Facing a funding shortfall for the 2025 Nights of Lights season, the City of St. Augustine is proposing key budget cuts to keep the event on track while remaining within its financial limits.
The biggest reductions target portable restrooms and barricade rentals — two major logistical components of the city’s plan to better manage the increasingly popular event.
Originally, the City presented a $1.65 million proposal to the Tourism Development Council (TDC), requesting $1.2 million in funding to support event costs.
But at a September 1, 2025 meeting of the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners, it was determined that only $850,720 of that request met the eligibility requirements.
This left a more than $350,000 gap.
To make ends meet without exceeding the City’s budgeted commitment of $450,000, staff proposed two major changes to the plan.
Officials had aimed to rent barricades from Meridian Barricades for crowd control purposes throughout the Nights of Lights season.
That $160,000 expense has now been removed. Instead, the City will allocate $300,000 in its fiscal year 2026 budget to purchase barricades outright for future use.
Additionally, the original budget included $350,000 for portable restrooms, custodial staffing, and litter crews. That line item has been reduced to $217,612, effectively cutting about half of the planned portable restroom units.
City staff will present the revised plan in a report scheduled for next week’s City Commission meeting.
