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 roughly $28,000,000 in FY2026, leaving an estimated remainder in the unrestricted fund balance if projections hold.

Police contract and staffing were the meeting’s central flashpoint. The Broward Sheriff’s Office provided the city an anticipated FY2026 budget figure of roughly $23,000,000—about $2.5 million more than the roughly $21,000,000 budgeted for FY2025—figures staff used in preparing next year’s budget. Captain David Franks of BSO said the office will “always maintain our staffing levels” and described the contract mechanism for vacancy credits. Franks said the district aims to maintain a minimum daily road-patrol staffing level and that recent discipline and terminations had been followed by personnel requisitions to refill vacancies.

City staff and commissioners described the BSO cost increase as driven by a salary study and a multi-year plan to bring deputy pay closer to market rates. The commission and staff repeatedly emphasized the difference between budgeting an anticipated contract amount and formally approving a new contract: the contract itself must still be negotiated and approved.

Commissioner Patterson sharply criticized the budget presentation as too high-level and said numerous program cuts and transfers—particularly in parks, senior programming and aftercare—had not been adequately justified in the packet. Patterson said, “I cannot accept this budget the way it is and I will not accept this budget the way it is,” and ultimately voted against the tentative millage and against the budget as presented earlier in the meeting.

On police staffing specifics, BSO and staff said the contract contemplates an authorized complement of 92 positions for the Tamarac district; Captain Franks said the district typically keeps a minimum daily road-patrol staffing threshold (described in the meeting as 20 deputies in a 24-hour period) while additional units (detectives, crime-suppression teams, community policing) are above that minimum. Staff acknowledged recent terminations removed about four or five deputy positions temporarily and that vacancy credits already reimbursed the city for roughly $80,000 in recent months.

On internal city staffing, the commission amended the proposed budget to remove an allocated Public Safety Director position (listed in the proposed budget at $326,877) and to reinstate funding for an Assistant City Manager position that had previously been frozen (about $285,825). The commission also directed staff to keep up to $70,000 in contractual funding for outside public-safety support if needed in FY2026; the net change to the budget from those amendments was discussed as modest (roughly a $30,000 net increase compared with the draft including the Public Safety Director).

Other budget topics discussed included: a proposed increase in the disaster recovery reserve (staff presented various options including raising to $3 million), reductions or relocations of some Parks & Recreation event funding (including changes to MLK/Juneteenth programming), and the use of fund balance for capital improvement projects.

Public comment included Kate Johnson of Mainlands 4, who urged the commission to lower the millage rate or reduce spending instead of raising special assessments, and Mona Pearlman, who asked where the budget materials were posted online; staff confirmed the full proposed budget and agenda packet were available on the city website.

The commission’s vote to set the tentative millage was 3-2. City attorney and staff clarified that a tentative millage and tentative budget can be set with a simple majority for purposes of advertising; final adoption of a millage above the rollback will require a supermajority (four of five commissioners) at the final hearing scheduled Sept. 24, 2025.

What’s next: The commission set a second public hearing for Sept. 24, 2025, to consider final adoption. Staff said they will prepare revised budget documents reflecting the commission’s amendments for public advertisement.

Ending note: The meeting’s extended discussion highlighted the fiscal tension between maintaining local public-safety staffing and services and preserving reserves and programs; several commissioners pressed staff for more granular backup and for clearer explanations of vacancies, vacancy credits and the specific line-item drivers of the BSO increase.