Santiva Chronicle Staff Report
At Monday’s final budget hearing, the Sanibel City Council approved a fiscal year 2027 budget of $187,622,061, 2.7 percent lower than last year’s budget. Of that, about $1 million is Hurricane Ian-related in some shape or form.
The operating millage rate for FY2027 is 2.5. That exceeds the rolled-back rate by 6.9 percent. A millage rate is the tax rate used to calculate local property taxes, and the rolled-back rate is the property tax rate that generates the same total tax revenue as the previous year, using current property values but excluding new construction.
Sanibel’s council has been working on the budget since June, and city staff has worked on it all year. In fact, they will start again in a couple of months.
Council also established committed fund balances for an emergency reserve ($5,900,000), an operational support reserve ($143,575), and a debt service reserve ($1,475,000). That emergency reserve of $5,900,000 is about what the City spent in the first month after Hurricane Ian, according to Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer Steve Chaipel.
There is now a program called F-ROC – the Florida Recovery Obligation Calculation, – a state-sponsored initiative by the Florida Division of Emergency Management that standardizes and streamlines FEMA’s Public Assistance process.
The budget is available online at the City’s website, and can be printed as a PDF.
Leave a Comment