Naples council adopts $241 million 2025-26 budget, keeps city millage at 1.23; two special taxing districts approved

The City Council of Naples on Monday adopted its fiscal year 2025-26 final budget and fixed millage rates, approving six related resolutions that set the city general fund rate at 1.23 mills, the East Naples Bay Special Taxing District at 0.50 mills and the Moorings Bay Special Taxing District at 0.0125 mills.

Finance Director Stefan Massall presented the proposed budget and the required TRIM (Truth in Millage) disclosures, and described the principal reasons for the revenue increase over the rollback rate. "The main purpose for the increase proposed is the effectuation of negotiated salary increases and corresponding benefits for the contracts for fiscal year 2026," Massall said during his presentation. He also outlined higher personnel costs, increased pension contributions and one-time seawall-related costs as drivers of the budget.

The final city budget adopted Monday totals about $241,000,000, up from $208,800,000 in fiscal 2024-25. Council members said the additional revenue—about $2,364,656 compared with the general-fund rollback rate—will primarily cover negotiated salary increases, added positions and steps to address pension liabilities. Massall said that personnel costs make up roughly 36% of the proposed budget, operating costs about 31% and capital about 33%.

Why it matters: The council-approved millage and budget establish the city’s spending plan and property tax levy for the year beginning Oct. 1, 2025. The changes fund negotiated pay increases, modest staff increases in public safety, and continued investments in capital projects such as street repaving and Community Redevelopment Agency initiatives.

Key details from the presentation

- Millage rates set: City general fund 1.23 mills; East Naples Bay 0.50 mills; Moorings Bay 0.0125 mills. Massall said those rates are unchanged from the first hearing.

- Aggregate rollback calculation and comparison: the aggregate rollback rate shown in the presentation was 1.1832 mills; the aggregate millage (city + two districts) was 1.2473 mills, about 5.42% above the aggregate rollback rate. The rollback rate for the general fund alone was shown as 1.1658 mills.

- Fiscal totals and changes: Proposed city budget ~$241 million (an increase of about $32.2 million from 2024-25). Net revenue gain to the general fund from adopting 1.23 instead of the rollback rate was shown as $2,364,656.

- Specific line items and adjustments called out by Massall included: roughly $9.6 million (12.6%) increase in personnel costs over the prior adopted budget; a planned pension contribution effort (budgeted contribution rates of 40% for police, 40% for fire and 15% for general pension plans, compared with actuarial rates cited in the presentation); a seawall-related settlement payment of $4.5 million in the budget year and a projected additional $3.2 million in 2026-27; Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) changes adding about $925,000 and other capital timing adjustments (for example, moving Fire Station 2 design funding between years).

- Special taxing districts: Massall presented separate proposed budgets for the East Naples Bay Special Taxing District ($406,200) and the Moorings Bay Special Taxing District ($116,285) along with their millage rates.

Council action and votes

Council voted unanimously to approve all six resolutions presented at the hearing. The items and outcomes were:

Votes at a glance

- Resolution determining and fixing the 2025 tax levy and final millage rate for the City of Naples (general fund millage 1.23 mills). Motion by Councilmember Christman; second by Councilmember Barton. Result: approved, unanimous.

- Resolution adopting the final budget for the City of Naples (fiscal year 10/01/2025–09/30/2026). Motion by Councilmember Christman; second by Councilmember Barton. Result: approved, unanimous.

- Resolution determining and fixing the 2025 tax levy and final millage rate for the East Naples Bay Special Taxing District (0.50 mills). Motion by Councilmember Barton; second by Councilmember Peneman. Result: approved, unanimous.

- Resolution adopting the final budget for the East Naples Bay Special Taxing District (fiscal year 10/01/2025–09/30/2026). Motion by Councilmember Kramer; second by Councilmember Petronoff. Result: approved, unanimous.

- Resolution determining and fixing the 2025 tax levy and final millage rate for the Moorings Bay Special Taxing District (0.0125 mills). Motion by Councilmember Kramer; second by Councilmember Petronoff. Result: approved, unanimous.

- Resolution adopting the final budget for the Moorings Bay Special Taxing District (fiscal year 10/01/2025–09/30/2026). Motion by Councilmember Peneman; second by Councilmember Barton. Result: approved, unanimous.

Procedure and public input

Massall walked the council through TRIM-notice compliance and the timeline for public hearings and advertisement; he said the required notice and a budget summary were published in the Naples Daily News. Council solicited public comment; none was offered during the hearing. After the votes, the mayor thanked staff for preparing what he called a "fiscally responsible" budget and staff members acknowledged the work of finance and department leadership.

What the vote does and next steps

Adoption of the millage rates and final budgets commits the city and the two special taxing districts to the spending plan and tax levies for fiscal 2025-26. Finance staff will finalize and transmit TRIM documentation and the adopted budget materials as required under Florida law. The budget includes ongoing monitoring of pension actuarial assumptions and continued capital work such as street repaving and CRA initiatives.

Sources and limitations

All details are drawn from the City Council special budget public hearing presentation and roll-call votes on Sept. 22, 2025. Public comment was solicited and none was recorded. Where the transcript provided a numeric figure (for example, budget totals, millage rates, and specific fund amounts), this article reports those numbers as stated by the city presenter. If an amount was described in the meeting as provisional or subject to County/School district finalization, the article notes that context (for example, other taxing authorities’ final rates were not yet finalized in the county process at the time of the presentation).