Beth Sweeny will serve as St. Augustine Beach's mayor through 2026. | Submitted, Beth Sweeny
Published on December 15, 2025 at 11:57 am
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With the new year just around the corner, the elected officials of St. Augustine Beach have elevated Vice Mayor Beth Sweeny to the position of mayor.
Originally born in Ohio, Sweeny moved to Florida as a teenager. She attended Flagler College, where she now works as a director in the school’s communications department.
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Top priorities for the city’s new mayor include infrastructure and keeping a close eye on the measures at the state level that could change how municipalities collect property taxes.
‘Enormous shoes to fill’ in St. Augustine Beach
Sweeny succeeds Mayor Dylan Rumrell in St. Augustine Beach’s big chair.
Rumrell, who has served on the City Commission since 2019, was a popular figure as the city’s mayor, often appearing at events around St. Johns County.
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During his two years as the city’s top elected official, Rumrell made it a priority to strengthen the relationship between the comparatively small city he led and the governments of St. Johns County and neighboring St. Augustine.
Among Rumrell’s other acts as mayor, he issued St. Augustine Beach’s first formal city proclamation acknowledging Black History Month earlier this year.
When she was selected to serve as the city’s next mayor earlier this month, Sweeny acknowledged that she has “enormous shoes to fill.”
“I told him earlier that I just see him as he is Mr. St. Augustine Beach,” Sweeny said, “and I just think it’s a challenge I look forward to, but it’s going to be impossible to do everything you’ve done and bring the positive attention to our community that you have.”
Speaking later with Jacksonville Today, Sweeny said her priorities as mayor will be to continue fostering the relationships Rumrell strengthened, as well as working to improve the city’s infrastructure all while keeping costs down for residents.
That could be difficult, Sweeny acknowledged, as the State of Florida is teeing up various measures that could change the collection of property taxes — a key funding source for municipal governments.
“Of course, that would hit during my time as mayor, so I’m really trying to pay attention,” she said.
Sweeny acknowledged that many homeowners could use a break on their property tax bills, but she hopes state legislators bring relief to homeowners without cutting off a key funding source for cities and counties.
“I think there’s ways you can do that without decimating local government,” she said. “I think local government serves a really important purpose.”
Other priorities for her are to improve the city’s pedestrian infrastructure and implement e-bike regulations.
“Part of what I love about St. Augustine beach is how family-friendly, walk-friendly, bike-friendly I think our community is,” Sweeny said. “And so continuing to make sure that we have the proper infrastructure to support that lifestyle is really important to me.”
On the topic of e-bikes, Sweeny isn’t the only elected official to want to tackle existing rules — St. Johns County Sheriff Rob Hardwick has already been working with legislators to change the state’s rules around e-bikes.
Sweeny said she is motivated by a recent crash involving an e-bike and a pedestrian.
“We want to make sure that there’s the right balance between safety for the riders, safety for the pedestrians,” she said.
Sweeny’s one-year term as the city’s mayor will run until the end of 2026, when she may be appointed to serve for another term. She will serve alongside the newly appointed vice mayor, City Commissioner Virginia Morgan.
