but in no case shall the aggregate purchase price for the entire Army Navy Site be less than $8,625,000.” Any units built above the 1150 units would compensate the city at $3,000 a unit. Funds would be deposited in the Housing Program Fund.

No timeline is provided. Delays happen but as seen play out with the Rome Yard project extensions, I thought the clause to mostly take extensions out of future council’s hands interesting.

4.4 Extensions of time frames for Phases in the Phasing and Timing Plan may be extended by the City’s Administrator of Development and Economic Opportunity, without further approval by City Council, for up to one (1) year, provided that Developer has been diligently pursuing completion of the obligations set forth in this Agreement. Any extensions for more than one (1) year will require review and approval by City Council unless caused by Force Majeure, due to other City acts or omissions, or as a result of a Transportation Plan Delay.

Other items worth a look.

• items 19 and 20 are close outs on contracts - part of the 7th Ave paving and a section of the Green Spine. Both came in under budget.
• Item 22 - Wastewater department dipping into reserves. It is only $1.7 million for a department with $190 million budget but it also ran in the red in FY24 & FY25. The FY26 budget anticipated a break-even year.
• Item 30 - $585,000 for Catholic Charities and Tampa Hope Shelter. When they were awarded $1 million in January I laid out the timeline and past funding for the program. It really feels like the city digs through the cushions every 6 months and sends them some money instead of having a thought out funding plan with oversight.
• Items 32 & 35 - real estate transactions related to “stormwater”. The first is selling land at $482,500 the city previously purchased for a stormwater connection and are now selling with caveat city have an easement. Item 35 is buying land at $600,000 to build a future pump station for the “flood-prone neighborhood” of Ballast Point.
• Item 37 and 38 - giving away land. Another hand out to a developer to build “infill” housing. I think Mayor Cator’s dislike of City Council can only be matched by her disdain for the idea of a Community Land Trust.
• Items 46 & 47 - $650,000 grant for Regional Infrastructure Accelerator Cooperative. If there is ever any real public transportation built in Tampa, our best chance right now is through this project, though it mostly feels like the only people getting anything out of it are consultants.
• Item 58 - Council rules. I shared my thoughts on public comment when this first came before council. Before council’s vacation I covered what was being proposed. Council Attorney Martin Shelby is asking for another week to finalize the rules before they vote.

Site News

Couple of things to note — first, I’ve gotten a couple of questions recently about my use of “AI” on Tampa Monitor so as to not have to repeat myself and for transparency, I wrote up “How I use AI”. Second, the agenda keyword notification is now open. The idea is you set your keywords for what ever topics are important and that’s it. You get an email in your inbox Monday morning for any matches. No matter how busy things can get, you won’t miss the topics that are important to you.