By Agrippina Fadel

Tamarac is a thriving, vibrant city, a haven for businesses and commercial development that brings good-paying jobs, and a great place to live both for current residents and new families moving in said mayor Michelle Gomez during her 2022 State of the City Address.

In her speech at the commission meeting on March 9, she talked about the city’s achievements in the past year and touched on a few significant projects the local government will be working on in 2022.

“With the year we’ve had, it may be a little tough to think about our future, but that’s exactly what our city’s leadership is doing. It’s putting plans in place and laying a foundation for many years ahead,” said Gomez, adding that Tamarac is fiscally strong, always seeking ways to maximize current revenues through prudent budgeting and grant opportunities to eliminate or reduce taxpayers’ burden.

Gomez added that the city’s millage rate was reduced last year – for the first time since 2013.

“In 2021, 31% of Tamarac’s procurement was awarded to the local minority, women, or veteran-owned businesses,” she said. “Our community is flourishing, and our city is poised for the future. We are one Tamarac, made up of people of many nations, races, cultures, genders, and creeds who enthusiastically celebrate one another.”

According to the 2020 US Census, Gomez said that the city’s population has grown by 19% and is now 72,000 people. Residents under the age of 18 make up 19% of the population, and 28% of residents are seniors above 65.

“In 2021, the city celebrated at least seven 100-year young or older residents, and miss Verna Scott turned 106 past Halloween,” said the mayor, adding that Tamarac is a wonderful melting pot of ages and cultures, where 37% of the households speak languages other than English, Spanish being the most common.

Gomez said that even after going through the challenges of a global pandemic, the city continues to assert itself as a force in business and industry, with more than 2000 active companies of all sizes making their unique mark.

“Tamarac is home to businesses ranging from family-owned restaurants serving multicultural cuisine to major corporations, including New Vision Pharmaceuticals, one of the region’s largest life science firms, the headquarters of Puroclean, specializing in remediation of property damage, and the corporate headquarters of City Furniture,” she added.

Gomez said the city welcomed four new companies into the Tamarac Business Center – a brand new 357,000 square foot industrial development in the city’s commerce park, which created nearly 600 new jobs, 485 of them attributed to Amazon’s new fulfillment center.

“Another major employer investing more than $17 million into the city is HCA Florida Woodmont hospital, formerly known as University Hospital. It provides jobs for over 650 people,” she added.

Gomez said the city’s current housing stock is nearly 17,000 single-family homes and 29,000 multifamily residences and mentioned a few developments currently under construction, including The Enclaves, Eden West, Tamarac Circle, Bailey Square apartments, and the next phase of Tamarac Village.

“These projects set the bar for the city’s development endeavors. We look forward to celebrating their completion and welcoming more people to call Tamarac home,” she added.

The mayor mentioned essential infrastructure projects, including the expansion of the fiber-optic network, a new Water Treatment Plant, a $20 million project slated to begin in 2022; and the installation of four new emergency generators to provide backup power to sanitary lift stations ensuring that the city’s wastewater collection system continues to operate during outages.

Gomez said the city had an “unusual but productive year.”

“We will continue to make strides in the right direction. With our dedicated and skilled professional staff, our city is in good hands. The city commission will continue to listen to your concerns, advocate for your needs and work hard to ensure superb quality of life,” she concluded.

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Agrippina Fadel

Agrippina Fadel grew up in Siberia and received her master's in journalism from Tyumen State University. Agrippina is also a writer and editor at Draftsy.net. She has been a US resident for over ten years and speaks English and Russian.