Collier County adopts FY2026 budget, sets aggregate millage at 3.7675 mills after 3–2 split over Conservation Collier funding

The Collier County Board of County Commissioners adopted the fiscal year 2026 budget and set property tax rates on Thursday, Sept. 18, following a lengthy public hearing and a divided vote on how to treat funding for Conservation Collier.

Christopher Johnson, director of corporate financial management, opened the hearing with the state TRIM-required disclosures and read the proposed millage rates into the record: a general fund proposed rate of 3.0107 mills (rollback 2.8564), water pollution 0.0246 (rollback 0.0233), Conservation Collier 0.2096 (rollback 0.1984) and an aggregate proposed countywide rate of 3.7675 mills (rollback 3.587), a 5.03% increase over the aggregate rollback rate.

Public comment centered on Conservation Collier. Speakers including Michelle Lenhard, chair of the Conservation Collier advisory committee, and representatives from Audubon Western Everglades urged the board to maintain near-full funding and warned that pipeline acquisitions and long-term management obligations require available acquisition and maintenance funds. Lenhard told the board the program had 25 listed parcels totaling about 907 acres with an estimated cost of $17,800,000 pending approval, and asked the…