The Gainesville City Commission and Alachua County Board of County Commissioners directed their staffs to work together to fund transit options to GRACE Marketplace on weekends and to find a solution for the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire—potentially at Gainesville Raceway.
The joint meeting included presentations on the new UF Health Urgent Care—East location and the Central Receiving Facility at Meridian Healthcare, both funded in part by the county and city.
The meeting was also scheduled to discuss expanding the Gainesville Community Redevelopment Area (GCRA). The current contract is set to expire in the coming years, and the city is interested in extending it for another 10 years. The GCRA collects county funding for special projects in the city’s core.
Mayor Harvey Ward said the item was intended to get the discussion started and hopefully continue the momentum that the GCRA has. Because the county would lack a quorum, the two boards left the discussion for another time.
The city of Gainesville is facing revenue cuts and increasing costs for its Regional Transit System (RTS). A new agreement with UF reduced funds by $3 million. Rises in insurance and ADA costs have added another $1 million to cover.
Gainesville Chief Operating Officer Andrew Persons said the city is facing more route cuts in 2026 to match the ones taken this year. Included in this year’s cuts was Route 25, which was fully funded by UF. That route provided weekend service from the downtown to GRACE Marketplace and Gainesville Regional Airport.
Route 26 also runs from downtown to GRACE Marketplace and the airport, but doesn’t provide weekend service.
The county has stated that it wants service returned for those seeking aid with homelessness who get services at GRACE.
BOCC Commissioner Ken Cornell said the county worked for years to get a pedestrian crosswalk light in front of GRACE to help people cross the street and access the RTS stop. Now, it’s sitting without a purpose on the weekends.
The county said they would split the $100,000 annual cost to fund weekend service, but city commissioners said they’re facing budget pressures.
Ward made a point that the city was not in a “budget crisis,” calling that inaccurate. He said the city has levers to pull to fund its budget, but he said the city’s budget has been reduced to the bone.
Ward and other commissioners pointed to the Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) Authority and the reduction in funds flowing from the utility as the root cause of the budget troubles. The relationship between the city and the utility will likely remain in the current position through this fiscal year and the next.
The City Commission approved a referendum for November 2025 to retake management of GRU, but the referendum could be headed for the courts, like the last referendum, after the utility authority voted to sue.
The motion on Tuesday directed county and city staff to work together to present a solution to the weekend bus service problem.
The city of Gainesville has been searching for a permanent home for the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire since Alachua County sold the old fairgrounds near the airport, but the site requires a lot of land that’s close to the city.
City staff have reviewed over 40 potential sites, but they’ve all fallen through despite some near misses, like the purchase of 100 acres off Waldo Road. The city plans to hold the faire at Depot Park again in 2026, but the downtown location prevents ticket sales and requires annual funding.
Cornell said the city should fence the park to sell tickets and then use the proceeds to fund the next year and even put toward land eventually. BOCC Commissioner Anna Prizzia suggested the county’s new fair site in Newberry.
If the faire could be held for a few years in a row, it could buy time and money for a permanent home. Prizzia added that there would be more space than Depot Park if the parking gets figured out.
But Gainesville staff said the county fairgrounds in Newberry are too far away. The city said it would like to turn the permanent home into a festival spot that could host events all year.
Talk turned to the Gainesville Raceway, one of the near misses the city previously investigated.
The city said insurance requirements made the spot impossible. In the past, the city covered the insurance for the location, and the vendors each covered their own insurance. But Gainesville Raceway wanted one entity, the city, to cover all the insurance, including the vendors.
The city’s insurance provider said it wouldn’t cover that scope of an event.
County commissioners said the idea would be revisited, but Cornell noted that the county is self-insured. A motion passed both boards for their staff to work together for a joint faire moving forward, with Gainesville Raceway as a potential site after 2026.
Alachua County BCC said they would split the $100,000 annual cost to fund weekend service, but city commissioners said they’re facing budget pressures. Alachua County has endless amounts of cash like spending 1.3 million dollars on AI surveillance cameras for spying on county employees and citizens. Just keep raising the property mileage rate and using it as a slush fund of free money.
