By Carl Fish, Daily Ridge News
As a follow-up to our earlier reporting on the difficulty obtaining town records, the Town of Dundee has now released the minutes from its July 22, 2025 meeting. The records were provided by Interim Town Manager Joseph Carbone by email this past Monday, nearly a month after the meeting took place and only after multiple requests for them.
My initial written request for the minutes was made on July 29. I visited Town Hall on August 12 and again on August 15, but what I was given then were handwritten notes that did not meet the standard of proper minutes under Florida law. On August 19, I received a formal reply from the clerk that referenced only the August 8 and August 12 meetings, leaving the July 22 minutes unaddressed. The official minutes were not released until this week.
The July 22 meeting itself was significant. Commissioners voted unanimously to adopt Resolution 25-23, setting Dundee’s proposed maximum millage ceiling at 9.8679 mills for the 2025–26 budget year. That figure is nearly 33 percent higher than the rollback rate of 7.4381 mills, and it immediately took effect once passed so the required information could be transmitted to the Polk County Property Appraiser for TRIM notices.
It is important to note, however, that this July 22 action did not set the town’s final tax rate. Under Florida law, the commission must hold a second public hearing before formally adopting the millage rate and budget. Resolution 25-23 specifies that hearing will take place on September 9, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. in the Dundee Town Hall Commission Chambers. At that hearing, the commission may set the final millage rate at or below 9.8679 mills, but not higher without re-advertising.
The minutes provided for the July 22 meeting record attendance, proclamations, motions, and votes. They also list the names of nine residents who spoke during the millage discussion and two more who spoke during the final public comment period. What the minutes do not capture are the concerns and arguments raised by those residents, despite the strong turnout and vocal opposition to adopting the maximum ceiling.
Other issues stand out in the document. Commissioner Mary Richardson’s name is repeatedly misspelled as “Richardsson”. The space for the “approval date” is also left blank, meaning the minutes are technically unfinished until the commission formally adopts them. Since they had not had an official city commission meeting they couldn’t be certified. It doesn’t appear as a matter of practice on previous agenda’s that voting to approve the minutes is being done.
Florida law requires that minutes be promptly recorded and open to inspection. These minutes satisfy that requirement in the most basic sense by listing the actions taken. But Dundee’s own Public Records Policy requires records to be professional, consistent, and prepared in a manner that informs the public. On that measure, the July 22 minutes provide little insight into the substance of the meeting, particularly on a decision that could affect the pocketbooks of every property owner in town.
The July 22 meeting was not routine. It was the night commissioners gave themselves the authority to levy up to the maximum allowable millage rate. Residents filled the chambers, asking commissioners not to do so. In the official record, however, their voices are reduced to little more than a list of names. The final decision will come September 9, when the commission takes its required second vote to adopt Dundee’s millage rate and budget for the coming year.
