With budget season just around the corner, the High Springs City Commission is holding a workshop on Thursday to discuss financial and staffing data from the city’s fire and police departments to paint a long-term picture of what sustaining, cutting back or eliminating the public safety services could cost.

The workshop will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the High Springs Civic Center (19107 NW 240th St.) to accommodate anticipated high attendance and will also live streamed on the city’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

High Springs spokesman Kevin Mangan said the commission is trying to get a handle on what proposed budget and staffing may look like moving into the next fiscal year. It wants to know what it will take out of the city’s general fund to financially support and staff both departments and see if adjustments are needed.

The City Commission started talking about cutting fire and police personnel or shutting the departments down altogether in August 2025 as it looked for ways to address deficits in the budget.

City Manager Jeremy Marshall said then that multiple utilities like sewage and transportation sent over half of their funds to supply the High Springs’ general fund—and 56% of the general fund pays for the police ($3,393,307) and fire ($1,016,215) departments.

After the public voiced support for keeping the fire and police departments, the commission voted to increase its fire assessment and raise millage to 6.99 mills—the highest in Alachua County—to address the deficits.

But city officials said the tax hike was only a band-aid that would need to be revisited this year, now coming to fruition in Thursday’s workshop.

Commissioner Chad Howell proposed a workshop at the end of a regular meeting in March, and the rest of the commission unanimously supported the motion.

In April, officers from the High Springs Police Department helped apprehend a suspect on the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitive list. According to the High Springs Fire Department Facebook, crews responded to 187 calls for service in April, including 16 vehicle, brush or structure fires.

“I hope you share this with our Commissioners,” posted user Lynn Jamison.

Howell asked Marshall to gather public safety budget numbers, including how much money the fire and police departments bring in, what they cost each household and how much money it would take to sustain them long-term.

The idea has since received pushback from the public as wildfires are actively popping up in and around Alachua County during the state’s ongoing drought.

Mangan said High Springs Police Chief Antoine Sheppard and Fire Chief Joseph Peters will give detailed presentations at the workshop on appropriate staffing levels for their departments. The public will have opportunities to ask questions, too.

“[The commission] just wanted some data to evaluate what the needs are of both departments,” Mangan said. “They won’t be making any definitive decisions in the workshop. They will provide guidance to the city manager on what next steps will be.”