Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek sparked a conversation on whether the city should move forward with a $12 million expansion of its police station on Alexandria Boulevard, which has been in use since 1990. “This is a conversation that I’m going rogue on. City council has not opened up this can of worms, but I just started thinking about what’s happening at the state level with the effort to reduce property taxes,” Sladek said. In 2016, voters approved borrowing $11.4 million to build an annex, and the mayor said the city has already spent approximately $200,000 on design services for the project. Sladek said she is concerned about funding if the state eliminates property taxes. “With talk of changing how property taxes are collected and how much is collected, I don’t know that we have certainty going forward that we’ll be able to pay our officers market wages,” Sladek said. “The challenge for Oviedo is that about half of our taxes come from homesteaded property. So, if all the tax of all property taxes are eliminated, we bring in half as much as before, less than half as much, and we, we can’t raise taxes enough. We can’t raise the tax rate enough to make up for it. Like, it’s just not possible because Florida’s constitution caps you.”To gather public feedback, Sladek posted on Facebook Friday, asking, “Should Oviedo build a police station expansion for $12+ million or move in the direction of consolidating services with the county? Keeping our own police department, while not improving the police station, is not one of the choices.” She went on to say in the post, “In 2025, Oviedo brought in barely enough property taxes to cover the cost of the police and fire departments. If the amount is decreased, that’s a mathematical problem that I believe is impossible for Oviedo to solve while continuing to operate its own police department. ***This isn’t an effort to scare you. This is math in the face of a state law that does not leave Oviedo many options. We need to have a discussion about it.***” The post has sparked a discussion on social media, with some residents advocating for spending the money on the expansion and others suggesting saving it. “I didn’t expect the response that came from this. I just thought people would put a few things out there, but there’s actually been an officer or two that’s chimed in, from multiple jurisdictions and good, good perspectives there for sure,” Sladek said.The debate on property taxes is still up in the air. It stalled in the state Legislature during this year’s regular session.

OVIEDO, Fla. —

Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek sparked a conversation on whether the city should move forward with a $12 million expansion of its police station on Alexandria Boulevard, which has been in use since 1990.

“This is a conversation that I’m going rogue on. City council has not opened up this can of worms, but I just started thinking about what’s happening at the state level with the effort to reduce property taxes,” Sladek said.

In 2016, voters approved borrowing $11.4 million to build an annex, and the mayor said the city has already spent approximately $200,000 on design services for the project.

Sladek said she is concerned about funding if the state eliminates property taxes.

“With talk of changing how property taxes are collected and how much is collected, I don’t know that we have certainty going forward that we’ll be able to pay our officers market wages,” Sladek said.

“The challenge for Oviedo is that about half of our taxes come from homesteaded property. So, if all the tax of all property taxes are eliminated, we bring in half as much as before, less than half as much, and we, we can’t raise taxes enough. We can’t raise the tax rate enough to make up for it. Like, it’s just not possible because Florida’s constitution caps you.”

To gather public feedback, Sladek posted on Facebook Friday, asking, “Should Oviedo build a police station expansion for $12+ million or move in the direction of consolidating services with the county? Keeping our own police department, while not improving the police station, is not one of the choices.”

She went on to say in the post, “In 2025, Oviedo brought in barely enough property taxes to cover the cost of the police and fire departments. If the amount is decreased, that’s a mathematical problem that I believe is impossible for Oviedo to solve while continuing to operate its own police department. ***This isn’t an effort to scare you. This is math in the face of a state law that does not leave Oviedo many options. We need to have a discussion about it.***”

The post has sparked a discussion on social media, with some residents advocating for spending the money on the expansion and others suggesting saving it.

“I didn’t expect the response that came from this. I just thought people would put a few things out there, but there’s actually been an officer or two that’s chimed in, from multiple jurisdictions and good, good perspectives there for sure,” Sladek said.

The debate on property taxes is still up in the air. It stalled in the state Legislature during this year’s regular session.