GREEN COVE SPRINGS – More than 100 residents who’ve already felt the economic pinch at the gas pump, grocery store and sit-down restaurants were ready to push back on the proposed plan for the City Council to increase its millage rate from 4.7 to 6.0 at its first reading Tuesday night.

But after hearing 10 concerned — some angry — residents tell them for nearly 80 minutes they were tired of paying high prices, Mayor Steven Kelley said he spent a week crunching numbers to find a balance that would allow the City to meet its obligations while lessening the taxpayers’ pain.

He planned to increase the millage rate to 5.3, an increase from the 2023-24 rate that would allow the City to upgrade infrastructure projects ahead of major development projects in the planning process, but far less than the proposed 6.0 figure originally agreed to a month ago.

While the 5.3 millage rate wasn’t as drastic as the 6.0 proposed a month ago, Green Cove Springs is the only municipality in Clay County that increased its millage rate for the 2024-25 budget. However, no other entity faces as many future community projects requiring infrastructure upgrades. One, for example, is the Rookery. It will be a 2,100 single-family unit community on a 559.9-acre plot south of the City. The development will also include a 24.22-acre shopping plaza across the entrance on U.S. Highway 17, including a major grocery store.

Kelley said if taxpayers approve the infrastructure projects when the developers file for building permits, they will have to start paying for assessment fees. He said each home built at the Rookery will come with a $1,700 assessment fee,

Once those fees are collected and the new tenants and homeowners are added to the tax rolls, the council hopes to roll back the millage rate.

One primary reason for jumping from a 4.7 millage rate to 6.0 was to make Green Cove Springs as a place to work more competitive in the job market. A survey showed that City salaries fell below the 50% level compared to similar cities in the state.

The 6.0 millage rate was to elevate salaries. Kelley admitted that it would delay the necessary increases by two years.

“I had staff double-checking my numbers to make sure it wouldn't gut what we were trying to do,” he said.

Kelley said another reason for the compromise was the suggested rate increases for electric and water services.

“We haven’t had an electric rate increase in eight years,” he said. “I’m going to support the utility rate increases. I think all of this works hand in hand.”

The first reading of the 5.3 millage rate passed 5-0. The second and final reading will be on Sept. 17.

The first proposed reading of the city budget of $65,044,014 also passed. The council will meet on Sept. 17 to formally approve it.”

In other business, the second and final reading of The Rookery's change to their plan to convert as many as 210 of its 2,100 approved single-family homes into duplexes to make them more affordable for younger first-time homebuyers was pushed back to the Oct. 1 meeting.

The council meets on the first and third Tuesdays of each month inside the Council Chambers at Town Hall, 321 Walnut St.