County finalizes 2027 millage and budget | St. Lucie County

FORT PIERCE – The St. Lucie County Commission voted unanimously Sept. 17 to approve a $974,363,806 budget for the 2026/2027 Fiscal Year beginning Oct. 1, along with a 7.8341 aggregate millage rate that included funding the General Fund Budget at the rollback rate.

Budget Manager Jennifer Garrity began her millage presentation by defining commonly used fiscal budget terms such as millage rate, aggregate millage and the rollback rate.

While the millage rate is the amount per $1,000 of property value that is used to calculate property taxes, the aggregate millage rate combines the county’s General Fund rate with that of all other taxing authorities.

The rollback millage rate is the rate generating the same ad valorem tax revenue as the previous year excluding changes from new construction and annexations.

“At the last budget hearing, the Board adopted tentative millage rates,” she said. “The tentative millage rate for the FY 26-27 Budget was approved at 7.8341, which is a 2.04 decease from the current FY 2025/2026 aggregate millage rate. It’s a 1.37 percent increase from the FY 2025/2026 aggregate rollback rate of 7.7279.”

Garrity proceeded to show a slide depicting the millage rates for St. Lucie County’s other taxing authorities included on the Truth in Millage notices mailed to property owners.

Those included the General Fund Budget at 4.0441 mils, which is the rollback rate; Fine & Forfeiture, 2.72.94 mils; Erosion Control, 0.1000 mils; Mosquito Control, 0.1352 mils; Unincorporated Municipal Service Taxing Unit, 0.5000 mils; Stormwater MSTU, 0.4731 mils; Law Enforcement MSTU, 0.8403 mils; Transit MSTU, 0.2500 mils; and South Hutchinson Island Beach Erosion Control, 0.5200 mils.

After the commission voted unanimously to approve the millage rates, Management & Budget Office Director Jennifer Hill launched her separate budget presentation after providing a timeline of this year’s process, which culminated two weeks prior with the first formal reading of the 2026/2027 Millage Rate and Budget.

“Tonight we are wrapping up the final phase [and] you’ll be asked to adopt a resolution adopting the final millage rate and budget,” she said. “In the event there are any changes tonight, no change could be made that would increase any of the millage rates above what have already been approved. We started in the end of June with a $969.3 million budget built off June 1 estimates from our property appraiser. Since we got the official estimates, the budget was updated to reflect those changes, as well as changes that occurred during the July workshops. When the TRIM notices went out, the budget we were looking at was $973.4 million.”

The proposed budget Hill now presented had subsequently changed to $971.3 million since the first reading and now sat at $974.3 million.

“The changes for tonight reflect changes in revenue projections,” she explained. “Some of these are specific to action this Board has taken in the last month, such as the special assessments for the Solid Waste Fund. The largest is the $3 million change to our Internal Service Fund that reflects a change to our Group Insurance Fund. As part of the budget process and union negotiation, those projections get revised. The amount charged internally from our health insurance fund to the internal county departments to reflect the premiums that are being charged internally.”

Hill reminded commissioners that her staff had updated them during the first reading on the current allocations of funding from both the General Fund and Fine & Forfeiture Fund. Those changes and calculations since the end of July are now allowing St. Lucie County to go to the rollback rate for the General Fund.

“We were reflecting $15 million in incremental revenue and that includes having our General Fund millage rate at the rollback rate, which is 8.1544 millage rate reduction,” she continued. “Just under $700,000 of that is allocated towards tax collector fees; $85,000 towards the property appraiser; $1.5 million towards the cities’ community redevelopment districts; and $75,000 towards Medicaid, leaving us with $12.7 million available to allocate.”

Hill also heard commissioners say Sept. 3 that they wanted to eliminate the $48,200 donation to the Executive Roundtable, which provided a further reduction in the amount needed from reserves to balance the budget this coming year.

“That leaves us at $1,389,641 coming from reserves,” she concluded. “Even though we are using some reserves to support these expenses, we’re still at the 25 percent target level that this Board had previously set with our reserves. As Jennifer mentioned at the beginning, the tentative aggregate millage rate is 7.8341 mils. If the Board chooses to adopt that rate, it is a 2.04 percent decrease from the current fiscal year’s aggregate millage rate.”

Vice-Chairman Larry Leet was the first to comment afterward.

“I’d like to thank staff for doing a wonderful job and the Board for cutting the millage rate, one of the largest that we have had,” he said. “With the upcoming Amendment 3, I think we’ll probably be seeing some more next year. I’m proud to say we have cut the millage rate.”

Commissioner James Clasby concurred.

“I also wanted to thank staff, all of our department directors, constitutional officers, the sheriff and his command staff for working with us to achieve the fifth-largest reduction in our General Fund millage rates since FY95,” he said. “The budget is slightly larger than the aggregate rollback rate. However, it’s not larger than the Consumer Price Index increase, so we’re actually on track.”

The County Commission then voted unanimously to approve the $974.3 million budget for the next fiscal year.