Scott Tate topples Adrian Petrila after vicious intraparty challenge

St. Pete Beach Mayor Adrian Petrila has been denied a second term, falling in Tuesday’s municipal election to challenger Scott Tate after a bitter campaign that featured sharp barbs on both sides.

With mail ballot tallies in and Election Day ballots partially counted, Tate edged out Petrila with 66% of the vote. With Tuesday’s victory, Tate will take office March 24.

The race pitted an incumbent challenged by recent hurricanes and the usual beach development battles against a political newcomer who tapped into resident frustration over a difficult hurricane recovery following Hurricane Helene in 2024.

While the race is nonpartisan, and candidates’ political affiliations didn’t appear on the ballot, both are registered Republicans.

Tate is a project management professional offering organizations insight into complex challenges and helping deliver projects on time and on budget. He earned an undergraduate degree in engineering and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of South Florida.

Raised in a U.S. Air Force household, Tate also emphasized his respect for country and sense of community service.

Tate had already been involved in the St. Pete Beach community, serving on the St. Pete Beach Police Pension Board and the Belle Vista Civic Association Board. He also plays in a local band.

The race turned combative after Tate’s entry in November. Speaking during a League of Women Voters candidate forum last month, Petrila came right out of the gate swinging, accusing Tate of having an arrest record, “harassing animals” and facing two foreclosures.

Tate, rather than responding to Petrila’s accusations, answered the question that had been posed, choosing to focus on policy rather than personal attacks. Later, Tate told The Gabber newspaper that the accusations were all false.

A Gabber review of arrest and court records shows there was an injunction briefly sought in 2009 against Tate over a domestic violence claim, but the case was dismissed for lack of evidence, there was no conviction and the case was closed the same day it was filed. The Gabber also found two mortgage foreclosure cases filed against Tate in 2010 and 2013, but both were later dismissed before a hearing. There were no criminal convictions uncovered and the Gabber didn’t find any evidence of an animal cruelty case or bankruptcy.

A resident video also surfaced about Petrila, raising questions about preferential treatment following Hurricane Helene. Video showed Petrila already on the island having work completed on his home just one day after the hurricane, when residents still had not yet been granted access to their homes. Petrila said after the video was released that crews were at his home addressing a gas leak and that he was allowed onto the island by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

Tate’s campaign never officially went negative against Petrila, but an outside group did. A website backed by the group Restore St. Pete Beach includes a roundup of news clippings, a trove of opposition research, and an advertisement released last week slamming the incumbent for having “Perks for Petrila” to the detriment of beach residents, pointing to the resident video.

The anti-Petrila site also includes video of an advertisement it claims Petrila made in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in which Petrila can be seen offering discounted real estate services to homeowners wishing to offload their flood-damaged properties.

It also includes links to several news stories outlining criticism of the Mayor’s administration, particularly regarding slow permitting following the 2024 hurricanes, which also included Hurricane Milton just two weeks after Helene.

The site did not specifically support Tate, the only other candidate in the race, but it clearly opposed Petrila.

Despite the barbs, Petrila ran on his record and platform, including receiving significant concessions from developer Kolter Urban over the Corey Landings project. The City Commission voted unanimously in October to approve the mixed-use project on long-vacant land, including 133 condo units, 11,000 square feet of commercial space and a park.

The original plan, according to Petrila, included 256 units, so the overall scope was slashed by nearly half. And the developer agreed to invest $5.6 million for community amenities, such as a boat dock.

Throughout the campaign, Petrila consistently vowed to fight against overdevelopment, a long-standing point of contention in the community. In addition to the Corey Landings project being scaled down under his watch, Petrila has also voted against expansion plans at the Tradewinds and Sirata resorts.

He also pointed to lowering taxes, with the City Commission approving a 0.8889% millage rate reduction.

Petrila also countered critiques about his administration’s hurricane response, arguing the city processed an unprecedented volume of permit applications, leading to the city hiring 30 additional employees to cut through the backlog.

Ultimately, the city processed and cleared nearly 9,000 permits since the hurricanes, and waived some $4 million in permitting fees property owners would have otherwise had to pay. The number of permits processed, Petrila said, was about 10 times higher than what the city typically processes in an entire year.

Another issue that could have tipped the scales also involves tax — or rather lack thereof.

Petrila’s administration, after Hurricane Helene, identified $200 million in infrastructure needs, money he proposed collecting not through resident taxes, but from tourists by way of a new toll.

His suggestion would impose a toll at the north, central and southern access points of the island. Residents and beach employees would be exempt from the tolls, leaving only visitors to the island footing the bill. Still, some have worried new tolls would reduce tourism and other revenue-generating traffic on St. Pete Beach.