SAFETY HARBOR — City commissioners have approved an emergency $50,000 bulb replacement at three City Park ballfields after learning that nearly half the lights in the park’s five diamonds are burned out — and that a full upgrade, deferred for eight years, could now cost more than $1 million.
The 5-0 vote July 20 came before a City Hall auditorium packed with Safety Harbor Little League coaches, players, parents and board members, who had sounded the alarm with the fall season approaching. Commissioners also asked staff to bring back alternative ways to pay for a permanent fix.
The five baseball and softball fields at Safety Harbor City Park are used about 300 days a year, city officials said, by Little League and adult league teams, kickball clubs and private parties, with the heaviest demand from November through March. The lighting system was installed in 1999 and last upgraded in 2007.
Over the past eight years, however, the city did not spend money set aside in its budgets for new bulbs and, eventually, new fixtures. Those delays have driven the estimated cost from $250,000 in 2018 to more than $950,000 last December, a figure expected to climb past $1 million when the work goes back out to bid.
“It’s important to note that these costs are no longer valid,” Public Works Director Renee Cooper told commissioners, adding that the city “could see a 5% or more increase in the overall cost during a rebid.”
Cooper said the original $250,000 for bulb replacement, budgeted in 2018, was pushed back repeatedly because of the COVID-19 pandemic and funding problems. The same amount was budgeted in fiscal 2024, carried into fiscal 2025 by budget amendment, then carried again into fiscal 2026.
“In fiscal year 26 staff budgeted an additional $350,000 for bulb replacement, bringing the total to $650,000,” Cooper said. By the time the work went out to bid, she said, “the project was significantly over budget, and it was paused as staff evaluated any potential impacts.”
The bidding followed a June evaluation by Musco Lighting, a sports field lighting manufacturer, which Cooper said “indicated the current lighting does not meet standards for nighttime play.”
Of the 167 bulbs at the five fields, 79 — or 47.3% — were burned out, the evaluation found. The remaining sodium bulbs are outdated and no longer provide safe, adequate light, officials said.
“Keep in mind we have some fixtures that are dim but not out,” Cooper said. The stopgap relamping now underway is estimated at $45,000 to $50,000.
The news drew shock and disappointment from the commission.
“There’s a lot of people in the room who have the impression of $650,000 being available to us to get somewhere with this repair,” Commissioner Jacob Burnett said. “And it’s my understanding that we don’t have that $650,000 available to us right now. And I think everybody would like to get a little better explanation of why that is.”
City Manager Josh Stefancic said the fiscal 2026 budget was built in January 2025, and that two recent budget audits found some costs, including the field repairs, had been overestimated.
“What the audit revealed, with this specific case with this budget, the number that we started with in January (2025) for this budget was an overestimate,” Stefancic said. “We don’t have $650,000 remaining.”
Asked by Burnett whether approving the project would have left the city “in a pickle right now and been $350,000 short in our funding,” Stefancic said, “Yes, possibly.” A budget, he added, “is a guess. But it’s a very well-educated guess. But it will be outdated soon after we adopt it.”
Tapping an extra $350,000 for the repairs this year would mean the city would “have to unfund more projects for next year,” Cooper said. Much could also hinge on the November property tax ballot measure, which if approved would limit how cities pay for parks and recreation, she said.
“There’s a possibility if this passes, these kinds of expenditures would be prohibited,” Cooper said.
Commissioner Kevin Shanks, who raised the issue at a budget workshop a week earlier, said he was glad staff found a $50,000 stopgap to relamp the three main fields.
“I just want to say thank God for the relamping option,” Shanks said, noting that “over the last eight years, no commission was given the option to (relamp) for $50,000.”
“I don’t know why it wasn’t an option, but I appreciate everyone (on staff) figuring it out.”
Shanks apologized to the Little League families in the audience “for not having this solved earlier,” a sentiment echoed by Mayor Joe Ayoub, who took part by speakerphone.
“There are a lot of Little Leaguers concerned about the season, and I understand your concern,” Ayoub said. “And I appreciate your patience while we sort this all out.”
Ayoub said he supported the stopgap relamping “100%” but was “not ready to support a total replacement” of the fixtures with LEDs “until we know what happens in November. But until then we have a good short-term solution.”
Several Little League representatives spoke during public comment, thanking the city for moving ahead with the relamping while faulting officials for letting the fields reach this point.
“I’m going to be the not-so-nice parent,” said Shannon Pridon, a mother of two, “because I’ve looked at some of the budget and you’re talking about moving $350,000 and audits and you’re not really giving us enough information as to where the money went to. I don’t understand how there can be that big of a gap.”
Pridon said “it would really mean a lot if you guys would take accountability,” noting the fields serve players from tee ball through high school. She urged the city to ask state officials for help, pointing out that Gov. Ron DeSantis played Little League in Dunedin — an idea Ayoub endorsed.
“I think part of the plan, regardless if property tax reform passes or not, is we’ve got to reach out to the state, the governor, and ask for help,” Ayoub said, adding that the state needs “to step up and help us out.”
“What’s on the agenda tonight is the relamping,” he said. “And if someone can make a motion we can move forward with that.”
On a sweltering July 26 afternoon at City Park, a men’s league baseball game was underway as a small group of friends and family watched from the shaded stands.
Told what the fuss over the lighting was about, Clint McElreath, a former Little League coach, called it “dangerous” for kids to play under those conditions.
“Lights are super important for the development of these kids,” the New Port Richey resident said as he watched his 20-year-old son, Hayden, bat for a Spring Hill club. “At that age it’s about getting used to the game. And you can’t get used to the game if you can’t see the ball!”
Told of the budget shortfall, McElreath said city leaders “gotta fix the lights, no matter what the cost. Because it’s a safety thing. It’s about the safety of the kids.”