Port St. Lucie residents could see another reduction in the city's property tax rate after the City Council unanimously approved a tentative millage rate of 4.8750 for fiscal year 2026-27 during its annual summer budget workshop.
The proposed rate is down from 4.9750 for the current fiscal year and marks the 11th consecutive year the city has lowered its millage rate. The budget will return to the council for adoption following public hearings scheduled for Sept. 14 and Sept. 28. If approved, the fiscal year 2026-27 budget will take effect Oct. 1.
Council members considered several options before ultimately agreeing to reduce the rate by one-tenth of a mill, a larger cut than the one initially recommended by staff.
Council member David Pickett said he favored lowering the rate rather than leaving it unchanged.
"After talking with the manager, I gave it a lot of thought and I would love to see at least a tenth of a mil reduction. I don't want it to stay flat, I want to see some sort of reduction," he said.
Budget Director Caroline Sturgis outlined how different millage reductions would affect city revenues.
"The first one is looking at a .005 reduction. This would be a reduction of $132,143. Looking at two hundredths, .02 would be a reduction of $528,574. Looking at .0250 would equate to a $660,717. A tenth of a millage reduction would be a reduction in revenues of $2.6 million," she said.
The larger reduction also would affect how the city pays debt associated with the Crosstown Parkway project.
Sturgis said the reduced tax revenue would require the city to rely on reserves to make annual debt payments.
"Our annual payment on the Crosstown is about $8.2 million. In all of these scenarios, we're seeing with the reduction in Crosstown, we're not going to be able to bring in enough to pay for the debt. So we would have to dip into the reserves for payment of that $8.2 million. The reserves for Crosstown is at $12 million. So we would be able to meet that requirement for the first year," she said.
City Manager Jesus Merejo urged the council to consider staff's original recommendation, citing uncertainty surrounding a proposed statewide property tax reform measure expected to appear on the November ballot.
"By going to .10 in this situation, the unknown that we have in front of us, I think it's a chance that we're taking right now that shouldn't be," he said.
Despite those concerns, the council voted unanimously to approve the lower millage rate.
Council member Anthony Bonna said he believes gradually reducing the tax rate each year is a better long-term approach than relying on the rollback rate.
"The rollback rate is a great one-year headline, but it ultimately results in higher taxes. The way to do it, especially in a growing city, is to incrementally reduce the rate and always keep the taxpayer in mind every single year," he said.
According to the city, Port St. Lucie has reduced its millage rate by 25% since 2016, saving the average homeowner nearly $2,000 over the past decade. The city also says it has the third-lowest municipal tax rate among Florida's 20 largest cities.