by James Coulter
The City of Lake Wales is set to approve next fiscal year’s budget of more than $123 million with an emphasis on projects to implement its Lake Wales Connected Plan.
At their workshop on Wed., Aug. 29, 2025, Lake Wales city commissioners reviewed the proposed budget and millage rate for the next fiscal year.
The proposed budget is estimated to be $123,558,276. Its proposed operating budget expenditures are estimated to be $46,281,533, which is “14.6% more than last year’s total operating expenditures,” wrote Finance Director Dorothy Abbott.
The budget includes many capital and significant projects with an overall emphasis on implementing the city’s award-winning Connected Plan. The plan, according to the city’s website, outlines “a strategy for revitalization of Lake Wales’ historic downtown and one of its most important adjacent neighborhoods.”
“Lake Wales Connected seeks to build upon recent momentum, providing a strategy that aligns with the City’s legacy by using a community-based vision to direct future improvements, growth, preservation, and economic vitality,” the city’s website states.
Such projects include $750,000 for resurfacing city streets, $350,000 for the restoration of the historic Stuart House, $500,000 to help local homeowners bring their properties into compliance with city code, and $1,550,000 to refurbish Kiwanis Park.
To help fund the proposed budget, the city will likewise adopt a proposed millage rate of 8.0462 mills, “which is greater than the rolled-back rate of 6.6772 mills by 20.50%,” Abbott wrote.
At the workshop, Abbott mentioned how next fiscal year’s budget was the “hardest” she and her staff have formulated within nearly a decade.
“It was very difficult,” she said. “This was probably the hardest budget in 8 or 9 years.”
City commissioners will vote on the proposed budget and millage rate at their next meeting scheduled for Tues., Sep. 2 at 6 PM at Lake Wales City Hall.
