QC
CITY SPOTLIGHT
PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF BROOKSVILLE
Art mural downtown.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Forging the Future Through Partnerships Brooksville focuses on staff, businesses and infrastructure by Charlene Kuhn City of Brooksville
T
he City of Brooksville is a thriving community that has experienced continuous growth while preserving its original charm. It is well known for its rolling landscape and mossdraped trees that line the City’s historic cobblestone streets. For 27 years, Brooksville has been recognized as a Tree City USA community by the Arbor Day Foundation. While the City’s beauty is undeniable, it has encountered its share of economic challenges. Since the Great Recession, the City has struggled to recover to pre-crisis levels of adequate staffing that allows for effective service levels to the community. Reductions in the millage rate over the years restrained the City’s ability to fund needed maintenance of infrastructure. In early 2020, the City began to feel the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including high employee turnover and 12 QUALITY CITIES | THIRD QUARTER 2022
BROOKSVILLE Hernando County Pop. 9,165
staffing shortages. These impacts further complicated matters while the City’s infrastructure continued to languish. However, the appointment of Brooksville City Manager Ron Snowberger in 2021 was a turning point for the City. With 38 years of experience in local government and three years as Brooksville’s Fire Chief, Snowberger brought a new vision and several strategies to propel the City forward. Fresh into his appointment, Snowberger began talks with Hernando County administration to develop a Joint Planning Agreement (JPA) to provide city and county residents with the best utility services available. The plan, when fully approved, will allow the City to apply smart growth principles, enhancing areas for the City and the County. In conjunction with this effort, the City has partnered with the Hernando County Office
