Fernandina Beach Commissioners Genece Minshew and Tim Poynter will face each other for mayor on Nov. 3. The winner will lead a city scrambling to replace revenue after voters ended its paid parking program.

Both are sitting city commissioners. Under the Fernandina Beach charter, only commissioners not up for re-election can run for mayor. The candidate who gets the most votes becomes mayor. The runner-up becomes vice mayor. Each serves a two-year term.

The race will appear only on the November general election ballot. Voter registration closes Monday, Oct. 5. Early voting begins Saturday, Oct. 24, and the deadline to request a vote-by-mail ballot is Thursday, Oct. 22.

The sharpest divide between the two candidates emerged between Aug. 18 and Sept. 1.

Both Minshew and Poynter voted for downtown paid parking as a way to fund waterfront and marina improvements without raising property taxes. Both were targets of a failed citizen recall effort over their support for the program.

On Aug. 18, about 75% of city voters approved a citizen-initiated ordinance requiring voter approval before the city implements paid parking in any area, according to Amelia Island Living. The next day, Poynter made the motion directing the city manager to terminate the One Parking contract. It passed 4-1.

Two weeks later, Poynter reversed course. At the Sept. 1 commission meeting, he called his own termination motion a "knee-jerk reaction" and moved to reconsider, the Fernandina Observer reported.

Minshew blocked him. She joined Vice Mayor Darron Ayscue in voting no, producing a 2-2 tie that killed the motion.

"For me, paid parking is a done issue because the community has spoken," Minshew said at the Sept. 1 meeting.

Poynter argued the city could not afford to walk away from the revenue. "We cannot cut our way into prosperity here," he said at the same meeting.

Budget and taxes

The paid parking fight feeds directly into the city's budget debate.

The commission voted 4-1 on July 28 to set a tentative property tax rate of 4.8530 mills for fiscal year 2026-27, a 9.24% increase above the rollback rate. Both Minshew and Poynter voted for the higher rate. Vice Mayor Ayscue cast the lone dissenting vote.

The higher rate would generate an estimated $24.7 million in property tax revenue, roughly $1.5 million more than City Manager Sarah Campbell initially proposed. The commission unanimously approved a tentative $228 million citywide budget with a $50 million general fund.

The city faces $7.7 million in debt service for waterfront work and must replace $1.5 million in planned paid-parking revenue for marina improvements. It has already deferred $2.5 million in capital projects.

At the Sept. 3 budget hearing, Minshew said the city's obligations did not disappear with paid parking. "The waterfront still needs to be completed … Our infrastructure still needs attention," she said.

Poynter struck a similar note at the same hearing, saying the city had eliminated a revenue stream that could have lasted 30 years while expenses remained.

What voters should know

Fernandina Beach municipal elections are officially nonpartisan. As of Sept. 27, no candidate forums for the mayoral race have been scheduled.

Minshew won her commission seat in 2024 by 21 votes, beating David Sturges with 50% of the vote. Poynter won his seat the same year by 412 votes, taking 52%, according to a Dave Scott Blog analysis of past election results.

The One Parking contract is scheduled to end Nov. 18, 15 days after Election Day.