ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Mayor-elect Charlie Crist is turning to the city’s former mayors for help as St. Petersburg prepares to trim roughly $35 million from its budget once he takes office Jan. 7, a gap created by the statewide passage of Amendment 3.
That figure equals about 15% of the property tax money the city had planned to collect in 2027. Crist said every former mayor, all of whom backed his campaign, is advising him, and that he has also sought ideas from council members and from City Administrator Rob Gerdes on where reductions could come from.
Former Mayor Rick Baker, who led the city through its first three budgets of the Great Recession, said the new mayor will need to work with current city leaders but will make the final calls. Former Mayor Rick Kriseman warned that cuts deep enough to cover the gap could erode services and make it harder to keep residents and attract employers.
Crist won with 62% of the vote, unseating Mayor Ken Welch. During the campaign he promised to lower the city’s property tax rate, a step that would have returned $14.8 million to owners and small businesses, but he said he is dropping that plan now that Amendment 3 has passed.
Welch has said he expects meaningful reductions in services and staff along with higher fees, and that his finance staff and the council have begun working on the shortfall. The city is studying a special assessment to help pay for fire services.
Crist’s transition priorities, which he calls his Five Guiding Lights, pose a question to residents: what city services should be shielded first when the budget shrinks by roughly $35 million. City estimates put the revenue loss from Amendment 3 at about $33 million in fiscal year 2028. Crist has said he will hold five public sessions, one for each priority, plus a listening session for city workers after he is sworn in, with dates still to be set.
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