Hollywood fiscal kickoff flags budget pressures, downtown CRA transition and $11.7M in newly available tax increment

City staff opened the City of Hollywood’s FY2026 fiscal kickoff on Feb. 24, presenting tax-roll trends, operating assumptions and the planned transition of the downtown and beach Community Redevelopment Areas that will change how millions of dollars are collected and spent.

City Manager George said the meeting was "the unofficial start to the budget development process for next year," and warned that proposals at the state level to change property-tax treatment could be disruptive because "it's our largest revenue source, accounts for almost half of our total revenue." The presentation combined a market overview from CBRE with the budget office’s five-year forecast and a breakdown of contractual services that the city will need to assume as CRAs change status.

Why it matters: property taxes fund most general operations and public safety. Jonathan Antista, director of the budget office, walked commissioners through FY2024 performance measures and FY2025 results to frame FY2026 choices. He said the city's taxable value rose to about $25.5 billion for FY2025, an increase of 9.6% over FY2024, and noted the city is modeling a conservative 3% taxable-value growth assumption for the forecast used in planning.

The presentation included a guest briefing on commercial real estate from Mark Miller, research director of field research and data intelligence at CBRE, who told commissioners Broward County employment remains strong and "unemployment is still below 3%," a factor that has supported property values. Miller described trends in office,…