Port St. Lucie City Manager Releases Proposed Budget for FY 2025

Published on July 02, 2024

Port St. Lucie City Manager Jesus Merejo has published his proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, including a recommended property tax (millage) rate decrease for property owners for the ninth consecutive year. 

Fiscal Year 2024-25 begins Oct. 1, and the proposed budget recommends a total of $807 million for the City’s operating and capital funds. The proposed budget supports the City’s strategic goal to be a high-performing government organization and its initiative to reduce the City’s tax rate while ensuring a balanced budget that continues to provide excellent services for City residents. 

Overall, the proposed budget continues Port St. Lucie’s fiscally responsible and responsive approach to managing taxpayer dollars. Now the sixth-largest city in Florida and the second largest in South Florida, the recommended budget seeks to provide City staff with resources to respond quickly to current community needs and deliver services to residents that enhance quality of life and plan for the future. 

“The proposed budget provides the increased public services necessary to meet the growing needs of the City, while also focusing on improving our efficiency through innovation,” City Manager Merejo said. “Our goal with this budget is to support the City Council in making financially sound decisions and continue maintaining the quality-of-life Port St. Lucie residents have come to expect.” 

The proposed budget recommends reducing the City’s overall tax rate by 0.0750 mills from this year’s rate. The millage rate is the rate of tax per $1,000 of taxable property value. The City Manager’s proposed overall total tax rate is 5.1250 for FY 2024-25. 

The total proposed FY 2024-25 City budget represents an increase of 13.7% compared to the adopted budget for FY 2023-24. 

Notable items included in the proposed budget are:

• Road and Mobility Improvements
  • Capital funding to improve traffic flow at the intersections of Port St. Lucie Boulevard from Paar Drive to Alcantara Boulevard, Gatlin Boulevard and Savona Boulevard, and St. Lucie West Boulevard and Peacock Boulevard.
  • $1 million for more sidewalks to expand on the City’s existing 400 miles of sidewalk, plus another $500,000 for sidewalk repair and improvements.
  • $4 million for roadway resurfacing across the City.
• Public Safety
  • Additional funding for new sworn police officers.
  • Continued funding of $13 million to construct PSL’s first Police Training Facility.
  • $1.4 million for security cameras and lighting at City parks.
• Parks & Recreation
  • Continued and new funding of $3.1 million for O.L. Peacock Sr. Park construction and amenities.
  • Continued and new funding for the design and construction of Torino Regional Park. 
  • Continued funding for Tradition Regional Park. 
• Water and Sewer Management
  • Funding to design and construct wells for the planned Rangeline Road Osmosis Water Treatment Facility to keep pace with growing service demands.
• High-Performing Government
  • 44 new positions to meet growing public service demands, including police officers and positions in departments that support public safety, high-quality infrastructure and facilities.  

For Fiscal Year 2024-25, there will be an increase in existing non-ad valorem Annual Assessments, which are listed separately on your tax bill: 

Stormwater Fee

Additional funds are needed to operate and maintain our necessary infrastructure projects. As a result, the stormwater fee is increasing by $5 in 2024 as operation costs continue to increase. The stormwater fee is approved as part of the City Council’s annual budget process. A rate study was completed in 2021 to improve the City's stormwater infrastructure needs and evaluate the stormwater fund. The study advised that the stormwater fee should be raised by a minimum of $5 each year to account for inflation and to help offset rising construction and maintenance costs. 

Solid Waste Fee

The solid waste fee will increase by $13.77. This increase is a contractual obligation that is based on the City’s solid waste franchise agreement with FCC. This is standard for solid waste contracts throughout the country, and covers the increased costs for labor, equipment, vehicle maintenance, fuel and disposal costs. 

Water and Sewer Rates

A 5.5% increase is proposed to go into effect October 1, 2024, for water use rates. Sewer rates are not proposed to increase. With the proposed increase, a utility customer’s average monthly bill (5,000 gallons) is projected to increase by $1.88. The proposed rate increase is necessary to cover the increasing demand for water production, increased daily operating costs, costs associated with meeting state and federal treatment regulations, and funding for the renewal and replacement of aging infrastructure. The proposed water rate increase is based on a recent rate study which evaluated Port St. Lucie Utility Systems’ projected operating and Capital Improvement budgets and finances. 

City Council will review the City Manager’s proposed budget at a workshop to be held July 24-26 and televised live on the City’s website, Xfinity (Channel 20) and Blue Stream Fiber (Channel 20). The budget will be adopted by the City Council in September, with public hearings taking place Sept. 9 at 5:30 p.m. and Sept. 23 at 5:30 p.m. 

Additionally, Port St. Lucie will host two budget town halls for residents to meet with City staff, offer their input and learn how the City's budget, including taxes, are used to provide infrastructure needs, services and programs for the community. 

• An in-person town hall will take place Aug. 27 at the Port St. Lucie Botanical Gardens, 2410 SE Westmoreland Blvd., from 6-8 p.m.
• A virtual option will be held Aug. 29 from 6-8 p.m. Information on how to participate will be available on the City’s website and social media pages as the town hall date gets nearer. 

To find the City Manager’s full proposed budget and budget-in-brief visit www.cityofpsl.com/budget.