Leon County to Hold FY2026 Budget Workshop

On June 17, the Leon County Commission will hold a budget workshop to address the FY 2026 county budget.

The agenda item notes that the “FY 2026 Preliminary Budget” is balanced with no millage rate increase or use of general revenue fund balance. In addition to the recommended increases associated with Constitutional Officer requests and mandatory payments (e.g., Medicaid, Medical Examiner), the preliminary budget also recommends an increase in capital project funding.

The workshop documents state the county relied on one-time ARPA dollars to sustain the operating and capital budgets over the past five fiscal years. As ARPA dollars are no longer available, additional general revenue is required to support these services.

The following provides several highlights of the FY 2026 Preliminary Budget:

-A balanced budget totaling $403,967,176 which is a 6.9%, or $26,080,183, increase from FY 2025. Nearly half of this increase ($12.7 million) is associated with increases in public safety funding for the Sheriff and Emergency Medical Services (EMS);

-A 7.65% increase in taxable property values, resulting in an additional $15.3 million;

– No increase in the stormwater or solid waste special assessments;

– No new County Government positions requiring additional general revenue;

– 10 new planned EMS employees to address increased call volumes within current EMS MSTU funding;

– Support Board strategic initiatives related to homelessness and affordable housing by providing funding for an additional LCSO HOST deputy and establishing a new program to invest in the development of rental units for low-income households.

During the workshop, separate budget discussion items will be presented to the elected officials to consider employee pay adjustments, including a 5% across the board pay increases, the Sheriff’s budget requests, and the utilization of general revenue for affordable housing gap financing.

Funding is included in the preliminary balanced budget for these items; however, the Board could choose to fund any of them at a lesser level. If so, the general revenue savings could be reappropriated to fund other Board priorities, to address unanticipated issues such as final legislation that may impact revenues, address unbudgeted impacts of the negotiated fire services rates with the City of Tallahassee, offset any reductions in property tax revenues after final values are provided by the Property Appraiser on July 1, or adjust the millage rate.