Stephanie Murphy.
By Reggie Connell, Managing Editor
In Summary:
Former U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy said Orange County should adopt proven solutions from other fast-growing communities to address housing, transportation and economic development challenges. She discussed proposals including overhauling the county's permitting process, creating the Orange County Promise scholarship program, pursuing additional transportation funding and improving collaboration with cities such as Apopka. Murphy also explained her opposition to Florida's proposed property tax amendment, saying it could unintentionally worsen housing affordability while creating financial challenges for local governments.
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Growth doesn't wait for election cycles.
Every day, Orange County adds new residents, more cars crowd its roads, housing becomes more expensive, and local governments face increasing pressure to keep up. Stephanie Murphy believes those realities have placed the county at a crossroads, where the decisions made over the next few years will shape its success or struggle.
Related: Moore, Buchheit named to Orange County Tourism Tax Task Force.
"I'm running for mayor because I am raising my family here. I love Orange County, and I believe it's at an inflection point," Murphy said during a recent interview with The Apopka Voice. "I think we're growing fast, and we can either be a community where families can afford to stay and businesses grow, or we can allow affordability challenges and congestion to erode our quality of life and drive hardworking families out of the county."
The former congresswoman left Washington in January 2023 after six years representing Central Florida. Since then, she has served on corporate advisory boards, worked as a BBC political contributor and spoken to business and investment groups about global economic and political issues. But she says spending more time at home changed the way she viewed Orange County.
"I've had the opportunities and challenges of worrying about traffic and housing costs and whether infrastructure is keeping pace with growth," Murphy said. "I'm living it every day just like other residents in Orange County."
Now she's hoping to bring that perspective, along with experience in business, national security and Congress, to the Orange County mayor's office.
Looking for proven solutions
Murphy doesn't separate Orange County's biggest challenges into isolated issues. Instead, she sees affordability, transportation and economic opportunity as pieces of the same puzzle.
"Our campaign is centered around the three big issues that I think are facing Orange County, and that's affordability, livability and opportunity," she said. "On affordability... the thing county government can have the greatest impact on is making sure that there's housing that's attainable for hardworking families. On livability, that means less congestion... And then finally, on opportunity, that's about bolstering our economy and diversifying it, as well as making significant investments into the workforce."
Rather than creating entirely new programs, Murphy says Orange County should borrow ideas that are already producing results elsewhere.
"On all of these issues, I don't believe that we have to reinvent the wheel," she said. "I deeply believe in going out and finding the best practices of things that have worked in other communities, and then applying them here."
One example, she said, is Charlotte, North Carolina, where a housing delivery team guides projects from application through certificate of occupancy while creating transparency and accountability throughout the permitting process.
"I deeply believe in going out and finding the best practices of things that have worked in other communities, and then applying them here," she said. "On housing, Charlotte, which has really grown up in the last 20 years, has created a housing delivery team, and they basically treat housing like it's an economic development project. They have cross-functional teams that handle everything from submission of the application all the way through the certificate of occupancy. And then they create some transparency and accountability to that process."
Murphy says Orange County's permitting system has become one of the county's biggest obstacles to affordability and economic growth.
She recalled meeting a family that has spent nearly two years waiting to complete a home project.
"I talked to this one woman who had moved to Central Florida, had a vision for the way her family would live. She's been in the permitting process for almost two years. She has a son who is in high school who's probably going to graduate before they finish the project."
She also described speaking with the owner of a Colombian bakery who, she said, had to mortgage her home while waiting nearly two years to receive a certificate of occupancy.
"A county government's delay has the impact of stealing life moments from families and economic opportunities from small businesses," Murphy said. "County governments should be partners, not hurdles."
Staying ahead of growth
Transportation is another area where Murphy says Orange County has fallen behind its own growth.
"For as long as I've lived in this community, we have talked about the importance of transportation investments, and yet we haven't made enough progress toward that goal because what we need to do is make sure that transportation is in place, or transportation is ahead of growth."
Murphy points to her time in Congress, where she helped secure federal funding for Interstate 4 improvements, adaptive traffic signals and complete street projects. But she says obtaining money is only part of the equation.
"When we collect an impact fee... and the county sits on that impact fee or doesn't apply it to address the issues around that particular development, then what people feel is the negative impact."
