The coastal city of St. Augustine Beach has an estimated population of ab out 6,800 as of the 2020 census. | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Published on April 8, 2026 at 12:57 pm
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In addition to selecting who will represent them in Washington, D.C., Tallahassee and on the local dais in November, voters in St. Augustine Beach will determine whether their local elected representatives have term limits.
If the term limits are approved, it would make the city an outlier in St. Johns County.
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The St. Augustine Beach City Commission unanimously agreed this week to add an amendment to the city’s charter on the ballot for this year’s general election.
If approved by voters, members of the City Commission will be limited to three consecutive four-year terms. City Commissioners will be eligible to run again for office after not serving for at least two years.
Located just south of the city of St. Augustine, St. Augustine Beach has an estimated population of around 6,800 people as of the 2020 census. To become part of city policy, the ballot measure on term limits must be approved by more than 50% of voters — exactly 50% plus one voter, to be exact.
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If the measure is approved, St. Augustine Beach will be the only municipal government in St. Johns County to have term limits. The St. Augustine’s City Commission does not have term limits, nor does the St. Johns Board of County Commissioners.
The change to city policy would not be retroactive, Mayor Beth Sweeny explains.
“I’ve been on the commission for four years, so those four years will not count toward the term limits if it were to pass,” she says. “It becomes effective after the election.”
The City Commission took up the measure as a recommendation from the 2023 citizen-led review of the city charter, the document that functions as a rulebook for the city. St. Augustine Beach’s charter mandates a review of the document every 10 years.
Before the measure can be added to the November ballot, the language approved by City Commissioners must first get the green light from the county’s supervisor of elections.
