Previous efforts, fraught with poor planning and politics, failed miserably. But with census figures showing Crystal River's population has decreased in the past decade and with developable land dwindling, officials once again are looking to the unincorporated areas that surround this tax-wary city. Taylor and her council counterparts hope revenue growth can be achieved through annexation rather than increasing the mill rate. Formal proposals have not yet been developed but last week the council began to lay the foundation for a public relations campaign to promote its services to outlying regions. They include the subdivisions north of Woodland Estates and near Turkey Oak Drive and the business districts on U.S. 19 and State Road 44.
Crystal River is financially secure, no question about it.
But we have to be looking at our long-term future because our demand for services is outstripping our existing revenue. He needed only to look out his window overlooking U.S. 19 to illustrate his point. Cars breezed by, some clearly exceeding the speed limit. Even though the city's population has not grown, additional officers have been needed, in part, to keep pace with the increasingly congested highway. If Crystal River's ideal population is 10,000, as Sallee suggests, it has a long way to go.