Largo officials on Oct. 6 laid out an alternative Fiscal Year 2028 budget that would cut library hours in half, close major public facilities and eliminate the equivalent of about 136 full-time jobs if Amendment 3 passes on Nov. 3.
The reason the presentation is drawing attention now is the scale of the hit staff says the city would take. If voters approve the measure, city staff said Largo would lose $15.7 million a year once the higher homestead exemption takes full effect, a recurring loss that Kristina Messenger said would not be a one-time impact. The exemption would rise from $51,411 to $150,000 in January 2027 and then to $250,000 in 2028.
Messenger opened the presentation by stressing that the city was not taking a position on the ballot measure. “By law, the city of Largo doesn’t support or oppose any measure on the ballot,” she said, adding that the material that followed was “actual information about a budget scenario” and “not a city position.” She also called it “a planning and analysis tool, not a decision or a proposed budget.”
To build that scenario, the city's executive leadership team rated 185 programs across all general fund departments. The result was not a single across-the-board trim but a map of where the pain would land. The library would lose $3.26 million and 27 full-time-equivalent positions, a 62% cut to its general fund budget, dropping service from 56 hours a week to 28. Fire Rescue would lose $5.22 million and 28 positions, with cuts that could eliminate two advanced life support units, one of the city's two district chief posts and the department's public outreach program.
The police side would not escape. The Police Department would lose $2.88 million, with reductions in the traffic safety unit and the elimination of the problem-oriented policing team. The city could also shift more of the cost of school resource officers to Pinellas County Schools, end the school crossing guard program and give up its police dogs while the K-9 officers remain on the force.
That is where the city's neutral posture runs into the practical force of the draft. The same presentation said the Recreation, Parks and Arts Department would lose $2.37 million and 32 positions, and could close the Central Park Performing Arts Center, the Largo Community Center and the Highland Family Aquatic Center. Meridy Semones described those as “the largest public-facing reductions,” and said the changes would result in reduced public programming and access to general library services.
The city has not adopted the cuts, and Messenger said the package was only meant to show what a budget could look like if the tax change clears the 60% threshold. But the outline leaves little doubt about what is at stake for Largo: not a one-year adjustment, but a recurring annual hole that would force the city to scale back libraries, recreation, police support and fire coverage all at once.
