Parking garage financing resolution heads to commission

Dunedin's downtown parking garage project, estimated at $10 million by the city's Board of Finance, faces a key financing step Thursday, July 23. The City Commission will vote on a resolution allowing the city to reimburse construction costs with proceeds from future tax-exempt bonds.

Resolution 26-08, listed as Item 3.c on the July 23 regular meeting agenda, is a declaration of intent that preserves the city's ability to issue tax-exempt debt for the Midtown Parking Garage. City staff recommends adoption. The resolution was postponed from the Thursday, June 18, meeting without a stated reason.

Budget concerns remain unresolved

The vote arrives amid unresolved budget questions. City Manager Jennifer Bramley told commissioners at a Monday, May 19, special meeting that a property tax reform bill then moving through Tallahassee could cost Dunedin about $9 million in annual ad valorem revenue. That legislation has since passed the Legislature and will go before Florida voters in November as a proposed constitutional amendment expanding the homestead exemption. A House staff analysis projects the measure would reduce local government revenues statewide by more than $8 billion in its first year.

Property taxes generate 35% of Dunedin's revenue, according to the city's Board of Finance.

Board of Finance Chair Catherine Harvey urged delay at a Monday, May 5, workshop, saying the $10 million garage "does not come out of the General Fund; it is a different fund," but that the board still recommended the commission hold off given "$12 million FEMA still owes the City and the potential for the property tax bill issues."

CRA funding would support garage

The garage would be financed through the city's Community Redevelopment Agency using tax increment financing backed by an interlocal agreement with Pinellas County. CRA/Economic Development Director Robert Ironsmith explained at the Wednesday, Jan. 22, CRA meeting that the original interlocal agreement was for about $6.84 million, of which $1.114 million was spent on the Scotland/Douglas property purchase and about $2.48 million remains. The commission approved a first amendment to that agreement on Wednesday, April 2, increasing the county's commitment by about $6.8 million.

The CRA, which covers 217 acres and 637 parcels in downtown Dunedin, is scheduled to expire in 2033.

Commissioner Tom Dugard captured the commission's posture at a Monday, July 7, work session on a separate capital project.

"We are facing a set of circumstances that in my short tenure is unprecedented, and also in the tenure of everybody up here is unprecedented, in as much as we have to read the room — and the room is very challenging right now."

Resolution keeps financing options open

A reimbursement resolution of this type does not authorize borrowing or commit the city to a specific bond amount. It is an IRS-required procedural step that preserves the city's option to use tax-exempt bond financing.

Also on the July 23 agenda is Resolution 26-11, which sets the maximum millage rate for fiscal year 2027, another decision tied to the city's fiscal outlook.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Dunedin City Hall, 737 Louden Ave. The next budget workshop is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 4, and the next regular commission meeting is Thursday, Aug. 6.