Daytona Beach CRA adopts $13.25 million budget after public concerns over Blue Road spending

Daytona Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Chair Derek L. Henry on Sept. 3 approved a $13,245,005 budget for the agency’s 2025–26 fiscal year following a public hearing and extended discussion about how redevelopment revenues are allocated across downtown, Beachside, Blue Road and other CRA districts.

The vote came after residents and commissioners pressed staff about apparent mismatches between operating expenditures and money available for projects in smaller districts. "With $5,000,000 to spend, how much of it is going to be spent in the Beachside?" said John Nicholson, a Beachside resident, during the public hearing. Tom Russell, a Blue Road property owner, said he was concerned that "a business could never run like this" when revenue appears to go predominantly to salaries and internal charges rather than visible projects.

The resolution adopting the budget sets estimated net revenue and total expenditures at $13,245,005 for Oct. 1, 2025–Sept. 30, 2026, and passed 6–1. The motion and second were made as part of the meeting record; the transcript does not specify which commissioners made or seconded the motion or which commissioner voted no.

Why it matters: CRA budgets fund redevelopment projects, capital work and grants meant to spur private investment in targeted neighborhoods. Several speakers and commissioners said…