The West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency presented its proposed strategic finance plan and budgets for the 2025'26 fiscal year for the Northwood'Pleasant City and Downtown City Center districts during a public meeting on Aug. 4, 2025. CRA Executive Director Chris Ruge and Deputy Director Jade Green walked the board through revenues, proposed expenditures and new programs ahead of a formal adoption scheduled for the CRA meeting in September.

The plan ties projects to state law and to the agency's goals of removing slum and blight through infrastructure, housing and property-value improvements. "If it's not in the plan, we can't fund it, because the state statute is very specific in that regard," Ruge said during the presentation.

Nut graf: The proposal commits tax-increment revenues to a mix of large capital projects and smaller, targeted business programs. Major priorities named by staff include completing Curry Park, advancing the District at Northwood and The Spruce affordable housing project, downtown streetscape and infrastructure work, and a Fern Street crossing acquisition and design effort. Staff said the board will receive the formal adoption package in September and that the CRA cannot obligate funds outside the strategic finance plan required by Florida law (Chapter 163, Part III).

Staff described how the CRA is funded and how that revenue is allocated. Deputy Director Jade Green summarized the revenue picture for the Northwood'Pleasant City district as roughly $8.8 million in available resources for the year, composed primarily of tax-increment funds, carryforward balances and small rental and investment receipts. She told the board the city and county millage rates that apply to the increment are 8.13 and 4.5 mills respectively, a combined 12.63 mills, and illustrated how the increment on new value generates CRA funding.

Green laid out line items by target area for Northwood'Pleasant City: Curry Corridor (32% of the target-area budget), Northwood Village (about 28%) and Pleasant City (roughly 25%), plus a small industrial-park allocation for business outreach. Green called Curry Park the single biggest commitment in that district and said the CRA will continue placemaking and tenant-support work while the park construction continues.

Eric Schmidt, a CRA staff member, said the district has seen double-digit growth in tax increment values this year and that new construction added about $16 million in taxable value. "The double-digit growth in the Northwood Pleasant City CRA is new relative to recent years," he said when asked for context on the growth.

In the Downtown City Center district, staff reported a substantially larger budget supported by carryforwards, bond proceeds and higher tax increment totals. Ruge and Green presented a preliminary revenue total for the downtown budget of roughly $117.5 million and described major ongoing investments: the Tamarin Avenue streetscape, waterfront and Clematis-area projects, transit operations inside the CRA footprint, and ongoing partnerships with the Downtown Development Authority.

Staff identified several new small-business programs that would be funded from incentive pools rather than from fixed line items: a creative-signage support grant, a sustainability ("climate-smart") grant, and a permitting-assistance program that would fund pre-submittal plan review to reduce re-submittals and speed permit review. Robbie (staff member, economic development) explained that the incentive approach provides flexibility: the CRA will maintain a pool of funds and allocate them through an application process. Staff said eligibility details and the application rules would be developed before the programs launch.

On specific downtown investments, staff pointed to planned work on the Fern Street crossing, where acquisition and design assistance were highlighted. Ruge said engineering requested $1.75 million to support design work on the crossing approaches while the board and staff pursue grant funding for the crossing itself.

Staff repeatedly emphasized that many projects are ongoing and that board action on individual projects will return as separate agenda items when contract or funding decisions are required. "The board can expect a formal adoption of the material that was presented at the September CRA meeting," Ruge said.

Ending: The board paused for questions after the presentation; no budget resolution was adopted at the Aug. 4 meeting. Staff said formal adoption, detailed program rules, and specific project agreements will appear on future CRA agendas in September and thereafter.