Gabrielle Russon
As Republicans in Tallahassee push to eliminate property taxes, Orlando leaders say they are not planning to raise the city’s millage rate for the 12th straight year while arguing state leaders are ignoring residents’ real gripe: property insurance.
City Commissioners held a budget workshop to plan for a nearly $1.8 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2026. Their discussion comes as a House committee will meet in advance of the 2026 Session to debate property tax relief.
“I don’t know about you guys but I can’t think of any time in the last 10 years I’ve actually had anybody say anything to me about property taxes — it’s property insurance,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said. “We need to get people refocused on asking the Legislature to do something about property insurance, which they think they’ve taken care of — but they have not.”
According to the proposed Orlando budget, the city’s property tax revenue is expected to rise about 6%, up about $21 million, to $360 million.
The Orlando Police Department will receive a proposed 9% budget increase. The nearly $250 million police budget calls for hiring 16 sworn positions, as well as four civilians for reporting, records and crime analytics.
Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said the Department is understaffed and dealing with about 50 vacancies, leading to overtime costs between $2 million to $3 million a year because of covering large events, crime spikes and other issues.
The city also budgeted to spend nearly $19 million to cover its portion of the SunRail as local governments inherit the cost to run the rail system from the state.
Meanwhile, the city budgeted a fund balance of about 25% for rainy-day emergencies and to help the city get lower interest rates when taking out bonds, officials said.
“We also probably sit as one of the best cities in the entire state of Florida in terms of financial stability,” Dyer told officials Monday.
Several City Commissioners voiced concerns that residents don’t understand what percentage of their tax bill goes to the city and said they support a campaign to educate residents.
For every $1 in property tax, nearly 38 cents goes toward Orange County Public Schools. Meanwhile, only about 35 cents goes to the city of Orlando, according to the budget presentation.
