The proposal will mainly address stormwater and wastewater infrastructure, which city officials say are urgent needs after recent hurricanes revealed weaknesses in St. Petersburg\u2019s aging systems. The bond would speed up projects already in long-term plans, though the exact priorities are still being decided.<\/p>\n
The Committee will let some Council members review project lists, financing options, and possible effects on taxpayers before sharing details with the full Council to finalize the referendum language.<\/p>\n
Council member\u00a0Copley Gerdes<\/a>\u00a0leads the Committee. Council Chair\u00a0Lisset Hanewicz<\/a>\u00a0and Council members\u00a0Deborah Figgs-Sanders<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Mike Harting<\/a>\u00a0are also on the Committee, with\u00a0Brandi Gabbard<\/a> as an alternate.<\/p>\n The Council discussed the item without debate, showing a willingness to move the process forward even though disagreements are likely later. More detailed policy debates are expected once project lists and financing details are shared, but early agreement is a good sign for the proposal. The bond could also appear on a ballot as state officials discuss property tax reform to limit city spending.<\/p>\n Mayor\u00a0Ken Welch<\/a> first highlighted the bond when he supported speeding up long-planned infrastructure upgrades in his State of the City address earlier this year. Gabbard, who is also running for Mayor, has\u00a0shown cautious support<\/a> but wants clear information on how the money would be used before voters decide.<\/p>\n The City Council will review the measure again after the Committee makes its recommendations. At that point, members could vote to put the bond referendum on the ballot as soon as August, during the city\u2019s closely watched mayoral race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Council took up the item without debate, reflecting desire to at least advance the conversation through the process…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3300,9935,7354,7355,101904,2346,8123,7356,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-226031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-brandi-gabbard","9":"tag-budget","10":"tag-copley-gerdes","11":"tag-deborah-figgs-sanders","12":"tag-finance-and-taxation-committee","13":"tag-ken-welch","14":"tag-lisset-hanewicz","15":"tag-mike-harting","16":"tag-st-pete","17":"tag-st-pete-headlines","18":"tag-st-pete-news","19":"tag-st-petersburg","20":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","21":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20250658_FINAL_FloridaPolitics_728x90.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n