Winter Haven extends COVID-19 mask mandate

• Commissioner Brian Yates expressed reluctance to continue mask mandate again.
• This is the third 30-day extension of Winter Haven's mask mandate since July.
• Commission approves $141.8 million budget for 2020-21 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

WINTER HAVEN — The City Commission on Tuesday night quickly dispatched the city’s proposed $141.8 million budget for the new fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, approving it after some 15 minutes of discussion and no opposition.

But commissioners took considerably longer — more than two hours — debating a second 30-day extension for an ordinance requiring the wearing of face masks inside buildings available to the public, including stores and restaurants, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eventually, they passed both measures unanimously. The law was originally put in place July 13 and then extended the first time in August.

The law, which carries a potential $150 fine, requires all persons doing business or visiting Winter Haven “wear a face covering consistent with CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines in any indoor location, other than their home or residence, when not maintaining social distancing from other persons, excluding family members or companions.”

There are 12 other exemptions from the mandate, including while eating in a restaurant, people with a health condition for whom a mask would cause an impairment, and youth participating in sports.

Commissioner Brian Yates indicated many times during the debate he was uncomfortable with further continuations of the mask measure.

“I’ll go 30 more days, but if we’re still flat lined ...” said Yates, who didn't complete the statement.

He was referring to a report earlier from Dr. Joy Jackson, director of the Florida Department of Health in Polk County, on COVID-19’s progress in the county.

Because the mask mandate is an emergency ordinance, it requires a unanimous vote. A single commissioner voting against it would kill the mandate.

Mayor Brad Dantzler said he was also uneasy with extending the mask mandate again without developing specific measures for an “exit strategy” to discontinue the mandate based on the progress of the disease.

Commissioners discussed with Jackson what kind of measures she would recommend on an exit strategy.

“I really wish I could give you a hard number,” she told commissioners. “We can’t look at just one value.”

Otherwise Jackson was bullish about the progress of COVID-19 in Polk because key measures have shown a decline over the past two months.

Since the week of Aug. 2, the number of confirmed daily COVID-19 cases in the county have declined from 229 people to 116 last week, she said.

Meanwhile, county health officials have been conducting more than 10,000 tests per week and have seen the positivity rate fall from a high of 15% in the middle of July to 7.25% last week, Jackson said.

The county needs to test at least 10,000 people per week to make that statistic meaningful, she added.

“Things are improving for sure, but we’re not out of the woods yet,” Jackson said. “I would say we still need to exercise caution so that we don’t bump back up.”

Jackson told commissioners she would like to see the positive test rate fall below 5% for at least consecutive weeks before she would feel comfortable about a consistent trend.

She suggested the City Commission might also look at the number of hospital emergency room cases reporting “COVID-19-like symptoms." Last week there were 276 such cases in Polk, she said.

“That’s a leading indicator,” Jackson said. “If we’re having 500 visits per week with COVID-19, that’s a red flag compared to 100 or 200 visits.”

Dantzler suggested developing an “exit strategy” from a mask mandate that would look at the positive test rate, emergency room visits with COVID-19-like symptoms, the trend in new cases in the county and the number of COVID-19 beds available at Winter Haven Hospital.

City Manager Mike Herr said he and staff would meet with Jackson before the emergency ordinance returns for another vote on Oct. 12.

Mayor Pro Tem Nat Birdsong and Commissioner J.P. Powell expressed the strongest support for the mask mandate, both noting they’ve had friends and relatives who’ve suffered from COVID-19.

Dantzler expressed frustration that mask-wearing has been politicized with opponents claiming refusal to wear a mask is a constitutional right.

“We’re doing what we think is right to protect the citizens of Winter Haven. That’s it — no civil liberties,” he said.

Before the vote, the commissioners heard from two people over the Zoom platform who supported the mandate. Dantzler and Assistant City Manager T. Michael Stavres read letters and email from residents — 17 people opposing the mandate and 10 people supporting it.

