“I Called Bullshit!” Tampa Council Members React to Mayor Castor’s Budget

TAMPA — Mayor Jane Castor addressed the Tampa City Council on Thursday, presenting her recommended budget for 2026. That budget inches closer to $2 billion, up from about $1.8 billion in 2025. In her address, Castor emphasized hurricane resistance and public safety.

“In Tampa, we support our first responders,” said Castor, “and we couldn’t do it without this funding. When hurricane Helene and Milton hit, we had 15,000 emergency calls, which rescued hundreds of residents from rising flood waters."

But early responses from the Tampa City Council have not been positive.

“The Mayor’s staff came in today with a proposal to cut in half a previously approved Council allocation for paving City of Tampa roads,” wrote Councilmember Alan Clendenin on Thursday afternoon. “I CALLED BULLSHIT! We need to pave our damn roads.”

North Tampa Councilmember Luis Viera offered a calmer reaction, but still seemed unhappy. He called out the lack of funds for flood victims. Since Milton unexpectedly flooded usually flood-free neighborhoods in his district, Viera has pushed for more assistance to these residents.

“I talk to victims of flooding all the time and there is a common link in their experience: they lose faith in government’s ability to fight for them,” wrote Viera. “Almost one year later, many of these families are still going through hell and have not gotten a dime in formal assistance locally because of restrictions.”

South Tampa Councilmember Bill Carlson, long a critic of Mayor Castor and Mayor Buckhorn before her, said that the Tampa Mayor’s talk does not match the contents of the proposed budget.

“The city has been on a big PR pitch to talk about how much the city has done in maintenance and stormwater, but the reality is that it hasn’t,” said Carlson. “No amount of PR is going to change the fact that people can see that maintenance hasn’t been done and that their houses are flooding.”

The Tampa budget is fueled mainly by property taxes. That matters because the local housing market has begun cooling recently. The covid relocation boom caused Tampa rents and home prices to spike in 2022, which left many residents hurting. But now, just 3 years later, the cooling market presents new threats.

The city budget, poised to grow in 2026 may not be able to grow again for 2027. Budget allocation this year may therefore feel more zero-sum to the Councilmembers watching their priorities get slashed.

The next regular Tampa City Council meeting is at 5pm, July 24th.