West Palm Beach presents balanced $282.8 million FY2026 general fund budget; millage unchanged

Brigitte Souffrant, chief financial officer for the City of West Palm Beach, presented a proposed, balanced fiscal year 2026 general fund budget of $282,847,804 at a community budget meeting. She said the draft budget keeps the city’s operating millage rate at 8.1308 and reduces the debt-service millage by 0.0053 to 0.058.

Souffrant said the proposed budget prioritizes public safety while maintaining library, parks and recreation, sanitation, housing, engineering, economic development, small and minority business support, code enforcement and development services. “The fiscal year 2026 proposed general fund budget is balanced at $282,847,804,” she said.

The nut graf: The proposal preserves core services and funds new public-safety hires and vehicle replacements, but remains a draft until final state revenue figures and the city’s September public hearings. The City Commission will consider tentative adoption at hearings set for Sept. 8 (tentative) and Sept. 24 (final adoption), with the budget effective Oct. 1 if adopted.

Key details and drivers

- Property values and revenue: The County Property Appraiser’s Office reported final assessed values of $25,491,873,099 on July 1. Souffrant said that final values were about $103 million higher than the June 1 projection and $2.14 billion (9.4%) higher than fiscal year 2025 values. Using the current millage rate of 8.1308, she said the new values would generate roughly…