FORT PIERCE — As Florida lawmakers consider proposals to reduce or eliminate property taxes during the ongoing legislative session, St. Lucie County officials are weighing what such changes could mean for the county’s budget and public services.
The push to cut property taxes has been championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis ahead of the session. The issue carries particular weight in St. Lucie County, which has one of the highest property tax rates in the state, according to Florida TaxWatch.
Property taxes make up a significant share of the county’s operating revenue. County Administrator George Landry said roughly 40% to 50% of the county’s budget is funded through property taxes collected from residential and commercial properties, as well as tangible personal property.
The county expects to collect about $340 million in property tax revenue during the 2025–26 budget cycle. Landry said most of that money is allocated to mandated costs and partner agencies, including health care obligations and the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, totaling roughly $200 million.
“The county itself, the actual board of county commissioners, they run up to about $130 million or so of the property tax,” Landry said. “Portions of it goes towards roads, portions of it goes to parks, libraries, 9-1-1 dispatchers, pretty much a multitude of departments are all supported by what we call the general fund, which is all ad valorem taxes.”
Landry said he understands why state leaders are exploring changes to property taxes, but noted uncertainty remains about how counties would replace that revenue if it were reduced or eliminated.
“The challenge that we have right now is everything that's being proposed in Tallahassee is ways to eliminate property tax or reduce it, but they haven't proposed any mechanisms that how to replace those funds with alternative funds in order to keep the level of service of the residents,” he said. “We as a county don't have any power to leverage any other type of funding mechanism on residents if they make that go away.”
Sales tax revenue is collected by the state and partially redistributed to counties and municipalities, Landry said, limiting local control over that funding source.
“First 6% of sales tax is being collected, that's at the state,” he said. “They give us a revenue sharing of a half a percent of that. So whatever that generates for the county, they split it up between us, the City of Fort St. Lucie, and the City of Fort Pierce and the Village.”
If property taxes were eliminated without a replacement, Landry said the county would need to reevaluate which services could continue.
“Then we would just have to prioritize what services work with the Board of County Commissioners locally here,” he said, adding that a strategy would need to be developed based on available funding.
If property taxes were reduced or phased out gradually, rather than eliminated outright, Landry said the county could likely continue providing services, though at a scaled-back level.
“So we would just have to really prioritize what our capital improvement would look like for regard in the county facilities, shrink everything down to try to get it to where we can still sustain some level of service to the residents,” he said.
Landry said the county has built up reserves that could help cushion the impact of potential changes while longer-term adjustments are made.
“We've been blessed because our Board of County Commissioners a few years back instituted that they wanted to maintain a 25% level of reserve,” he said. “So if something were to go through, we're in a good shape that we could slowly work through a process to get to where we need to be.”
He said county staff are already reviewing the budget and considering possible strategies to prepare for different outcomes.
“We are going through exercises as we speak to look at different strategies on how we can reduce the overall county budget, but minimize the impact to the service that we provide,” Landry said.