At a Palatka Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) budget workshop, staff and commissioners discussed the CRA’s second draft budget and a request from the CRA coordinator to remove a special-events grant line that the city can no longer fund under recent legal guidance.

CRA coordinator said the change follows an Attorney General opinion and subsequent legislation that “CRA can no longer fund events,” and told commissioners, “So forward, the special events grant, I will take that line off, and we'll reallocate those monies.”

The budget discussion centered on several proposed program lines, including a building-improvement grant (higher-dollar, commercial-leaning program) and a proposed revival of a home-repair grant formerly used to assist low-income or elderly residents. One commissioner pressed staff to clean up obsolete line items so the draft budget does not give residents “false hope” that the CRA will fund events again. Staff said the draft will be revised again before the next meeting when better year-end rollover numbers are available.

Commissioners and staff also discussed reallocating funds toward downtown priorities: public art, facade grants, wayfinding signage and streetscape work. The CRA coordinator said the building-improvement grant this year carries a larger amount (roughly $210,000) because staff does not expect all currently approved projects to be completed by the September 30 cutoff; she recommended protecting certain lines for continuity while proposing to refine programs (for example, potentially phasing the larger “building improvement” toward a targeted façade program later).

On streetscape and bump-outs, commissioners emphasized that scope depends on how much money is available and asked staff to show targeted budget amounts to guide decisions; staff pointed to currently available transfers and an estimated $300,000 in the city budget that could be allocated to downtown improvements.

The CRA coordinator and commissioners agreed staff will return with a revised draft that removes the special-events grant line and refines allocation amounts for building improvements, home repair, public art and streetscape work.

Ending

Staff will circulate an updated draft to the CRA and commission ahead of the next scheduled review; the coordinator said more precise numbers will appear in the third draft once fiscal-year activity and rollover figures are known.