Tampa Council Advances Charter Package With Inspector General and Mayoral Term Limits; Voters Would Decide in 2027
TAMPA — Tampa is a city in Hillsborough County, Florida. The Tampa City Council on October 15 advanced a package of city charter changes, dropping its plan to let council members fire mayoral appointees while keeping an independent inspector general and tighter mayoral term limits in the package. The term-limit proposal would bar anyone who serves more than six years as mayor or acting mayor from returning to the office; it would not count former Mayor Bob Buckhorn's 2011-2019 tenure, and Buckhorn is running again in 2027.
Mayor Jane Castor has called the package a 'power grab.' Council member Bill Carlson has said it restores checks on the mayor's office rather than undermining Tampa's strong-mayor system. The package grew out of nine months of meetings by the city's Charter Review Advisory Commission, whose recommendations the council strengthened, narrowed or dropped in part.
Thursday's votes do not put anything on the ballot yet. Each amendment comes back as a separate ordinance for a first reading on November 5 and a final vote on November 19. If approved, voters will decide in the March 2, 2027 city election. At the same meeting, the council also approved, 4-3 after an initial 3-3 tie, a court-validation resolution for $80 million in Rays ballpark bonds, a matter reported separately.
Sources: Tampa Bay Observer; Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, on the charter review process
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Tampa 市政厅大楼。图片来源：TampAGS，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 3.0。Photo: City Hall Building, Tampa, Florida. Image: TampAGS, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
