On September 14, Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan cast the lone dissenting vote against the Community Redevelopment Agency’s proposed 2026-2027 budget at the City Council meeting, objecting to the removal of funding for historic preservation, which supports historic preservation work downtown.
The proposed CRA budget totals $48,682,182. CRA staff told commissioners the preservation program itself is not being eliminated, but rather will not receive any budget allocation for the coming year due to overall reductions in CRA funding, with staff noting future funding could still be considered if the CRA’s financial picture changes.
Commissioner Shan Rose, who made the motion to approve the budget, pushed back sharply against Sheehan before the vote. Rose said the CRA has operated under a vision plan since 2014 and argued that concerns over funding decisions should have been raised months earlier rather than on the day of the vote. Rose pointed to the council’s recent approval of $34 million for the Canopy project as evidence that budget priorities could have been reworked earlier if there were objections, and defended the CRA staff’s work, saying she would not allow anyone to diminish it.
Sheehan responded that her concern came directly from historic neighborhood association members who reviewed the budget over the weekend and discovered the preservation program was left unfunded. She said the funding at stake was minimal compared to the CRA’s overall budget, and noted that historic neighborhoods including Lake Eola Heights and Thornton Park have paid into the CRA for years. She called it disingenuous to describe the program as intact while stripping its funding, adding that she had also learned with less than a week’s notice that the city was eliminating its downtown historic district designation. Sheehan said her vote was the only way she had to register her disapproval.
Mayor Buddy Dyer responded to Sheehan’s comments by telling her she needed to attend the briefings staff provides commissioners in order to have that information ahead of time.
The budget ultimately passed on a vote with Sheehan opposed.
You can watch the full Council Meeting on the City of Orlando YouTube page.
