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District 4 County Commissioner Robert Weinroth is currently serving as mayor, a position that is voted on by the full Board of County Commissioners each year.
The Democrat is an attorney by trade, who served on the Boca Raton City Council before being elected to the Commission in 2018.
Several months ago, as gas prices were creeping up, Weinroth was asked by a reporter if he'd be willing to look into suspending the county's 12 cent gas tax, the highest allowed by state law. Back then he said no and today he's sticking to that.
"The problem with reducing the price of gas is people drive more. Every time you interfere with the natural order of things, of supply and demand, you wind up that you have unintended consequences."
He points out that the county is bringing down the millage rate slightly. But Weinroth's Republican challenger, Marci Woodward, says that's not nearly enough.
"Technically they did lower the millage rate, but the 2023 fiscal budget is a 13 percent tax increase. In spite of the millage drop, they're still getting 13 percent."
Woodward's campaign has a big focus on the COVID closures, and that's something that Weinroth has noticed.
Weinroth says they were in brand new territory when the pandemic struck and they listened to the federal government.
"My opponent has made a big issue out of the fact that she and her husband were inconvenienced, shall we say, by the fact that their business was impacted."
Ultimately though, Weinroth says the Commission did its best.
"If you step back and look at where we were and the information we had, I think we did a credible job."
Woodward begs to differ.
"I feel the commissioners just didn't want to actually step up and make a decision so they kept doing the State of Emergency, which meant (County Administrator) Verdenia Baker had to make the decisions. And that was a way for them to kind of kick the can down the road to someone else and not take responsibility."
She says the county commission's response to COVID-19 was what sparked her to run for office.