She also wants Orange County to pursue a larger share of transportation dollars from Tallahassee and Washington, saying one of Florida's fastest-growing counties should be more aggressive in competing for state and federal funding.
Building opportunity
Murphy says economic development isn't simply about attracting the next large employer. Instead, she wants Orange County to intentionally build industries that naturally attract additional companies and workers.
"The most successful communities in diversifying their economy... look at this from the strategic perspective of building industry clusters," she said.
She believes Orange County already has the foundation to expand sectors such as defense, aerospace, modeling and simulation, life sciences, medical technology and advanced manufacturing.
A changing face of homelessness
Murphy said one statistic changed the way she thinks about homelessness.
"This may surprise you, but a third of homeless people are seniors, and a third are under the age of 18."
Meeting with organizations including Matthew's Hope and the Homeless Services Network convinced her that homelessness requires different solutions for different populations. She pointed to seniors who unexpectedly lose spouses and fall behind financially while waiting for survivor benefits as one pathway into homelessness.
Murphy says Orange County should expand transitional housing and wraparound services while also investing in programs that prevent vulnerable residents from becoming homeless in the first place.
She also questions whether county government is adequately measuring results.
"I think this issue is complicated," she said, "and it could use the integration of best practices that have worked in other communities, alongside accountability within this community to make sure that those dollars are actually resulting in moving people out of homelessness into more stable homes."
A 'no' vote on property tax amendment
Murphy plans to vote against Florida's proposed property tax amendment. While she understands homeowners are looking for tax relief, she believes the proposal would create unintended consequences by discouraging construction of entry-level housing and limiting local governments' ability to invest in infrastructure.
"I'm going to be voting no. Because I think that while I understand that there are people who are struggling and want to have some tax alleviation, I think that the unintended consequences of the proposal will make many of the challenges that I'm hoping to address worse."
She estimates Orange County's financial impact would amount to roughly 2% of its budget and says efficiencies could offset much of that reduction, but it could wreak havoc with affordable housing developments.
"The proposal as is would remove any incentive for any municipality in Florida to ever permit housing that costs less than $250,000, because bringing that housing online would be simply cost and not any revenue to cover the impact of that... We are depriving families of the ability to achieve the American dream of homeownership, because that's usually in the sweet spot of first-time homebuyers."
The first 100 days
Murphy says she has already identified what she wants to accomplish if elected.
One of the signature initiatives she hopes to launch during her first 100 days in office is the Orange County Promise, a scholarship program modeled after Osceola County's successful "Osceola Prospers" initiative. The program would guarantee Orange County high school graduates access to a trade certification, technical training or an associate degree through a combination of public funding and partnerships with private employers. Murphy estimated the program would cost about $27 million annually but said businesses that depend on a skilled workforce should help share the expense.
"I actually believe that we can't afford not to do it," Murphy said. "It's a promise to our next generation that they will be able to have a job and afford to live in our community." She said the initiative would not only create new opportunities for young adults but also help employers fill high-demand positions while strengthening the county's long-term economy.
She also wants to overhaul the county's permitting process and establish a clear list of transportation projects that can quickly reduce congestion. She said engineering firms have already identified numerous smaller roadway improvements capable of making noticeable differences in traffic flow.
"We're not a small town anymore," Murphy said. "We're an $8 billion county. We have almost 9,000 employees... We need the kind of leadership that can actually move these types of entities forward."
Murphy describes herself as "a little bit of an impatient person" when it comes to government, saying public service should be measured by results rather than rhetoric. That sense of urgency surfaced repeatedly throughout the interview, whether discussing housing, transportation or economic development.
Orange County's growth, she says, isn't slowing down. The question facing voters is whether county government can finally begin moving at the same pace.
For more details on Stephanie Murphy's campaign, visit her website.
Key Points:
- Murphy centered her campaign on three priorities: affordability, livability and opportunity.
- She proposed streamlining Orange County's permitting process using successful models from other fast-growing communities.
- Murphy wants to launch the Orange County Promise, a scholarship initiative providing graduates with pathways to trade certifications, technical training or associate degrees.
- She opposes Florida's proposed property tax amendment, citing concerns about housing, infrastructure funding and its impact on municipalities.
- Murphy said Orange County should work more closely with cities such as Apopka to address transportation, infrastructure and economic development as regional issues.
