The Escambia Children’s Trust board voted yesterday to approve a negotiated interlocal agreement that will send $1,85 million to the City of Pensacola, resolving a nearly two-year dispute over tax increment financing revenues the city says the Trust owes to its Community Redevelopment Agency. Read City Interlocal.
- The vote was not unanimous. Board member Tori Woods voted against the deal, and Board Chair Dr. Rex Northup voiced pointed concerns about accountability before ultimately voting in favor.
- Background: In 2021, Gov. DeSantis appointed Woods, Northrup, Stephanie White, David Peaden and Rev. Lonnie Wesley. Their terms have expired, but Woods, Northrup and White have chosen to stay while the Trust waits for Gov. DeSantis to appoint their replacements. Five other members are mandated by state law — an Escambia County School Board member, Department of Children and Families representative, Circuit Judge, Escambia County Commissioner and Escambia County School Superintendent.
The Dispute
The dispute drew headlines in June 2025, when the city formally demanded TIF contributions from the children’s trust under Section 163.387, Florida Statutes. The Trust responded by filing for an exemption, which has pending before the City Council ever since. Both sides chose to negotiate — the same approach used to resolve a similar dispute with Escambia County.
- “The city has certainly expressed that this is what they consider final and don’t want to participate in any further negotiation,” Board Attorney Megan Fry told the board.
The Deal
The trust will pay $1,851,333.70 covering tax years 2021 through 2025, with penalties and interest waived. The total reflects a credit of $537,679.30 — representing 75% of what the Trust has already reimbursed the city under an existing parks and recreation grant. The city’s position is that not all grant money was spent within CRA boundaries, so a full offset wasn’t warranted. The 2026 tax year is not covered and will require future negotiations.
- The city must spend the funds on “educational, health, preventive, developmental, treatment, intervention, and rehabilitative services for children aged 0-18,” with a focus on childcare. The city must also provide quarterly expenditure reports with “reasonable and mutually agreed upon participant data and outcomes.”
Reeves Calls the Deal an ‘Olive Branch’
While the Trust board debated the agreement, Mayor D.C. Reeves addressed it at his weekly press conference, framing both the credit and the scope of obligations as concessions.
- “Remember that we are deducting that as the total amount owed, really to try to meet in the middle,” Reeves said. He noted the original Parks and Rec grant for Out of School programming “was awarded without any asterisk that said, ‘But so long as the CRA would come back and request these funds, it would be deducted.’ So that certainly is an olive branch on our side.”
On how the money would be spent, Reeves pushed back against locking the city into specific projects. “We’ve said we’re going to help childcare. That is what we intend to do and that has not changed, but it’s pretty difficult for us to say, ‘We promise that we’re going to use it on this building in this particular location.’“
- He said the city was “trying to strike the balance of giving the accountability that they want without hamstringing ourselves because remember, the basis of this is there should be no strings on this at all.”
The Chair’s Concerns
Northup saw it differently. He pointed to the Trust’s own RFP process and the detailed goals, measurable outcomes, and reporting requirements imposed on community providers — contrasting that with the city’s broad obligations under the interlocal.
- “I look at this as something — they’re getting a lot of what they’re wanting, which is our money,” Northup said. “They’re telling us in the most broad sense that I can possibly imagine they’re going to spend it on kids, and maybe they’re going to give us some feedback that may or may not really be helpful.”
He pressed the Trust attorneys: “Are you all comfortable that there’s enough meat on the bones… that when we write that check, are we going to get the return on investment that we would be expecting from other providers? And is this document going to hold their feet to the fire?”
- Background: Northup failed to mention the Trust’s less-than-stellar record of holding its providers accountable—the most recent disaster being New World Believers, who received over $900,000 over the past two years, while submitting a questionable audit report and hiring family members. The Trust cancelled its contract on Jan. 30 after its founder was arrested for sexual battery of a teen in the program.
The Counterargument
Executive Director Lindsey Cannon acknowledged the discomfort but framed the situation as fundamentally different from a typical grant.
- “Anybody that’s applying for that RFP sure doesn’t have anything in statute that says we have to give them that money,” Cannon said. “The city has been very strong, and they feel that their position is just as strong as we feel our position is. After two years of working through all of this, we still don’t have any clear definition on the statutory obligation.”
She said the city has already issued an RFP for a childcare provider — a pilot program it hopes to replicate using the trust’s funding — and that the city has facilities that could support programming, which she called “a really challenging issue in our community.”
- Fry acknowledged the agreement requires “a little bit of faith” but pointed to quarterly reporting as a safeguard. “The reporting and data sharing will keep not only your spotlight but the public spotlight on them to make sure that they’re really doing with these dollars the same thing that the trust would do.”
The Vote and Next Steps
Board member Stephanie White moved to approve: “If this is the same that we did for the county, then I think that we just need to approve it and move on.” The motion carried with Woods as the lone dissent.
The agreement will go to the City Council at the first meeting in March, where it will be presented as the Trust’s request for a TIF exemption. Mayor Reeves is expected to recommend council grant the exemption and approve the interlocal.
