The election for Wilton Manors’ mayor is still more than 14 months away, but the race is already on. City Commissioner Paul Rolli has officially filed his candidacy for the November 2026 vote.

He sat down for a one-on-one interview with The Gazette. No topic was off limits and Rolli, who has also served two years as vice mayor, discussed everything from the library to city leadership to why he is declaring his candidacy so early (which requires more financial reporting and oversight). Some comments have been edited for space and clarity.

“I’ve been talking to residents one-on-one. I decided it was easier to come out early. I can plan for my campaign and it tells other people who’s already in the race.”

Rolli is running to replace incumbent mayor, Scott Newton, who is not running for reelection. He says his three main priorities are infrastructure, growth, and public safety. He sees the use of AI as an underused tool that can deliver some city services while reducing manpower.

“I’ve been here 20 years and a lot’s changed in 20 years. What’s going to happen in the next 20?”

Development

In terms of development, the city is five years into a major update of its code and zoning. While many major projects have been approved, there are no shovels in the ground. Rolli says it may be time to update again.

“I think we do. We need to get input from experts,” he said, referring to developers and other growth and real estate experts. A round table discussion is planned for September.

“[People] blame the commission because there are no shovels in the ground. Once a project is approved we have no control over the developer. There are a lot of issues with tariffs and cost of materials.”

He’s also open to revisiting height restrictions. At 10 stories, Wilton Tower is the tallest structure in the city and Drake Tower, just across the river, is of similar height and no one calls them a blight.

“I live right by Wilton Tower and it doesn’t seem to bother anybody.”

He points out they are not in the middle of neighborhoods and that location will play a part in any tall structures.

Public Safety

Costs are continuing to rise and, for a comparison, BSO is looking to increase pay by 25% over two years in some of the municipalities it serves. In addition, Wilton’s fire/rescue is contracted out to Fort Lauderdale, and  pension plan payments are going up. All three services are over-indexing inflation.

The past two summers, the city has negotiated better compensation packages for police, and a new contract will be negotiated under the next mayor.

“It’s about quality of services,” Rolli said. “Everybody wants to keep the police. Well, you have to pay for them. Part of it is modernizing the budget model. We need to look at what we are delivering. We need to look at different kinds of solutions.”

One idea is to bring parking enforcement back in-house. The current contract is up in March and there are serious accounting issues with the company. Now that all payments are virtual and there is no need for coin collection, Rolli wants to explore the possibility.

“From an economic standpoint [having an outside contractor] doesn’t make sense.”

The Library

“The library is a sensitive topic. It’s an expensive operation.”

The city is looking to off-load the library to the county library system, and a report on the possibility is expected in October. Based on comments made during city commission meetings, it appears the vote today would be 3-2 in favor of dumping the facility. Rolli, at the moment, seems to be one of those votes in favor.

“Wilton Manors residents are double taxed” for library services, noting they also pay to upkeep the county library system. He also cites that many people from outside the city use the library. The library’s budget makes up about 0.6% of the city’s overall spending. The proposed budget already cuts library funding by about 15%, although that could change.

“The cutting of the library [budget], I think, is part of the overall cuts to the budget. Everybody needs to take a cut in the budget. We’re trying to be more efficient and manage resources better.”

“The library does a lot of children’s services programs. I’m not against those, but we don’t have a lot of children in Wilton Manors.”

He says volunteers and modernization can pick up a lot of the services that are provided by the library.