A recent online survey of 203 members of the Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce showed 57% felt the mandate helped control COVID-19 while 42% felt it did not.

Proposed new budget

The proposed new budget increased about $1 million from the spending plan presented to the commission in August.

The increase stemmed from several adjustments made over the past month, Finance Director Cal Bowen told The Ledger before the meeting.

The city now projects receiving $247,048 more in various state revenues than it had earlier, Bowen said. It expects to receive a total $4.7 million in state revenues.

That represents a 14.5% drop in state revenues from $5.5 million projected a year ago in the current budget because of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the Florida economy, according to Winter Haven’s budget document. But it’s up slightly from $4.5 million the city expected to receive in the current budget.

Also added to the proposed 2020-21 budget were $187,000 for civic improvements in the Florence Villa area and $120,000 for a citywide transportation study, Bowen said.

The proposed budget keeps the municipal property tax rate at $6.79 per $1,000 of assessed property value, which would raise $17.2 million in revenue. At the rate, the owner of a $100,000 home would pay $339.50 next year in municipal property taxes after deducting $50,000 for Homestead exemptions.

The taxable value of all city property has risen 8.46% to $220.1 million compared to the current fiscal year. That pushed property tax revenue up $1.6 million from the current budget.

The budget proposal also includes a 2.5% pay increase for all city workers except police officers, who will get higher starting salaries to improve retention. It also will create 17 new full-time positions and eliminate four positions to a city workforce of about 500 people.

The 2.5% general raise would cost the city $667,938 for the year. The police pay adjustments will cost $370,574.

Police pay jumps past Lakeland

Public Safety Director and Police Chief Charlie Bird proposed a new police salary structure to improve retention of experienced officers, he told the commissioners in August. The department had lost 40 officers since the 2016-17 budget year, including 19 people to other departments.

The city’s starting police pay of $41,330 compares unfavorably to competing departments, including Auburndale Police at $44,177, Lakeland Police at $44,124, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at $47,234 and the Plant City Police at $48,048, according to Bird and Herr.

Winter Haven Police starting salaries will increase to $45,552 in the new fiscal year, and the pay for senior officers will increase proportionately.

The proposed 2020-21 municipal budget includes a $51.8 million general fund, which supports most city services, such as police, fire, community development and general government. That represents a nearly 4% increase from the current $49.9 million general fund.

The Police Department, which also handles code enforcement, is the largest general fund entity at $12.3 million, down from $12.5 in this year’s budget. It is followed by the Fire Services at $8.9 million, up 6% from $8.4 million in the current budget; the Parks, Recreation and Culture Department at $6.8 million, down 8% from $7.4 million this fiscal year; and street repair and maintenance at $3.1 million, up 19% from $2.6 million.

Among the enterprise funds in the 2020-21 budget proposal are $61.6 million for the water and sewer utilities, $8.8 million for Solid Waste Fund (garbage collection), $5.8 million for the Winter Haven Regional Airport, $4 million in the Transportation Fund, $2 million for the library, and $1.1 million for the Willowbrook Golf Course. Enterprise funds are financed mostly by revenue from users, such as water and sewer utility charges.

The Water and Sewer Fund includes $29.5 million for infrastructure improvements.

Other major projects

Among the major infrastructure projects in the proposed general fund are $1.17 million toward renovation of the Winter Haven Recreation and Culture Center, which is projected to cost $5.2 million; $1 million for transportation improvements, including $650,000 for improvements to the intersection at First Street South and Cypress Gardens Boulevard; and $2.3 million for renovating baseball and athletic fields at Sertoma Park.

The city would also use another $1.17 million from the $3.3 million it received from a land sale to help finance the Recreation and Culture Center improvements. The city in June sold 77 acres to Florida Can Manufacturing LLC, part of a Miami company that also includes Florida Caribbean Distillers in Lake Alfred, for a new high tech can manufacturing plant.

The commission will take a final budget vote on Sept. 2

Kevin Bouffard can be reached at kevin.bouffard@theledger.com or at 863-802-7591.