The county has lowered the millage rate for eight consecutive years. The cameras in vehicles do not record sound, and the AI function is not being used. Cameras in government-owned vehicles, where there is no expectation of privacy, are valuable for determining dangerous driving behaviors and accident fault. These cameras are currently in use by law enforcement.
Yes you have lowered the mileage rate however, taxes have went up those 8 years due to inflated property values. You’re implying you lowered taxes and you haven’t nor will you ever.
We are not implying that. The fact is, many governments leave the millage rate flat or raise it. Our reductions have resulted in tangible tax savings for our residents.
Thanks for the opportunity to clarify.
$1.3 million taxpayer dollars on AI- capable surveillance equipment? When were y’all planning on telling Alachua County residents you’re using our money to spy on us??? This is NOT okay.
You need not fear Big Brother if you’re doing the right thing, using the vehicles appropriately, etc. As for the millage – they have been reduced since at least 2019-2020 each year. Stop the dramatic overstatements. It hurts your credibility.
Not necessarily true. We are seeing many new laws that infringe on people’s medical rights and freedom of speech, and AI facial recognition cameras have been used to track and prosecute people attending protests or seeking abortions, things that were guaranteed constitutional rights barely a year ago…
The city should have no skin in the game of a Medieval Faire. These event make no to very little money for the promoter (The City) and never will. This is why they are very few in Florida anymore. (The cost of insurance and land use is too high.) Take a hint from the county on this matter. Just say “NO.”
I know, I know. This is what happens when you elect people who have no business knowledge or experience.
The last time this was a ticketed event was 3 years ago. It generated over $ 600,000, which was more than enough to cover costs and yield a profit.
Alachua County has 2nd highest property taxes in the state of Florida not an opinion it’s a fact. Let’s focus on lowering the mileage rate faster than coming in 2nd place for high taxes for the entire state.
Your facts are confused. Alachua County’s portion of the tax bill is middle of the pack in among counties. We don’t control the total property tax bill. It included School taxes, city taxes, library district taxes, and state water management district taxes.
It’s not ticketed when it’s at Depot Park, that’s why it’s a completely financial lost. Plus parking is horrible in that area.
The City has no business trying to do things that will be enjoyed by citizens and visitors, right? The City needs to stick to its main functions: building and maintaining roads and catching and punishing people, right? And none of that fancy stuff such as sidewalks, either, right?
NOT!!
Terry – I can’t disagree with you. I’ll go further and ask just what the h*ll is the purpose of a bunch of obese people dressing up like clowns and expecting the taxpayers to subsidize it all. Just sayin’…
The city and county subsidize events and infrastructure around UF, UF students, and Gator sports. This is an important cultural event to a smaller subset of people but it has been a major cultural touchstone for the community for decades.
Mayor Ward, you HAVE NOT REDUCED the city budget one single, in any year you have have been a politician in GNV. Period. This year, you are already proposing a 7.8% increase, to add to your increased taxes EVERY SINGLE YEAR. And you still want to spend an additional $3.8 million more.
Stop Funding RTS for students. UF already gets a lot tax free. Make the students at least buy an annual bus pass or something.
you do realize that all UF students pay a bus fee as part of their tuition, right?
This matter should “die on the vine.”
Why are City of GNV and Alachua County even involved?
Let the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire organizers find, negotiate and secure a venue for their event.
The city and the county should just focus on core services. Let’s focus on great schools, safe roads and low property taxes for once. It’s simple and straightforward. Save our homes and lower our property taxes. We don’t need to spend 7 million dollars to build one fire station and 1.3 million to be big brother and spy on our county employees. Meanwhile we can’t fund our schools with a 10 million dollar shortfall.
City hasn’t got money for buses but has hundreds of thousands to spend on meaningless votes and promotions GACRA and expensive executives. Po city, po people.