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Winter Springs advisory committee to hold January meeting after residents press for five‑year maintenance plan
Summary
Residents urged the Winter Springs assessment-district committee to adopt a short-, mid- and long-term five-year plan to justify future assessment increases; Finance Director Holly Queen reported an unaudited fund balance of about $1.16 million and staff proposed a special planning meeting in mid‑January to map priorities.
Residents and committee members on Tuesday pressed the Winter Springs Assessment District Advisory Committee to publish a clear five-year maintenance and repair plan before asking for future assessment increases.
At a public-input segment, resident Art Gallo urged the committee to itemize the district’s needs — monuments, signs, landscaping and fountains — and assign short-, mid- and long-term priorities so residents can see where money will be spent. Tim Lonsbury, treasurer of the Howell Creek Reserve Homeowners Association, said a visible plan would make future rate requests easier to justify to the community.
Finance Director Holly Queen presented transaction-level expenditures for the fiscal year running 10/01/2024 through 09/30/2025 and reviewed higher-level budget figures. Queen said the adopted assessment rate of $1.60 per equivalent residential unit (ERU) is expected to produce about $672,000 in revenue; proposed expenses are roughly $662,000, leaving an unaudited fund balance of about $1,163,000 and a 25% cash-flow cushion. Queen described the figures as unaudited and said some capital projects earlier in the year skewed operating totals.
Committee discussion focused on how to use the “wiggle room” created by the new rate and on establishing reserves for emergencies such as pump or fountain failures. Queen said staff can earmark part of the fund balance as a designated reserve and recommended getting estimates of likely emergency repair costs to size that reserve.
To develop the five-year plan and a prioritized list of medians and monuments, committee members moved to schedule a special meeting. The motion was made and seconded; staff and the clerk agreed to consult members’ schedules and aimed for the third week of January (week of Jan. 19) for the special meeting so the committee can present the plan before the May meeting that sets the FY27 assessment roll.
The committee asked staff to provide more detailed cost estimates and photos of medians identified by number so members and residents can review and prioritize. Finance Director Queen and landscape manager Kevin Maddox said staff would supply the supporting slides and a list of median numbers for drive-by inspections.
The committee agreed to coordinate with communications staff to broaden public notice for the special meeting so residents can offer input on priorities and proposed expenditures. Chair Terry Bivona closed the meeting at 6:10 p.m.
