Bay area communities will have big issues to vote on next Tuesday.
Voters in Lakeland and St. Petersburg will head to the polls to decide on a choice for mayor while Clearwater residents will vote on the future of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
Clearwater residents will vote on whether to allow the city to lease land along the city's downtown waterfront to the aquarium. If the deal is approved, a new $160-million aquarium would be built.
In Lakeland, the mayoral race is between Gow Fields and challenger Howard Wiggs.
And in St. Petersburg, incumbent Bill Foster is being challenged by Rick Kriseman in what has become a close race.
As the St. Petersburg's mayoral election has neared, the cost of the campaigns has grown, according to partner newspaper the Tampa Bay Times. Between the Foster and Kriseman camps, about $500,000 has been spent on the election.
That amount is about $150,000 more than what Foster and Kathleen Ford spent collectively during the 2009 election.
And despite being a non-partisan race, both candidates have received funds from the state headquarters of their respective parties in Tallahassee.
The dollar amounts are expected to rise as the candidates try to win over last-minutes voters before next week.