Copyright Newsweek
Tourists could face a toll when they visit the popular St. Pete Beach if Mayor Adrian Petrila's goal of taxing out-of-town visitors for entering the city comes to fruition. Newsweek reached out to Petrila and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) via email for comment. Why It Matters Florida's St. Pete Beach faces an expense of $200 million for critical infrastructure improvements, including repairs to the city's stormwater, sewer and utility systems. Back-to-back impacts from hurricanes have contributed to the need for the updates. Petrila’s proposal to impose a toll on tourists reflects growing efforts by local governments to address budget gaps without raising taxes on permanent residents. What To Know At a recent commission meeting, Petrila outlined a plan to raise funds for the city’s substantial infrastructure repairs by charging a $1 access toll to tourists at each of the city’s three entry points. According to Petrila, St. Pete Beach sees approximately 60,000 trips daily across these access points, while the city's population is less than 9,000 residents, Fox 13 reported. The mayor estimates this fee could generate around $11 million annually, providing over half the necessary funding for the city’s $200 million in repairs over the next decade. The plan’s purpose is to protect residents from additional tax burdens by leveraging tourism traffic, a significant feature of the city’s economy. However, commissioners have raised concerns regarding the legality of imposing tolls on state-owned roads, like Gulf Boulevard, which is a primary thoroughfare through St. Pete Beach. Vice Mayor and commissioner Karen Marriott specifically noted that following financing models used by residential islands may negatively affect the business community and tourism, upon which the city heavily depends for revenue. To enable the tolls, Petrila said, the city has begun initial talks with FDOT about potentially taking control of Gulf Boulevard. "I think there’s a way that we can meet our $200 million challenge," Petrila said, according to the Fox 13 report. "We can fix the sewers, modernize the stormwater system, improve our roads … and do it without raising taxes on our residents." What People Are Saying Commissioner Lisa Robinson told Newsweek: "As a city that is in need of roughly $200 million for infrastructure repairs due to past city administration neglect and recent back-to-back hurricane devastation, it is our duty to consider all options. And those options that fairly distribute the burden to all parties that utilize our city's infrastructure should be closely looked at for viability." Marriott told Newsweek: "While the City of St Pete Beach will have significant infrastructure funding needs over the next decade, I do have concerns about the proposal to raise the funds with tolls into the city. St Pete Beach has a really nice mix of full-time residents, seasonal residents, tourists, and businesses and I’d like to keep it that way! The proposal to have a toll for visitors could be disproportionally hard on the business community here, many of whom are still recovering from the Hurricanes Helene and Milton last year. I am hopeful however that the conversations sparked by the proposal will lead us to better solutions." Petrila, per Fox 13: "Big problems are going to require big ideas. Especially if we’re going to find solutions that do not increase the tax burden on our residents, because it would be easy just to say, 'Let’s raise taxes. We can fix that.' No, that’s not what we want to do." What Happens Next The next steps for St. Pete Beach include completing the requested legal review of the toll proposal and ongoing discussions with relevant state agencies. If the city receives the necessary approvals and demonstrates legal authority to control the entry points, implementation of the toll system could proceed as part of a broader plan to finance infrastructure improvements. The city attorney’s findings, due in early 2026, are expected to play a key role in shaping the proposal’s future.
