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North Lauderdale proposes 2026 budget, keeps millage at 7.4; staff offers options to lower stormwater and water-control assessments
Summary
City staff told the City Commission that rising property values let the city hold the millage rate at 7.4 for 2026 while proposing modest assessment reductions as options; the commission must take a formal vote at the second hearing.
City of North Lauderdale officials presented the proposed fiscal 2026 budget at a Sept. 12 budget workshop and recommended keeping the millage rate at 7.4 mills while offering options to reduce two special assessments.
Budget manager Laura walked commissioners through revenues and assessments and said, “we will be proposing the millage rate of 7.4,” the same tentative rate the commission set in July, which staff said would generate about $18.9 million in ad valorem revenue in 2026. City Manager Cindy Sargis told the commission the tentative rate had been set in July “at 7.4, which is no increase.”
The presentation stressed that local taxable value rose year over year — Laura reported an 8.35% increase in taxable value from the prior year — which produces additional revenue without raising the millage. Staff also explained the statutory rollback calculation used to show what rate would collect the same taxable revenue as the previous year: the 2026 rollback rate computed by staff is 6.8458 mills, which would produce roughly $1.4 million less than the proposed 7.4 rate.
Staff presented two assessment-change options the commission could adopt before final budget approval: reduce the annual stormwater assessment for single-family parcels from $150 to $140 (a $10 annual reduction that staff estimated would lower stormwater revenue by about $153,000) and reduce the water-control district assessment from $100 to $95 (a $5 reduction estimated to lower revenue by $56,000). Laura said staff would balance each reduction by trimming a corresponding amount from repair-and-maintenance or by using fund balance, and asked the commission to give direction for the final adoption scheduled at the second hearing.
Sargis reminded the commission that the ordinance setting the millage and the budget requires four affirmative votes of five to adopt the millage and budget at final reading. She and Laura also told commissioners that, since the tentative millage was set in July, the only changes to the proposed budget have been increases — primarily additional fire-rescue project funding and higher insurance premiums — not cuts to previously proposed projects or programs.
The city manager and budget staff said department presentations and a second budget hearing will follow; staff requested direction on the two proposed assessment reductions ahead of final adoption.
