After voters rejected a $47 million police HQ, Oviedo cuts costs and tries again

After a resounding defeat last year, a divided Oviedo City Council decided to ask voters again this November for approval to borrow tens of millions of dollars to build a larger police headquarters.

But they’re cutting costs for the project in hopes of getting approval this time around.

Last November, 64 percent of voters opposed a bond referendum to allow the city to borrow $35.5 million to replace the building constructed in 1990.

On Monday, the council voted 3-2 to put a referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot asking if the city should borrow up to $20.4 million for the project. The city would repay the money with a property tax increase.

“I think we need to move forward on this and not kick the can down another year and let the current police station fall into additional disarray,” Council member Bob Pollack said before voting with two others to put the issue on the ballot.

Under the proposal, the city would build a 28,800-square-foot building with a 10,000-square-foot annex. The annex would remain an “unfinished shell space” in anticipation of growth.

Last year, the city proposed a 47,000-square-foot building costing roughly $47 million. But a consultant’s report in April showed that a smaller building with annex would satisfy the department’s current needs with space for the future.

Police officials have long said space is too tight in their 11,000-square-foot building. Officers and detectives must share cubicles, there’s a lack of storage space, no area for K-9 units and little space for new technology. Officers must leave the city to conduct defensive and Taser training.

“This building needs a lot of work to be maintained,” police Chief Dale Coleman said. “There’s a lot of water leaks … And over time, this department has gotten bigger and the calls have gone up.”

The department currently has 82 employees, including 73 sworn officers — nearly double when the headquarters was built.

Mayor Megan Sladek supported an alternative plan pitched by city staff Monday to wait until November 2025 to put the referendum on the ballot. She joined council member Keith Britton to oppose putting the issue on this year’s ballot.

No one from the public asked to speak on the issue at the meeting.

If the ballot measure is approved, the city would tack on just over 47 cents for every $1,000 of taxable value to a property owner’s tax bill for the next three decades. According to city estimates, the owner of a home with a current taxable value of $350,000 would pay an additional $169.84 in taxes. Taxable value is calculated annually so the amount could fluctuate.

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The $20.4 million borrowed under the proposal would be added to $11.4 million voters approved in 2016 under a separate bond referendum for a police building.

But that amount was based on a preliminary study and wasn’t nearly enough. After a more-extensive evaluation in 2017, the city was told it would need at least 42,000 square feet of space — more than double the size proposed at the time — so officials didn’t move forward.

According to the city, bonds approved in the 2016 referendum, together with those from the one later this year, would collectively raise $31,815,822.

The alternative plan supported by the mayor and Britton calls for a smaller bond referendum in November 2025.

Property owners would be taxed slightly more than 25 cents for every $1,000 of taxable value — a home with a current $350,000 taxable value would be taxed an additional $88.37. The city would make up the shortfall using revenue from the county’s penny sales tax and by raising water, sewer and stormwater fees.

“If the sales tax is adopted, then we’re pretty good,” City Manager Bryan Cobb told council members regarding the alternative plan. “To be honest with you it’s not a bad deal … I think it’s something definitely worth considering.”

Sladek agreed: “I do think it’s a better way to do it.”

But council member Natalie Teuchert opposed using a portion of the city’s share of county sales tax money for police headquarters. It would mean taking money away from other infrastructure projects the sales tax revenue would pay for, Teuchert said.

“I’m always on board with saving taxpayer money,” she said. “But we’re basically gutting our penny sales tax fund … which we all know is not enough.

“We get complaints all the time about potholes and sidewalks and I think we do a pretty good job. But we can’t cut our future [sales tax] funding — almost the entire fund — and then make up for it with fees.”

If the referendum fails again, Cobb said the council could consider moving forward with the alternative plan supported by Sladek and Britton.