Flower baskets set for downtown debut

Beginning this month, the Downtown Improvement District will embark on a project to beautify the city’s downtown core.

The DID will spend $187,680 to install and maintain 138 flower baskets attached to light poles throughout the heart of the city. Although the majority of those baskets will line Main Street, the project will extend to Palm Avenue, Lemon Avenue, First Street and State Street, as well.

DID Operations Manager John Moran presented a proposed distribution for the flower baskets at a meeting Tuesday. The board, which has expressed a desire to get the flowers in place quickly, offered its approval for the configuration Moran outlined.

Moran said he expects the flower baskets should all be posted by September. The baskets will be installed in phases, which gives the DID board the opportunity to provide the vendor with feedback on the look of the flowers.

“As these things go up, you can provide the feedback so we get — eventually — exactly what you want,” Moran said.

Overall, the DID has budgeted $431,000 to pay for the maintenance of the flower baskets during the next three years.

The group got good financial news at Tuesday’s meeting as well. Property values from within the district boundaries have gone up 17.8%, more than double the  citywide increase.

That means the income generated by the 2 mill tax on commercial properties within the DID will be nearly $430,000 in fiscal year 2016-17 — more than $50,000 over last year.

“We haven’t been that high since the very first budget,” Moran said. “We’re actually exceeding that budget — this is the highest budget we’ve ever had.”