Tamarac adopts tentative FY2026 budget and 7-mill rate after divided debate over police contract, staffing and program cuts

The City Commission of Tamarac set a tentative fiscal year 2026 operating and capital budget of $293,969,914 and voted to advertise a tentative operating millage rate of 7 mills on Sept. 12, 2025, after a 3-2 vote that followed several hours of public comment and commissioner debate about the Broward Sheriff’s Office contract, police staffing and budget trade-offs.

Why it matters: The tentative budget and the millage rate establish what the city will advertise publicly and shape spending decisions for the coming year. The final millage and budget will be voted at a second public hearing; Florida law requires a supermajority for a final tax increase.

The commission voted 3-2 to set the tentative millage and later approved the tentative budget as amended, with Mayor Gomez and Commissioner Wright among the dissenters on the final roll call. Jeff Streeter, the city’s budget manager, read the truth-in-millage disclosure into the record, saying the proposed 7-mill rate is 0.4094 mills (6.21%) above the rollback rate of 6.5906 mills.

Key budget figures read into the record by staff included a tentative combined operating and capital budget of $293,969,914 and a general fund budget of $114,182,731, an increase of $12,038,174 from the amended FY2025 general fund. Finance staff said the unrestricted fund balance at Sept. 30, 2024, was about $58,000,000; staff noted planned uses from fund balance of about $19,000,000 for FY2025 and…