Mexico Beach council adopts 5.2500-mill rate, approves fiscal 2025–26 budgets and capital purchases

The Mexico Beach City Council voted to set the final ad valorem millage for fiscal year 2025–26 at 5.2500 mills per $1,000 of assessed valuation, adopting Ordinance 8-68 after debate over whether to reduce the rate from the 5.5000 mills previously proposed.

The council opened the second reading of the millage ordinance and, after no public comment, a council member moved to lower the rate to 5.25. “I will make a motion that we lower the millage to 5.25,” a council member said. The chair and other members discussed procedure for killing the original ordinance and requesting a second reading with the amended rate.

The move followed staff explanations of recent budget adjustments. Mike, a city staff member, told the council he removed an extra position and placed about $43,000 into a reserve account to keep the budget balanced. “I just took the employee off and put the $43,000 in a reserve account,” Mike said, describing splits between Road & Street and Parks & Rec. He also laid out funding sources for two planned capital purchases: the back truck and a “Spider Excavator,” citing a total excavator cost of $383,790 and proposing to split that cost roughly between the utility tax fund and the infrastructure fund.

Council members debated whether to apply available surplus to lower the millage or to fund equipment and maintain reserves. Concerns focused on the $27,000 lease for a trash truck (about $9,000 in interest annually) and on whether the city should increase recurring contributions to its resiliency (rainy-day) fund. “We should be contributing as a city because…we never have another major disaster,” one council member said, urging a budget line for resiliency savings.

Procedurally, the council voted to "kill" Ordinance 8-68 as introduced at 5.5000 mills, then authorized a second reading and adoption of the ordinance at 5.2500 mills. The clerk read the amended ordinance aloud; the text states the final millage is 2.338% higher than the rollback rate of 5.1280 mills. A motion to adopt the ordinance passed on roll call.

After adopting the millage ordinance, the council proceeded to second readings and adopted the fiscal 2025–26 budget ordinances for the general fund (Ordinance 8-69), the water fund (8-70), the sanitation fund (8-71), other funds (8-72) and the capital improvement program (Ordinance 8-67). The council recorded roll-call votes for each adoption.

The decisions allocate roughly $700,000 for two capital equipment purchases this fiscal year and rely partly on water, sewer and utility reserve funds to cover portions of those costs; staff said these fund balances (as presented) supported the planned expenditures. Council members asked staff and the city attorney to confirm fund eligibilities and audit-team review of transfers before final disbursement. The council took no further public-comment actions on the millage and adjourned the budget items after the votes.