Second public hearing set for Sept. 21
The evening of Sept. 8, following the first of their two required public hearings, the Sarasota city commissioners voted unanimously to approve a nearly $18.8-million — or 6.19% — increase in the city budget for the 2027 fiscal year — which will begin on Oct. 1.
The total proposed budget, as Kelly Strickland, director of the city’s Financial Administration Department, pointed out, is $322,363,899. The 2025-26 budget totaled $303,575,381, as shown on a slide she presented.
The adopted millage rate for the General Fund for the 2027 fiscal year is 3.2730 mills, which is unchanged from this fiscal year.
Each mill represents $1,000 of the value of a parcel.
The General Fund pays for the operations of departments that generate no revenue on their own, or insufficient revenue, to cover their expenses. It largely is made up of the annual property tax revenue.
The final budget hearing will be held on Sept. 21, Strickland reminded the commissioners.
In addressing details of the FY 2027 budget, she did note that the debt service on the 2015 general obligation bonds that the city issued for the Sarasota Police Department Headquarters, which stands on Adams Lane in downtown Sarasota, will decrease in the 2026-27 fiscal year budget. The millage rate is 0.1348, compared to 0.1305 this fiscal year.
Moreover, Strickland said, the city’s bond ratings are Aa1 and Fitch AA+, “the second highest bond ratings,” she emphasized.
Before the board members approved the proposed budget, Vice Mayor Kathy Kelley Ohlrich did ask whether any changes had been made since the commission conducted its budget workshops in late July.
Strickland told her nothing had changed since the board members had approved the millage rates for advertising in the annual Truth in Millage — or TRIM — Notices on July 28. That action came during a special meeting following the workshops.
On July 27, during her opening remarks to the board members as they began their two days of workshops on the 2027 proposed fiscal year budget, City Manager Karie Friling — who had just joined the staff in late May — pointed out, “The city is in a significantly stronger financial position than it was a year ago.”
She was referring to the need to build back up the reserves, which were spent down as the staff contended with the recovery from the 2024 storm season.
Nonetheless, Friling cautioned the board members, “We must … responsibly prepare for the uncertainty that could result if [Amendment 3] is approved.”
The Florida Legislature, at the request of Gov. Ron DeSantis, has placed a referendum on the Nov. 3 General Election ballot that would raise the homestead property tax exemption for non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and to $250,000 in 2028, with the amount indexed to inflation starting in 2029.
As part of her presentation that day, Strickland, the finance director, also pointed out, “For the past 10 years, we haven’t had a decrease in property values, only an increase.”
However, she continued, that growth had decreased over the past few years — from 17.85% in 2022 to 13.16% to 9.7% to 6.3% and finally to 3.13% this year.
During her recap of issues at the start of the city commissioners’ July 27 budget workshop, Strickland also reminded the board members that the delay in federal reimbursements for the 2024 hurricane season damage “strained our ability to plan and fund normal operations.” As a result, she continued, staff postponed employee cost-of-living adjustments and suspended the city’s equipment replacement program, among numerous actions.
The city’s unassigned fund balance had dropped to 10.9%, Strickland noted, which was “well below “the level dictated by city policy: 17% to 25%, which would pay for “roughly two to three months of operations,” Strickland pointed out.
Then-interim City Manager Dave Bullock also called for an increase in the city millage rate from 3 mills to 3.2730 for this fiscal year, to help “support essential needs and maintain service levels despite the challenges,” Strickland added.
By the end of the Sept. 30 end of this fiscal year, she continued, staff expects the unreserved fund balance to be 17.1%. The city’s receipt of reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its insurance “were key to that improvement,” Strickland noted.