To cut or not to cut the High Springs fire and police departments will be the topic of a special, yet-to-be-scheduled workshop after commissioner consensus at a regular meeting on Thursday that the city’s budget needs more than a band aid.
In August 2025, the commission debated eliminating or downsizing the departments and took salary cuts to temporarily cover a $723,000 budget deficit. Emergency cash funds were drained in November to cover a $900,000 bill for its new wastewater treatment facility, and city commissioners said High Springs is still supplementing its general fund by pulling from the public works budget.
The workshop also comes under the specter of state cuts to how cities levy property taxes.
During Thursday’s commissioner comment, Commissioner Chad Howell moved for City Manager Jeremy 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.
Commissioner Katherine Weitz said she also intended to bring up a workshop about the budgets, and the commission considered adding public works to the mix. Howell said public works is essential but privatizing, an option already being considered by city staff, could be more cost-effective and better for the employees.
“Ultimately, it’s what we need to do to move forward in the city,” Howell said. “These are the decisions that really suck and have not been made in a very long time.”
A driving motivator for the potential cuts was HJR 203, a bill proposed by state Rep. Monique Miller, R-Palm Bay, that would eliminate property taxes by increasing the homestead exemption for all ad valorem taxes, except school districts, by $100,000 each year for ten years.
Florida Politics reported that 116 Florida municipalities—including Tampa, St. Petersburg and Fort Lauderdale—wouldn’t be able to bring in enough revenue to cover their public safety expenses for 2024 without the taxes.
High Springs collected $3.5 million in ad valorem taxes during the last fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, 2025.
The House passed the bill in February, but the Senate never gave it a hearing. Despite being a priority by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Legislature failed to pass any of the bills filed to tackle property taxes. The issue will return at a special session later this spring.
City Attorney Danielle Adams said similar measures come up each year and that the city should prepare for the “ghost it can’t see” after it gained more traction this year than previously.
Marshall said the bill would impact the entire county, not just the city.
“If the ad valorem tax goes away, you’re going to have to reevaluate every single revenue source that comes into the city. Your fees will have to skyrocket,” he said. “I don’t want to be a doomsday person, but I predict that a lot of smaller cities in the state will cease.”
Howell also said the city has to figure out how to fund projects needed to adapt to growth, such as sewer and wastewater. Those two budget lines are currently helping fund the fire department.
Weitz said the city needs to transparently communicate the costs of fire and police departments so that residents know exactly what they’re paying for.
High Springs and Gainesville are the only two cities in Alachua County with both police and fire departments, and that costs money, she said.
According to Weitz, High Springs has around 1,882 households compared to Gainesville’s more than 58,000 households and a $162 million general fund budget. At 6.99 mills, High Springs has the highest millage rate in the county—largely to fund its public safety—and it will need to be higher if it wants to keep them.
“We’ve been playing the shell game for a long time to try to…just to make it all work,” she said. “We have to stop robbing from public works.”
Marshall said he’d collect the public safety budget numbers to paint as clear and comprehensive a financial picture as possible, including costs like employee payouts that accompany shutting departments down.
Marshall said he will see what it takes to collect the information and return at the March 26 meeting with a potential earliest date for a workshop.
