The Gainesville City Commission finalized its new millage rate and budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year that begins next week.
The Wednesday special meeting came two weeks after approving the tentative budget documents, and no changes were made between the versions.
The general fund budget will hit $162 million in 2026, compared with $155 million adopted last year.
Gainesville will raise its millage rate by 0.3 mills to 6.7297 mills, sitting 12% above the rolled-back rate. The new millage rate will generate an additional $9.4 million, bringing the total for this fiscal year to $77.4 million in property taxes.
For a homeowner with a $200,000 property value, the additional tax will be $60 annually. If the homeowner has the full homestead exemption, the additional tax will be $45 annually. Respectively, the total property tax would be $1,345 and $1,009 annually.
Other taxes, like the gas tax, will combine for $22 million in revenue, with only a $131,000 increase from the current year. The fire assessment will also see a slight rise to $12.6 million.
Revenue reductions in the budget include $1.3 million less from Gainesville Regional Utilities in the government services contribution. The city has also seen reductions in RTS funding and positions after negotiations with UF.
City Manager Cynthia Curry said the city does continue to grow through enterprise funds, like the Wild Spaces Public Places surtax, which isn’t reliant on the general fund budget and constraints caused by the cuts.
“I think that the general fund budget, because it is primarily a property tax base, is under stress more than other funds,” Curry said.
The budget includes a $3.2 million increase for the Gainesville Police Department and a $1.7 million increase for Gainesville Fire Rescue. The largest cost driver was salary negotiations with unions, city officials said.
Commissioner Casey Willits said the city continues to support public safety and residents despite budget constraints.
“Though we cut some positions across the city, there’s still new and exciting things that we do, and there’s still there’s still innovation in this budget. There is still progress,” Willits said.
In addition to the tax increase, the City Commission approved the use of $1.3 million in excess reserve funds to fill the budget. Gainesville has minimum and maximum thresholds for its reserve fund balance and currently exceeds the maximum threshold of $47 million by around $9.4 million in unallocated funds.
Another portion of the excess savings has already been earmarked for projects. City commissioners said Gainesville has upcoming infrastructure needs that will spend up that reserve and debated how much to offset the increased millage rate with the reserves.