PSL sets millage for $971.6 million budget | St. Lucie County

PORT ST. LUCIE – The City Council here voted unanimously Sept. 14 on first reading to approve both a 4.8750 mil ad valorem tax rate and $971.6 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

Budget & Management Office Director Caroline Sturgis prefaced her budget presentation with a video aimed at teaching homeowners about the basics of property tax assessment, as well as visually depicting many of the capital improvement projects included in the budget.

The narrator of that video stated that the city’s portion of the total St. Lucie County tax bill recently received by property owners was only 21 percent.

“The objectives of this proposed budget are to keep everyday city services running reliably,” she began. The Council will be asked tonight to adopt the updated property tax millage at 4.8750 mils, a tenth-of-a-mil reduction from the current year; adopt the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Budget Ordinance, totaling $975,576,281; and adopt the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Capital Improvement Program. Collectively, these actions will guide our financial strategy for the upcoming year.”

Sturgis then provided more budgetary details.

“The operating plan is at $741.8 million and supports services such as police protection, park maintenance, trash collection and road upkeep,” she explained. “The capital plan at $229.8 million funds large, long-range investments such as new roads, stormwater systems and water facilities. The General Fund at $232.5 million is a 9 percent change from the current year. Most of this increase is a $10 million transfer coming out of the Governmental Finance Corporation, a repayment to the General Fund. There is $8 million in new revenue due to population growth and property valuation being set aside into reserves, which will help us offset potential revenue loss related to Amendment 3.”

Every year Sturgis uses her budget presentation to teach residents about the municipal funding process. She did so this year by asking a handful of rhetorical questions, such as how are city funds organized, where does the city get its money and what does a millage change mean for a median home. She then provided the answers to those questions, first pointing out that stormwater fees could not be used for trash collection, and water & sewer fees could not be used to pay for road repairs. The fees collected had to remain in their respective funds.

“Property taxes make up about 13 percent of the city’s total budget,” she continued. “Most of the city’s funding sources come from other sources, including gas and sales taxes; user fees for the utility system; licenses and permits; state and federal grants; and bonds. There are two components used to determine the amount of taxes a property owner pays: millage rate and assessed value. The city determines the millage rate, but the county property appraiser determines the value of your home. For a property assessed at $243,009 with a Homestead Exemption of $51,411, the taxable amount is $191,598. With the millage reduction, the city taxes would go from $953 to $934 for the upcoming year.”

Because city residents in the past have bemoaned the fact that two similar homes could have drastically different tax bills, the B&M Office director particularly focused on what happens when a home is sold in Florida.

Many years ago, the State Legislature passed the Save Our Homes Act, which limits annual property tax increases to 3 percent – or that of the Consumer Price Index – as long as a home is homesteaded. Once it’s sold, however, taxes change drastically.

“For new homeowners, your tax bill is based on new values calculated by the property appraiser’s office,” she explained. “This chart shows how losing the Homestead protection and resetting assessed values can increase city taxes even with a lower property tax rate. The city portion rises from $588.46 to $1,562.93. Looking at all taxes, including the county and the School Board, that will rise from $2,800 to over $7,000. That difference reflects the new value and the lack of the Homestead Exemption [and] not an increase in the tax rate.”

That information particularly pleased Mayor Shannon Martin.

“I appreciate you pointing that all,” she said. “I think all of us every year have conversations with new homeowners. They don’t understand that the prior exemptions get wiped away and a new value is assessed.”

After Sturgis provided a few more details and formally read the resolution into the record, Councilman Anthony Bonna described the difference between going to the rollback rate – which some Florida communities are doing in advance of Amendment 3 – and the incremental approach the city has used for the past decade. He believes that Port St. Lucie’s way is better.

“I believe that year-over-year decreases result in an overall lower tax bill,” he said. “I compared the 2025 tax bill to the 2019 tax bill. I paid $8.50 more to the City of Port St. Lucie in 2025 than I paid in 2019. That’s less than a $1.50 increase a year to the city. Those other taxing authorities are up hundreds of dollars.”

Vice-Mayor Jolien Caraballo agreed.

“I noticed my city taxes had increased $12 from 10 years ago,” she said. “My other taxing authorities were approximately 20 percent of an increase from 10 years ago.”

The City Council then voted unanimously to approve both the millage resolution and the budget ordinance. The city will hold its second and final budget hearing on Sept. 28.

While the Port St. Lucie City Council has reduced the millage every year for the past decade, the city’s developmental mistakes in the past with Tradition-area companies were what led to enormous debt and a full mil property tax increase during the 2015/2016 Fiscal Year in order to pay that off. The last time the city actually had the same millage rate approved this year was during the 2009/2010 Fiscal Year.