Destin approves $61.1M budget, keeps property tax rate among Florida’s lowest

In Brief:

💰 Destin approved a $61.6 million FY 2026 budget with revenues down 37% from last year.
🏡 The city’s 1.615 millage rate remains among the lowest five in Florida.
📉 Spending will contract across nearly all funds, though salaries and benefits rose slightly.

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DESTIN — The Destin City Council unanimously approved a $61.6 million budget for fiscal 2026 on Monday and set the city’s property tax rate at 1.615 mills, continuing a decades-long trend of keeping one of the lowest municipal millage rates in Florida.

On a 6–1 vote, the council adopted Ordinance 25-20-CN, establishing the ad valorem tax levy for the year beginning Oct. 1. The rate is 4.44% above the rollback rate of 1.5463 mills.

Still, it ranks in the top five lowest among Florida’s 411 municipalities.

Mayor Bobby Wagner praised the outcome. “We should all be proud, not only this year, but for decades, that we’ve kept this rate among the lowest in the state,” he said.

Immediately following, the council voted 7–0 to adopt Ordinance 25-21-CN, finalizing the city’s balanced FY 2026 budget.

Revenues: heavy reliance on property taxes and fees

The budget projects $61.58 million in revenues, transfers, and balances, a sharp decline of 37% from FY 2025’s revised budget of $98.4 million.

Property taxes: $13.58 million in current ad valorem revenue, making up nearly 57% of the general fund.
Licenses and permits: $7.9 million, including $2.65 million from rental registration permits.
Intergovernmental revenue: $16.1 million, driven by state and county revenue sharing.
Charges for services: $1.4 million, including cemetery lots, stormwater fees, and recreation charges.
Transfers in: $8.9 million, primarily from capital projects and special revenue funds.
Use of fund balances: $7.85 million.

Fiscal outlook

Compared to FY 2025, nearly every fund shows contraction:

General fund: $24.1 million (down 11%)
Harbor CRA: $1.6 million (down 84%)
Capital Projects Fund: $22.9 million (down 51%)

Personnel services, including salaries and benefits, are budgeted at $10.57 million, a modest 3% increase from FY 2025. Operating expenses are projected at $10.68 million, nearly flat compared to last year.

Councilman Jim Bagby suggested a possible amendment later in the year to increase council contingency funding. “There are about 10, but five real issues that we probably need to look at,” he said.