Tampa City Council is weighing which proposed changes to the city charter, if any, to send to voters in March 2027. On Oct. 1, council advanced multiple measures, including a proposal to let an inspector general begin investigations, audits and reviews without waiting for a complaint and operate independently of the mayor and council, according to Tampa Bay Business & Wealth. No changes were placed on the ballot that day; council directed outside charter counsel Ken Tinkler to draft separate ordinances and ballot language for further consideration.
The proposal would create a different oversight arrangement from the city’s existing Internal Audit Department. The City of Tampa says its Internal Audit Director is appointed by and reports directly to the mayor. The inspector general plan remains a proposal; council has not yet decided whether to send it to voters.
The existing department has conducted audits and reported on follow-up. In a July 2025 grants-management audit, it said Tampa’s Revenue and Finance Department had already taken positive actions in response to recommendations, according to the grants audit. A separate recreation-services audit reported that, during fiscal years 2023 and 2024, nine participants were dually enrolled and attended both facilities, according to the recreation audit. These are examples of the current department’s work, not evidence of what a proposed inspector general would find or how the new office would operate.
Jacksonville offers a separate municipal comparison, not a description of Tampa’s plan. The City of Jacksonville says its inspector general serves a four-year term and future inspectors are selected by an Inspector General Committee. Jacksonville’s OIG jurisdiction was extended on Jan. 1, 2016, to include the city’s Constitutional Officers and Independent Agencies; those provisions do not establish what Tampa’s proposed office would cover.
Other charter questions remain in play. Council separately voted 5-2 on Oct. 1 to advance a proposed restriction on mayoral terms. Proposals to increase council’s authority over the budget, mayoral executive orders and council staffing—and measures that could affect the City Attorney’s office—were also under discussion, Florida Politics reported. The commission’s recommendation to lengthen formal charter reviews from every eight years to every 12 was not advanced; its zoning recommendation received no further action after reaching council, according to the outlet’s later account.
Council established the Charter Review Advisory Commission in September 2025 to propose amendments for consideration in the March 2, 2027, municipal election. It has seven members and an alternate appointed by council, and two members and an alternate appointed by the mayor, according to The Tampa Monitor. Its schedule calls for a first reading of finalized changes on Nov. 5 and adoption on Nov. 19. Council will determine which recommendations, if any, proceed to voters.
