Most of us received our TRIM notice for Ad Valorem (property taxes) in the mail from the Lake County Taxing Authority last week. This notice never fails to raise the collective blood pressures of property owners because it shows the highest possible tax rates from Lake County, Lake County Schools, Mount Dora, St. Johns River Management District, etc.

Florida law requires all taxing authorities to state their maximum millage rates for the upcoming tax year in mid-July. I can't speak for the other taxing entities and I don't speak for the City of Mount Dora, but we tend to guess high because at that early date we don't have all the data needed to pin down our eventual millage rate. It's easy to reduce that maximum proposed millage rate, but next to impossible to increase it.

To comply with the law and meet the State's timeline, on July 16 Mount Dora City Council set our maximum millage rate for Fiscal Year 2024-25 at 6.6 mills, well up from our FY 2023-24 millage rate of 5.9603 mills. That's the rate you saw in your TRIM. We anticipated that a millage increase would be needed but hoped that we could eventually settle on a lower number.

After our Budget Work Session last night, it appears to me that our eventual final millage rate will be 6.3 mills which was our pre-Covid millage rate. If that's the case, a Mount Dora homeowner who has a Homestead Exemption, and whose home has a market value of $344,000 (average home market value) will see an increase of about $151 in their Mount Dora real estate taxes next fiscal year. That's an increase of about $12.59 per month. Of course, your house may be worth more or less.

Please keep in mind that I have no idea what other taxing authorities will need to pay their bills. Their final tax rates won't go up any higher than what was on your TRIM notice and they might go down from that maximum millage rate.

I think it goes without saying that crafting the City's budget is one of the most important things City Council does and that collectively, we take that responsibility very seriously.  The final vote will be held during our September 17 City Council Meeting.

With college football season kicking off (pun intended) I've selected a quote from Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.

"When you make a mistake, there are only three things you should ever do about it: 1. Admit it. 2. Learn from it. 3. Don't repeat it."

Thanks for allowing me to represent District 4 and serve as your Vice-mayor.

by Marc Crail
Mount Dora Vice Mayor and District 4 Representative

For more news and events in Mount Dora, Tavares & Eustis, visit Mount Dora Buzz's website, its Instagram  and Facebook page.  Download the area's free mobile app for info on the go.  For local food recommendations, follow Mount Dora Foodie's Facebook and its official Instagram account.

Marc Crail
Mount Dora Vice Mayor and District 4 Representative
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Mount Dora City Council met for its August 20th regular meeting. I've selected a few items of interest from the agenda and discussions.  Please keep in mind that I'm reporting to you as one individual and not on behalf of City Council as a whole.

We heard a presentation from Police Chief Mike Gibson about the possible installation of School Zone Speed Cameras near Triangle Elementary School, Round Lake Charter School, Mount Dora Middle School and Mount Dora High School. The state legislature approved the use of school speed zone cameras last year. I was stunned to learn that hundreds of motorists exceed the 20 mph speed limits by 11 or more mph during the opening and closing hours of our local schools every day. This creates a daily danger for thousands of our students and school staff.

City Council authorized the Police Chief to look into an ordinance that would need City Council approval. There would be no cost to our tax payers. The cost would be covered by $100 school zone speeding tickets. Chief Gibson expects that this would result in significant decreases in school zone speed violations.

We also heard from our health insurance broker and an actuary regarding anticipated increases in the cost of our employee medical insurance premiums. FYI, city employees pay about 14% of the cost of their health insurance. That leaves 86 %  coming from the city's budget. Not unexpectedly, claims are more costly than in previous years and our costs have increased over the last few years. We asked our experts to give us their best thinking on options that could help control this expense.

Council approved contracting with Redzone Robotics for manhole and sanitary main inspections. It makes good sense to me to use a contractor like Redzone that has the proper equipment and expertise to scope out our underground pipes.

That's about it for today's meeting agenda. I'm switching subjects now to talk a bit about development in and around Mount Dora. I've been fielding lots of questions recently about all the new development going on in and around Mount Dora. Including:
Why is so much development happing now? What are the rules for approving proposed projects?  Why can't we just stop development and keep Mount Dora the way it is?  What are the benefits and downsides of growth in and around Mount Dora?

In order to help folks understand development in Florida and answer their questions about what's going on, our Economic Development director, Misty Sommer and I have put together a presentation that we call "Development 101". We've presented "Development 101" twice so far for residents at Waterman Village with large crowds and lots of great questions. We're scheduled to make a similar presentation for Lakes of Mount Dora residents at 2:00 p.m. on Monday September 16th in the LoMD social hall . All Lakes of Mount Dora neighbors are invited to attend. Mark your calendars now.

If you don't happen to live in Lakes of Mount Dora but have a group (your Mount Dora neighborhood, a club, etc.) that would be interested in scheduling a "Development 101" presentation please contact me and we'll try to accommodate  your group.

Our quote for the day comes from C.S. Lewis the British author and theologian who said: "You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending." Here's to new beginnings!

Thanks for allowing me to serve as your District 4 Representative and Vice-mayor.

Marc Crail
Mount Dora Vice Mayor and District 4 Representative

Many Mount Dora residents remember the multi-phase streetscape project that began over a decade ago and temporarily turned the quaint downtown into a desolate dust bowl during the project which spanned three summers.  The project replaced underground infrastructure, widened sidewalks, installed directional signs, and removed head-in parking and much of downtown’s tree canopy. The final phase of the streetscape project was completed in 2015. 
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Fast forward to this summer and the City put its finishing touches on the project with 27 areas of  black fencing near the sidewalks and on-street parking. In addition to the conspicuous decorative railings, 42 metal grates were installed at ground level to prevent debris from entering the storm drains.

“This project was designed to prevent junk and debris from entering the stormwater system and to polish up the appearance of the completed streetscape project,” stated Adam Sumner, Director of Mount Dora’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA).
  
The railings and grates cost over $210,000 and were recommended for approval by the Mount Dora CRA Advisory Committee and approved by Mount Dora City Council. 
Additional recently completed projects downtown are the terraced retaining walls and landscaping at Donnelly Park visible from the prominent intersection of 5th Avenue and Donnelly Street.

For more news and events in Mount Dora, Tavares & Eustis, visit Mount Dora Buzz's website, its Instagram  and Facebook page.  Download the area's free mobile app for info on the go.  For local food recommendations, follow Mount Dora Foodie's Facebook and its official Instagram account.

Parking has long been a concern for residents, visitors and business owners in downtown Mount Dora.  Now the City is moving forward on a potential partial solution.  

Starting in October, the City of Mount Dora will launch a year-long pilot parking shuttle program with two electric shuttle vehicles which will run from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. During the trial period, data will be gathered to help determine if the shuttle program is a viable option to be part of the parking solution.

There are also calls for a parking garage, but the lack of a large and available space downtown and traffic issues virtually preclude the practicality of constructing a parking garage within convenient walking distance to downtown. 

After issuing a Request for Proposals, the City selected Freebee as its shuttle vendor.  The Florida-based company currently provides shuttle services in 40 other cities, all of which began with pilot programs that eventually became permanent. In the coming months, more details of the shuttle's operations, including its pick-up and drop-off points, will be determined and made public. 

The CIty of Mount Dora’s Downtown Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) is funding the pilot shuttle program.

​For more news and events in Mount Dora, Tavares & Eustis, visit Mount Dora Buzz's website, its Instagram  and Facebook page.  Download the area's free mobile app for info on the go.  For local food recommendations, follow Mount Dora Foodie's Facebook and its official Instagram account.