Instead of setting a millage rate for the 2026-27 fiscal year during a regular meeting on Monday, the Archer City Commission will wait until they produce a budget before voting on the rate at a special meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. on July 29 at Archer City Hall. 

The commission unanimously moved 5-0 to put off the tax rate vote to the new meeting after multiple residents pushed the commission to produce a budget that could justify potentially changing the millage, saying they hadn’t seen any numbers since the commission’s July 1 budget workshop. 

The current millage rate of 5.5479 has been the same since 2023. Already past its May 1 deadline to send the rate to the county, the special meeting will ensure the city sets a rate before the end of another July deadline. 

“You should be bringing back some kind of budget, something to justify the rate and then you will have to have a special meeting,” said resident Lori Costello. “You just can’t pass resolutions that are basically untrue.” 

Following the July 29 special meeting where the commission will vote on the millage, they will hold their second 2026-27 fiscal year budget workshop at 6:30 p.m. 

Monday’s meeting continued to center on Archer’s financial crisis. Resident and former Archer mayor Roberta Lopez proposed sending a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis requesting help in launching an investigation into former City Manager Charles Hammond. 

Lopez also questioned Interim City Manager Deanna Alltop’s letter to USDA’s Stephanie Hodges regarding the potential sale of the community center or converting it into a city hall as a way to generate more revenue. 

Alltop said the letter intended to “put out feelers” to see if the idea could be a possibility, which Lopez argued hadn’t been a possibility mentioned to the public. Commissioner Joan White said she didn’t intend to sell the community center. 

Mayor Fletcher Hope said the idea of selling the asset was a progression of what the commission had talked about regarding sources of revenue and that the idea would be to convert it into a city hall. 

“It’s not permission. It’s just civility at this point as we recover financially,” he said. 

The commission also voted unanimously to continue financial consulting services with Dallas Lee, Newberry’s assistant city manager and chief financial officer, and to push hiring a third-party debt collection service to January 2026.  

Staff said the commission originally discussed in February bringing in a third-party service that would receive 50% of what it collects in unpaid utility charges. Pushing the hiring decision to January would allow city time to start collecting the money directly from account holders. 

Vice Mayor Iris Bailey said that since Alltop and other city staff had already begun the process of finding accounts to be collected, there’s not a point in spending more money to do the same thing.  

“Yes, we want to collect the money, but I just hate to give half our money, the little bit of our money we do have, away,” Alltop said. 

Mike New of Woodard & Curran, also a former city of Alachua employee and Newberry city manager, provided an update on the city’s wastewater treatment plant during Monday’s meeting. 

New said the main factor in considering the city’s current method of septic systems compared to the desired central wastewater system with lift stations comes down to future population density and potential growth in the area. 

New said the lift stations keep a city from polluting its own community and that Archer should move towards the central system since north central Florida has become a desirable place to live with good weather and tax rates. 

“Whether we want growth or not, we’re dealing with the stressors that come along with growth,” he said. “If we want it, we need to be planning for it.” 

He said currently Archer’s agreement with Newberry is for a one-time purchase of capacity for 175,000 gallons per day, around 700 homes, in Newberry’s new wastewater treatment facility. About 50% of Newberry’s new facility’s capacity is being reserved for Archer.  

Archer will only pay a monthly wastewater bill to operate the system after the one-time purchase for capacity in Newberry’s expanding wastewater treatment facility.  

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) will provide the permitting, regulation and some financing of the wastewater system to keep it compliant with state laws.  

New said Archer received a $1 million loan, which the FDEP forgave around 80% of as an $800,000 grant, leaving the city with a little over $100,000 in debt service. In March, he said Archer was awarded $13 million in grant funding for the wastewater project, capacity and regional program.  

Some of the funding covered the project design and permitting, which New said is around 95% complete. He said the permit for constructing the collection system was applied for last summer and that construction could be expected around June or July 2026.  

“It will be 35 years into a really long project, and you guys should be there, and you should be high fiving each other when you do,” New said. “[FDEP is] always ready to strike the check to Archer when Archer is ready to strike the check to Newberry.” 

New said he just received a letter Monday from the state of Florida that indicates Archer may receive part of the $13 million in funding 90 days sooner. He also said the city has a grant application into the state that would be another $1 million boost, and another submitted in June for $38 million. 

Alachua County granted Archer a $68,000 loan in May. 

After Archer builds a collection system and pays off the debt leftover after grants, the city can decide if it wants to continue its partnership with Newberry or build its own treatment plant.  

Last month, Archer approved $193,000 towards paying off $289,000 of unpaid invoices to the Kimley-Horn engineering firm for work it completed on the wastewater project before the city transferred the process to Woodard & Curran.  

The commission voted to remove a Kimley-Horn settlement agreement item from Monday’s agenda because the recommendation is still being finalized by the city attorney’s office.  

“I don’t care how long it takes,” said Commissioner Joan White to City Attorney Kiersten Ballou. “If you’ve got our back in this, you take care of us.”