Doral council adopts $118 million FY2025-26 budget and sets tentative millage at 1.7166 mills after heated rollback debate

DORAL, Fla. — The Doral City Council voted to adopt its fiscal year 2025–26 budget and to set a tentative operating millage rate of 1.7166 mills at a regularly scheduled meeting on Sept. 17, 2025. The council approved the budget ordinance (No. 2025-36) and the millage resolution after extended public comment and an hour-plus of debate about whether to roll back the rate to the county-determined rollback level of 1.5875 mills.

The budget ordinance on first reading passed on a 3–2 roll-call vote (Councilman Pinedo and Councilwoman Reynoso joined Mayor Christie Fraga in favor; Councilwoman Cabral and the vice mayor voted no). The millage resolution passed by the same margin. The council also set the debt-service millage for general obligation bonds tied to parks and recreation projects at 0.481 mills.

Why it matters: The chosen millage determines the city portion of property tax bills and a rollback would have returned more immediate tax relief to some property owners. Council members who opposed the rollback argued that cutting recurring operating funds now would force reductions to services — including police staffing, parks and special-needs programs — or require deeper cuts later if statewide property-tax reform reduces local revenue.

Public comment and resident concerns

Dozens of residents spoke during the public-comment period, with multiple speakers urging the council to lower the city’s millage. Jose Dones, who identified himself as president of Laurel, urged the council to “roll back to 1.5875 property tax millage and give us at least some tax relief.” Rachel Mazur told the council that “our property values have increased tremendously on paper, but our income has not,” and urged a rollback so families and small businesses can remain in Doral. Several small-business owners, including Tal Mazur, described large increases in…