Submitted By: Roberto Ellis
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Presentation By: Roberto Ellis
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Department: Growth Management
FORMAL TITLE:
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Budget Resolution 2026-142 to amend the Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget to appropriate additional funding from the East Ocala Community Redevelopment Area Reserve for Fund Balance to support redevelopment grants in the amount of $358,000
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OCALA'S RELEVANT STRATEGIC GOALS:
Quality of Place, Operational Excellence
PROOF OF PUBLICATION:
N/A
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BACKGROUND:
The East Ocala Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) property improvement grant programs are designed to incentivize reinvestment in aging structures, address blight conditions, and enhance livability and taxable value. The grant is available to residential, historic, and commercial property owners in the East Ocala CRA subarea.
Staff is requesting additional funds to meet the growing interest in the CRA grant programs. The proposed budget resolution would allow staff to move forward with processing additional requests in the current fiscal year. The current grant award details are provided below:
* Residential - Maximum of $20,000 at 75 percent match (except for roofing, which carries a 50 percent match).
* Commercial - Maximum of $50,000 at a 60 percent match.
* Historic - Maximum of $40,000 at a 60 percent match.
* New Construction (Catalytic) - Maximum of $300,000 at a 10 percent match.
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS:
The CRA budgeted $400,000 for grants in Fiscal Year 2025-26. To date, the CRA has approved 21 projects and allocated $382,215 (95.5 percent) of available grant funds. Please refer to the attached list of approved projects for additional details.
* Staff has received several additional applications, and interest from prospective applicants remains strong. However, these applications are currently on hold pending the availability of additional funding.
* The proposed appropriation, in the amount of $358,000, will be allocated as follows:
o Approximately $168,000 w...
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