City of PSL continues to focus on conservative fiscal management

Published on February 03, 2026

The City of Port St. Lucie has seen some of the highest population growth in Florida since 2020 – all while staying focused on keeping the costs to taxpayers as low as possible, delivering value to residents and remaining the safest large city in Florida.

Information cited in the recently released Florida DOGE report demonstrates that commitment to being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.

The report showed that over the past four years, the City of Port St. Lucie had the highest population growth rate among the 10 largest cities in the state. However, during that same period it had the third lowest personnel spending increase, a reflection of the City’s conservative approach to managing its staffing levels. While Port St. Lucie’s population has increased, we’ve decreased staffing to 5.95 employees per 1,000 residents – down from 7.45 15 years ago.

Conservative fiscal management is fundamental to everything we do at the City of Port St. Lucie. We operate as a lean, efficient government organization and focus on long-term financial planning that has allowed us over the past decade to:

• Lower property tax rates for 10 straight years
• Reduce our debt by $400 million
• Improve our bond ratings
• Increase services while decreasing staffing ratios