The Broward County Commission voted this week to lower its millage rate for the first time since 2018 after approving its new budget, but property owners will still see their taxes increase because property values continue to rise.
The commission decision Tuesday to slightly lower the millage rate from 5.6690% to 5.6658% comes less than two months after Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia announced the Florida DOGE audit of Broward County's finances. The name is taken from the federal Department of Government Efficiency.
DeSantis and Ingoglia argue that Broward’s flat millage rate hurts taxpayers — even though it remains unchanged for the past seven years. The culprit: higher property values.
The county's total budget, including non-property tax supported agencies like the airport, seaport, utilities, capital, and reserves is $8.8 billion.
The small millage rate decrease results in a reduction of just over $1 million from the near $2 billion generated from property taxes.
Developing the FY26 budget, which begins October 1, was "particularly challenging" in light of the loss of $80 million in funding to the newly elected Tax Collector's Office as well as funding all of the county-wide constitutional offices, said county officials in a statement.
To offset the costs, the commission cut 159 funded positions and nearly $20 million in recurring operating costs for county agencies.
The budget includes a $24.2 million increase to the Broward Sheriff's Office regional budget and 9-1-1 services. BSO is the county's largest law enforcement agency.
"Broward County enters FY26 in a strong financial position, having paid off all General Obligation debt," said the commission in its statement. They noted Broward County has a "AAA" credit rating with all three major credit reporting rating agencies, "a distinction held by less than 2% of the over 3,200 counties nationwide."
