The Sunrise City Commission on Wednesday approved a tentative millage rate of 6.0543 mills and adopted the city's fiscal year 2025'26 budget, a $596,100,000 spending plan that staff said preserves services while funding new positions, capital repairs and equipment.

Staff recommended the tentative millage rate and voted debt service levy during a public hearing. "Staff recommends that a tentative millage rate of 6.0543 mills be passed," Susan Neighbors, director of finance and administrative services, told the commission. The commission's motion to adopt the tentative millage was made by Deputy Mayor Kirch and seconded by Commissioner Scudo and passed unanimously.

The budget document presented by City Manager Mark Lubelski and Deputy City Manager Emily Smith preserves the commission's property tax rate for the 17th consecutive year at 6.0543 mills, a rate the city said is 7.23% above the rollback rate of 5.6463 mills because of personnel and operating cost increases. The city also adopted a voted debt service levy of 0.3019 mills to pay general obligation bonds for FY 2025'26.

The budget keeps the general fund structurally balanced, with the presentation stating the General Fund is about $186,800,000 and personnel costs account for roughly 72% of expenditures. Smith and Assistant City Manager Sean Deneen highlighted department-level requests and capital needs that the budget covers, including public safety equipment, park repairs and software upgrades.

Major items cited in the budget presentation:
- Fire assessment fee: an increase of $30 annually per residential household ($2.50 per month) to help fund additional fire-rescue positions and a new fire engine; staff noted the new assessment would remain below the county average.
- Public safety staffing and equipment: three new firefighter/paramedic positions requested to improve minimum staffing; funding for replacement radios, emergency lighting packages, a replacement canine, and a ballistic sprinter van for the SWAT unit. The fire rescue department also requested a community-facing refurbished fire engine for public education and outreach.
- Technology and permitting: funding to replace plan-review software and to launch an expedited engineering plan-review program using outside consultants; contract-management and public-records-request software purchases are included to streamline workflow across departments.
- Parks and facilities: funding to evaluate and add shade at parks, renovate Civic Center restrooms, structural repairs and assessment for the Okahmic Boardwalk (currently closed for assessment), Village Beach Club pool pump room repairs, and modest allocations for recreation equipment and facility maintenance.
- Transit and streetscape: a bus-shelter maintenance program, continuation of the Freebee Sunrise on-demand service in the Business and Entertainment District, and streetscape improvements in partnership with the city of Tamarac for Commercial Boulevard medians.
- Capital projects and utilities: funding to advance the Oscar Wind Park expansion, replacement and rehabilitation work at the Sawgrass and Springtree water and wastewater treatment plants, a second hydro-excavation truck for utilities, and various pump and equipment replacements.
- Self-insured Health Fund: an actuary-recommended 13% premium increase effective Jan. 1, 2026; staff proposed using surplus fund balance to cover half of the increase (6.5%) on behalf of employees, producing an estimated employee cost of about $11 per pay period under the 6.5% share.

Commission discussion emphasized several areas for follow-up: more detailed cost estimates for digitizing historical records in the city clerk's office, a report-back on bus-shelter locations and timelines, monitoring of overtime and vacancy impacts in public safety, and progress reporting on the alternative work schedule pilot for city employees. Commissioners also pressed staff to return with metrics for the expedited plan-review program to ensure it would not reduce service for other applicants.

A roll-call vote adopted the tentative millage and the budget ordinance. The motions to approve both items were made by Deputy Mayor Kirch and seconded by Commissioner Scudo. Roll call votes recorded "Yes" from Mayor Ryan, Deputy Mayor Kirch, Assistant Deputy Mayor Guzman, Commissioner Clark and Commissioner Scudo; both measures passed.

The commission recessed the special meeting after the votes. Staff will finalize budget documentation for the next steps required under Florida law and begin carrying out the projects and hiring approved in the FY 2025'26 plan.