Boca Raton adopts 2025-26 budget, lowers millage rate and approves five-year CIP

The City of Boca Raton City Council adopted final millage rates and the fiscal year 2025-26 budget and approved a five-year capital improvements program on Sept. 25, 2025, voting 5-0 on two ordinances and a resolution.

Council set a total millage rate of 3.6649 mills for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2025, which the clerk said represents a 4.42% increase over the rolled-back rate of 3.4931 mills computed pursuant to Florida law. The council then adopted the final budget and approved the capital improvements program (CIP) for fiscal years 2025-26 through 2030-31, including staff-proposed rebudgets and several council-requested adjustments.

City officials said the adopted budget continues a multi-year trend of reduced property tax rates for Boca Raton. “The general fund for the city has increased in total about 3%,” Jim Zervis, the city’s chief financial officer and deputy city manager, told the council, noting staff cut roughly $9.5 million from the general fund to mitigate cost pressures and secure a millage decrease. Zervis told the council the tentative budget showed a $2 million net decrease in operating expenses across the city.

Why it matters: the adopted ordinances and resolution set tax levies and appropriations that fund city services and capital projects for the next fiscal year and authorize carryforward of unspent project funds. The measures also lock in funding priorities for major infrastructure, utility and recreation projects that appear in the city’s five-year CIP.

Key budget items and rebudgets: staff presented four exhibits summarizing amendments to the tentative budget, operating rebudgets, CIP rebudgets and council proposals for consideration. Staff said Exhibit 1 contained staff-recommended amendments (including a tree legacy program augmentation and a one-time retirement contribution), Exhibits 2 and 3 contained operating and CIP rebudgets (timing-driven carryovers), and Exhibit 4 compiled council-requested changes that were for deliberation only and not staff recommendations.

Noted rebudgets and amounts presented by staff include: a $135,000 increase for the tree legacy program (augmenting an existing $65,000 sustainability budget); a $490,500 one-time retirement sustainability fund payment; operating rebudgets totaling $4,742,300 (including $3,250,100 in SHIP carryovers); CIP rebudgets of $48,679,200 (including $33,831,000 in water and sewer multi-year contracts and $4,662,700 in capital improvements program fund items); and individual projects such as lifeguard tower replacements and various park and facility renovations. Staff said the full CIP project listing and descriptions are posted on the city website and provided to public requestors.

Public comments and transparency requests: resident John Perlman asked the council to withhold any expenditures tied to the proposed downtown government campus until voters decide the development and requested a detailed accounting of any funds allocated to that project. Zervis and other staff told the council there are no funds budgeted in this document for the government campus because no final development agreement exists; any fiscal impacts from a future agreement would require a budget amendment. Perlman also asked for project-level detail for the roughly $1.2 billion of public works and utility projects shown in the CIP; staff noted the full CIP document is publicly available online and had been emailed to him earlier that week.

Council deliberations and amendments: council members discussed several proposal categories, including nonprofit funding allocations, potential dock attendants and enforcement at the Silver Palm Boat Ramp (discussed separately in this meeting), staffing and hiring priorities, building and code enforcement inspection methods (including limited use of virtual inspections), special events permitting staffing, parks master-plan outreach, and economic development tools such as fee-subsidy approaches. Staff said many council-requested items could be implemented from existing budgeted professional-services or contingency funds or could be considered for midyear amendments if needed.

Votes at a glance: - Ordinance 57-51 (adopt final millage rates): adopted on a 5-0 roll-call vote. - Ordinance 57-52 (adopt final budget and appropriate funds for FY 2025-26): adopted on a 5-0 roll-call vote; council approved staff Exhibits 1–3 (staff-recommended amendments and rebudgets) and the nonprofit adjustments discussed at the meeting. - Resolution 140-2025 (adopt FY 2025–26 through 2030–31 CIP): adopted on a 5-0 roll-call vote.

What the votes mean: The ordinances and resolution set the tax rate and appropriate funds for operating departments, capital projects and rebudgets carried forward into the new fiscal year. Staff emphasized that rebudgets are timing-related carryforwards for projects and programs already approved or underway, and that any future development agreement that creates new fiscal impacts would be handled via subsequent budget amendments.

Next steps and follow-up: staff and council agreed to follow up on several information requests: a detailed schedule and timing for SHIP (State Housing Initiatives Partnership) fund carryover and spending; project-level CIP details (already on the city website and provided to requestors); and further study or data collection on council-requested program changes that are not staff recommendations (for example, dock attendant staffing if council directs a program change later). The meeting closed after council recognized outgoing long-serving city management leadership and adjourned at 7:29 p.m.