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Monroe County adopts FY2026 budget after trimming proposed millage increase; $2 million moved to emergency reserves
Summary
The Monroe County Board of County Commissioners adopted a revised FY2026 budget and final millage rates after a motion to maintain last year’s millage and a subsequent small amendment to aggregate millage; staff reduced the general fund by $2 million and the total budget to $672,067,874.
The Monroe County Board of County Commissioners adopted the county’s final fiscal year 2026 budget on a roll-call vote after brief debate over whether to raise the countywide millage to add an extra $2 million to hurricane emergency reserves. County budget lead John Quinn presented a balanced budget and described the final totals: earlier staff figures showed a balanced budget just over $674,000,000; following the board’s direction the final total was amended to $672,067,874 and the general fund was reduced from $88,390,647 to $86,390,647.
Quinn said the board-directed change reduced the aggregate final millage slightly from the draft numbers and produced the $2 million adjustment to the general fund. Commissioner comments leading up to the vote emphasized the tradeoff between building reserves for potential FEMA reimbursement changes and avoiding added tax burdens for local businesses and property owners. One commissioner who moved to keep the previous millage argued, "I'm just not willing to add $2,000,000 to raise taxes while we've already gone through so many other exercises," and a second supported that motion on the same grounds. After a short recess to recompute rates, the amended aggregate millage (reduced to 3.3567 in staff calculations) was adopted and the final FY2026 budget passed on roll call.
