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Daytona Beach Shores to publish proposed millage of 4.588; commission backs staff budget plan
Summary
City staff presented a FY 2025–26 budget that keeps services intact while proposing a 4.588 millage rate; commissioners discussed reserves, capital projects and state-level scrutiny before agreeing to the staff recommendation and scheduling public hearings in September.
City staff presented the proposed FY 2025–26 budget at a special workshop and recommended the city set a proposed millage rate of 4.588 mills, a step required before the formal adoption hearings in September. Director of Finance Lori Erwin told the commission the proposed millage would generate additional revenue while allowing the city to maintain current services and advance several capital projects.
The proposal frames a citywide accounting figure of roughly $105,000,000 — which includes enterprise and grant-funded capital projects — with a general fund of about $23,700,000. Erwin said the sewer enterprise fund shows approximately $50.9 million in sources for capital work, driven largely by intergovernmental grants and some debt proceeds. She also told the commission that unrestricted reserves are about $13.2 million and that the city’s fund-balance policy targets 50% of ad valorem revenue, which she estimated at roughly $5 million.
The staff presentation included homeowner-impact examples: at the proposed 4.588 mills, the average single-family home would pay about $1,755.59 a year in property taxes — an increase described in the presentation as roughly $51.70 annually (about 14 cents per day). Commissioners discussed small alternative rates (4.60 or 4.65 mills), which staff said would yield modest additional revenue (tens of thousands to low hundreds of thousands of dollars), but several commissioners said they were reluctant to raise the rate for perception reasons.
Commissioner 5 said, “I would not want to increase it above the 4.588,” while Director Erwin stressed that the proposal allows the city to move forward on critical projects without reducing services: “Then we have no reductions in services, which is a great thing.” The commission indicated general agreement with staff’s recommendation and directed staff to proceed with the required notifications and hearings; the first public hearing is set for Sept. 8 at 6 p.m., with a final hearing on Sept. 23 at 6 p.m.
The presentation also outlined the capital-improvement plan: multi-year sewer system rehabilitation and station work (projected in the tens of millions), a public-works facility expansion that staff has budgeted and for which the commission previously received a $900,000 state appropriation, and an Emergency Operations Center design phase estimated at $450,000 and expected to be about 75% grant-funded. Erwin said some projects are listed as anticipated or pending and that roughly $15 million of CIP requests remain unfunded.
The commission emphasized that adoption in September will be the time to make final changes; Erwin reminded members they can lower the millage at the adoption hearing but cannot raise it above the proposed rate after it is set. The commission asked for and will receive copies of the presentation materials for further line-by-line review before the adoption vote.
