With an amended budget submitted for consideration by the St Augustine City Commission tonight, lowering the budget for the City’s 450th Commemoration to $799,320, Mayor Joe Boles, in a display of extreme hubris, made the motion to approve the original, higher budget requested by 450th director, Dana Ste. Claire. The motion was seconded by out-going stand-in commissioner, Don Crichlow, who has just returned from a city-paid junket to Spain with his girlfriend. The measure passed in a split 3-2 decision, with Roxanne Horvath, who also just returned from a city-paid junket to Spain with her husband.

When the city published the agenda for Monday night’s meeting of the St Augustine City Commission, a major item of interest for Historic City News readers will be a closer look and discussion of the budget for what some are calling a bloated “450th Commemoration” department.

Historic City News has learned that Commissioner Roxanne Horvath is taking a break from her “visioning” project for a few days to waste an estimated $2,553.17 more of the City’s money on a two-week junket with her husband, Peter Rumpel, when they traveled to Aviles and Sevilla, Spain, last Tuesday, August 26th; returning home Sunday, September 7th.