The Gainesville City Commission selected a millage rate ceiling for the next fiscal year on Thursday, passed a first vote to allow smaller lots and denser development across all single-family zoning and approved proposed modifications to inclusionary zoning policies. 

The meeting lasted until midnight as dozens of public commenters showed up to speak on the housing items.  

The maximum possible millage rate, passed unanimously, is 6.4297 mills. This millage rate is also the current millage rate charged for fiscal year 2023-2024.  

With the vote, the city of Gainesville has limited itself to not raising the millage rate for the next fiscal year. However, the actual millage rate could range from the rolled-back rate of 6.044 mills up to the maximum number.  

The state of Florida considers any millage rate above the rolled-back rate—the rate at which the city would collect the same amount of taxes as the prior year after adjusting for changes in property value—an increase in taxes.  

Both the rolled-back rate and the highest possible millage rate are currently projected to leave the city short on income to fund its budget, by $5.2 million and $1.2 million respectively.  

However, the City Commission voted earlier in the day to reallocate unspent American Rescue Plan Act funds that will fill a portion of that gap, and the final budget remains open for edits as the city enters the final stretch of the budget season.  

Thursday’s vote to not raise the millage rate comes after a 16.9% increase to the rate last year. That rate increase, 29% over the rolled-back rate, came after losing $19 million in revenue from Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU), a decision made by the City Commission under pressure from state legislators.  

Commissioner Ed Book said he was glad to not raise taxes this year, saying he doesn’t consider the change in property values in that equation.  

Commissioner Bryan Eastman said not raising the millage rate highlights the incredible fiscal management of city staff. He noted that the vote comes after another reduction in funding from GRU along with mid-year losses from the utility.  

Residential zoning changes 

Housing has remained a hot topic in the city’s chambers since a trio of ordinances were passed 4-3 by the previous City Commission before being repealed by the current commissioners, 4-3.   

Thursday’s housing votes also passed on a split vote, with Mayor Harvey Ward, Commissioner Casey Willits, Commissioner Reina Saco and Eastman in support.   

The housing proposals have been discussed since the new commission took control in January 2023. Eastman has spearheaded the housing discussions as he pushed for more flexibility for developers and more starter homes.  

The two changes passed Thursday, and still needing a final vote, combine all four single-family zoning categories into one classification. This new classification will have a higher density—12 units per acre—and lower minimum lot requirements at 35 feet minimum width and 3,000 minimum square footage.  

The new requirements mirror another city zoning category already in place—residential conservation.  

Another change would also allow small-scale developments, with five units or less, to build around a central green space.  

Eastman said the nuanced and more conservative changes, compared with the trio passed by the previous commission, will preserve single-family housing while giving more options for builders.  

But for some commissioners, the scale of the changes was still too broad.  

“I’m terrified of this,” Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker said.  

She said the changes would be hard to redo if development doesn’t act as anticipated.  

She and Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut advocated for starting the changes in a section of the city to see the impact.  

City staff pointed to 115 vacant lots across the city where the housing changes could impact lot splits and create new homes. Staff also pointed to a similar project in Durham, North Carolina, where the rate of demolition requests stayed the same before and after the changes.  

Ward said the city had been careful and deliberate with the housing changes. He asked Eastman to delay presenting his plans in early 2022 until the previous housing changes were fully repealed.  

In more than a year since then, the city has held several workshops. Eastman led one workshop at Albert Ray Massey Park late last year. 

“I’m not comfortable doing nothing,” Ward said. “We’ve done nothing for a very long time.” 

Ward said he had to act and sided with Eastman, Saco and Willits as a swing vote. 

Ward noted that inaction hasn’t impacted him or other homeowners who bought at the right time. But for everyone else looking to survive and find housing in Gainesville, the city needs to make a decision, he said.  

Several commissioners highlighted a recent study that placed Gainesville as the 18^th most expensive metro area for renters—along with a handful of other Florida locations in the top 20.