Martin County tentatively approves department budgets and keeps countywide millage unchanged

The Martin County Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday tentatively approved FY‑27 budgets for a slate of county departments and left the countywide millage rate unchanged at 6.5614 ahead of required TRIM notices.

County leaders moved through presentations from department heads and then approved tentative budgets for General Services, Growth Management, Information Technology Services (operating and the Technology Investment Plan), Library, Parks & Recreation, Public Works, and Utilities & Solid Waste. The motions were made and passed during the workshop; most departmental approvals were unanimous.

Why it matters: tentative approval lets departments continue planning while staff finalizes revenues and grant timing ahead of two required public hearings later in the summer and a final hearing in September. The tentative countywide millage is transmitted to the property appraiser and will appear on TRIM notices; the board may lower the rate at future hearings.

What department heads told commissioners

• General Services: Sean Donahue, General Services Director, said the budget includes a modest cost‑of‑doing‑business increase to maintain current service levels. He told the board the department maintains about $230 million in county building assets, manages over 800 vehicles and more than 1,700 security cameras, and runs energy and operational savings programs that the department estimates have saved the county more than $60 million to date. "Every dollar that we're proposing in this budget supports the services provided to the taxpayers by Martin County departments," Donahue said.

• Growth Management: Paul Schilling said the department is managing heavier workloads — hundreds of permit reviews and 60–90 active development review projects at any time — and must adjust local codes in response to recent state legislation, including an agricultural enclave process and a state change affecting placement of mobile homes. Schilling said the county received a Coulter agricultural enclave application and is analyzing it within a roughly 60‑day review window.

• Information Technology Services: Erica Sinclair, the county's chief information officer, framed ITS as a shared services provider for 26 organizations across Martin County. Sinclair requested staff and technology investments to sustain services, citing cybersecurity work that blocked roughly 2,500,000 malicious emails and remediated more than 1,500 vulnerabilities last year. She said the two requests before the board "sustain, not expand" services and include an additional network administrator.

• Library, Parks, Public Works, Utilities: Library Director Jen Salas emphasized high per‑capita use and efficiencies; Parks Director Kevin Abate described a $19.6 million parks program heavily subsidized by MSTU taxes and user fees for facilities and programs; Public Works highlighted coastal and stormwater projects, federal MS4 compliance and inflationary increases in construction commodities; and Utilities Director Sam Anderson presented a $74 million request (about a 6.2% increase) that includes investments in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and AI optimization at the North Treatment Plant.

Votes at a glance

• General Services — tentative approval: unanimous (motion moved SEG 139). • Growth Management — tentative approval: unanimous (motion moved SEG 451). • ITS operating budget & Technology Investment Plan — tentative approval: unanimous (motion moved SEG 880). • Library — tentative approval: unanimous (motion moved SEG 1026). • Parks & Recreation — tentative approval: unanimous (motion moved SEG 1336). • Public Works — tentative approval: unanimous (motion moved SEG 1599). • Utilities & Solid Waste — tentative approval: unanimous (motion moved SEG 1907). • Non‑departmental — approval: 4–1 (Commissioner Vargas dissenting) (motion moved SEG 2227). • Countywide millage rate — proposed 6.5614: approved (motion moved SEG 2331). • Multiple MSTU rates (fire rescue, parks, stormwater/roads, Districts 1–5, Hutchinson Island Special District A 61): approved (motions moved SEG 2331–2439).

What’s next

The tentative millage rates will be transmitted to the property appraiser and published on TRIM notices in early August; the board has two additional public hearings before the Sept. 29 final hearing. Departments will continue refining grant and CIP timing; staff noted that awarded grants normally show up later as budget amendments once contracts are executed.

Reporting note: quotes and attributions are taken from department presentations and the workshop public record. The board’s votes recorded in the workshop transcript are summarized above with the segment references where motions were moved.