The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners voted 3-2 on Tuesday, July 21, to approve the proposed millage rates for fiscal year 2027. The approval follows county staff’s recommendation for flat rates, essentially the same rates as in fiscal year 2026.
Commissioners Krista Joseph and Ann Taylor voted no, the former citing her desire to see rates reduced.
The proposed rates are not final, but rather set a ceiling above which those established during either of the two forthcoming public hearings may not exceed. The final rates may go down, however.
The millage rates are: 4.4999 for the general fund, 0.8444 for the county transportation trust fund, 0.016 for the county health unit trust fund and 1.47 for the fire district. The latter is not levied for residents living within the City of St. Augustine, which funds its own fire services.
In addition, the budget includes millage rates for eight regional or special district levies.
The total value of the recommended budget is $1,455,749,705, an amount that will change as carryforwards are added in from fiscal year 2026. These result from projects with multiyear budgeting. The total recommended countywide property taxes make up about 29% of the total budget.
The St. Johns County Property Appraiser projects a 6.7% increase in taxable value in 2027, 3.7% from new construction. Due to caps from the Save Our Homes law, homesteaded properties will experience only a 2.7% increase in their assessed value. Non-homesteaded property is capped at 10%.
The rolled-back rate, which would generate the same tax revenue as this year’s taxes — minus new construction — is about 6.2. The proposed flat rate would generate about $12 million more than the rolled-back rate, so it still a tax increase.
If all conditions were to remain unchanged throughout the budget process, the owner of a $350,000 home with a homestead exemption would pay $2,391 per year, $66 more than the rolled-back rate.
In planning the budget proposal, county staff kept one eye on the possible impact of property tax reforms that will come before voters in November.
“We’re positioning ourselves for a very real, new financial reality,” County Administrator Joy Andrews told the commission. She said the goal was to preserve infrastructure, assets and service levels amid potential revenue loss.
She estimated that loss at $66 million in fiscal year 2028, $133 million in fiscal year 2029 and eventually $213 million per year.
“Our goal for the next three to five years: build a diversified, resilient revenue structure that keeps pace with growth without overreliance on property taxes,” she said, listing a number of strategies the county is taking to offset possible losses.
Among these is a hiring pause — not a freeze, Andrews said — that could save about $8.2 million, and “re-prioritizing the capital improvement program,” saving an additional $77.6 million.
If voters pass Amendment 3, the homestead tax exemption for non-school taxes would increase to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. After that, it would be indexed to inflation. The amendment would also lower the cap on the assessed value of non-homesteaded properties from 10% to 5% and place limitations on how counties and municipalities can spend property tax revenue.
The first public hearing on the county budget will be 5:01 p.m. Sept. 3. The final public hearing will be 5:01 p.m. Sept. 15. Learn more at sjcfl.us/2027-budget.
