Vero Beach City Budget and Tax Rate for 2026-27

The Vero Beach General Fund for fiscal year 2026-27 is $39,394,904, a 9.7% rise over the revised 2025-26 figure of $35,895,959, and the city runs separate funds for water and sewer, solid waste, stormwater, the airport and the marina.

The General Fund pays for the day to day City of Vero Beach: police, streets, parks, lifeguards and the offices at City Hall. Its total sits in the FY 27 column of the department summary in the city's final hearing budget book (City of Vero Beach FY 2026-2027 Annual Budget). The Vero Beach Police Department alone is budgeted at $14,124,455, about 36% of the General Fund, and non-departmental costs come next at $6,506,929.

Utility and enterprise money does not mix with the General Fund in Vero Beach. The Water and Sewer fund, which runs the city water plant, wastewater treatment, reuse water and customer service, is budgeted at $27,155,226, and the Solid Waste fund that pays for city garbage trucks and crews is $4,825,408, a 15.5% increase driven partly by a $400,000 front loading garbage truck (FY 2026-2027 budget book). The Vero Beach city budget guide uses the FY 27 request column because the September 22, 2026 hearing adopted that book with only two corrected pages.

The Vero Beach operating tax rate for 2026-27 is 2.9816 mills, or $2.9816 per $1,000 of assessed value, the same rate as 2025-26 but 4.30% above the rolled-back rate of 2.8587 mills.

Section II of the Vero Beach millage ordinance spells it out: the fiscal year 2026-2027 operating millage rate of 2.9816 is greater than the rolled-back millage rate of 2.8587 mills by 4.30% (City of Vero Beach millage ordinance, September 10, 2026 agenda). The budget book glossary defines the rolled-back rate as the rate that will generate the same tax dollar revenue as the current fiscal year on the new assessed value, exclusive of new construction (FY 2026-2027 budget book glossary), so a rate above it raises more property tax revenue. The city levies operating millage only; the budget book notes that Vero Beach has no debt service millage.

On a Vero Beach home with $300,000 of taxable value after exemptions, 2.9816 mills works out to about $894 a year for the city share of the bill; the Indian River County, school and special district rates are separate lines. The budget book projects ad valorem taxes of $14,689,684 for the General Fund in 2026-27, up 5.5% from $13,928,211, with taxable value for operations estimated at about $5.19 billion (Vero Beach budget book).

Property taxes cover about 37% of the $39.4 million Vero Beach General Fund in 2026-27, with the rest coming from utility taxes, charges to the city's own enterprise funds, the electric utility franchise fee, sales tax shares and fees.

The revenue page of the Vero Beach budget book lists ad valorem taxes at $14,689,684, utility taxes at $3,500,000, administrative charges of $3,519,744 paid into the General Fund by city utilities and other funds, an electric utility franchise fee of $2,050,000, the local communications services tax at $1,538,071, the half cent sales tax at $1,500,000 and state revenue sharing at $651,093 (FY 2026-2027 revenue by account). The city no longer runs its own electric system: the budget book footnote on staffing ties 69 positions to electric utility operations only until December 17, 2018, the closing date for the FP&L sale.

Fees move too. The 2026-27 Vero Beach request raises recreation fees and memberships at Leisure Square, the Community Center and city programs by 25%, and projects code enforcement fines of $275,000 and Planning Department revenue of $262,750, up from $150,000 and $122,750 in the revised 2025-26 budget (Vero Beach budget book). The one cent local option sales tax adds $3,048,479 to the Infrastructure and Real Estate Improvement Fund, which moves $3,100,000 into capital projects.

The largest Vero Beach capital items in 2026-27 are the $3,000,000 Humiston Boardwalk Replacement, $1,000,000 of annual street resurfacing and, at Vero Beach Regional Airport, $5,000,000 to rehabilitate Taxiway A and $3,330,000 to extend Taxiway B.

General Government Capital and Construction, Fund 304, totals $9,327,006. Besides the Humiston Boardwalk, it buys police vehicles through lease purchase, replaces traffic signals ($200,000), funds a citywide ERP software system ($350,000) and replaces network core and edge switches. Its revenue side shows $1,055,000 of Humiston boardwalk funding and a $3,100,000 transfer from the one cent sales tax fund (Fund 304 capital detail).

The airport projects lean on outside money. The Vero Beach Regional Airport construction fund lists federal capital grants of $4,500,000 for the Taxiway A construction and state grants of $2,664,000 toward the Taxiway B extension, with a $700,000 transfer from the airport's own operating fund, for a $12,755,860 program year (Airport Construction Fund five-year program). Stormwater work in Vero Beach is smaller: $250,000 for culvert replacements and $300,000 for lining in the Stormwater Utility Fund.

The City of Vero Beach budgets 348 full-time positions for 2026-27, up from 345, including 86 in the Police Department, 78 in Water and Sewer, 76 in Public Works and 16 at the Municipal Airport.

The ten-year position table in the Vero Beach budget book shows how the electric sale reshaped the payroll: 385 full-time positions in fiscal 2018, 315 in 2019, then a slow climb to 348 (Full-time authorized positions, FY 2018 to 2027). The airport line grows from 13 to 16 positions in 2026-27, the only department to add staff this year, while the police count holds at 86 after rising from 78 in 2023. The General Fund carries 223 of the 348 positions and enterprise funds 124, with one more at Crestlawn Cemetery.

Payroll is why police dominate the Vero Beach General Fund: the department's 86 positions cost $14,124,455 in 2026-27, more than twice the non-departmental line, the next largest. Staffing questions came up at the final hearing, where a speaker cited the City Manager's September 3, 2026 budget memorandum, which says funding for a requested Code Enforcement Officer position may be reconsidered during the second or third quarter (September 22, 2026 council minutes).

The Vero Beach City Council adopted the 2026-27 millage and budget ordinances at its final Truth in Millage hearing on September 22, 2026, both on 5-0 roll call votes, after a tentative hearing on September 10, 2026.

The September 22 special call meeting in the City Hall Council Chambers opened at 5:01 p.m.; Councilmember Aaron Vos moved both ordinances, and Mayor John E. Cotugno, Vice Mayor Taylor Dingle, Linda Moore and John Carroll joined him in voting yes (Vero Beach City Council minutes). City Manager Monte Falls told the council the city held $18 million in its Capital Infrastructure Reserve Account and an unassigned reserve of about $4,700,000, almost $23 million in total, and that corrected sheets for pages 120 and 121 had been provided.

The Vero Beach budget calendar repeats each year. Department heads build requests in spring, the City Manager presents the proposed budget to the council in public meetings in July and August, and September brings the two Truth in Millage hearings, with adoption at the second (The Budget Process, Vero Beach budget book). In 2026 the council's budget workshop was July 22, and agendas with the full budget book as backup material post in the City Council Agenda Center. The council and City Clerk answer at 772-978-4700 (City Council) and the City Manager's office at 772-978-4710 (City Manager).

Older budget books, from FY 2011-2012 onward, sit in the city's Archive Center, which makes year over year comparisons simple. Property tax bills carrying the Vero Beach millage are paid to the Indian River County Tax Collector, whose Main Office at 1800 27th Street, Building B, keeps weekday hours of 8 a.m. to noon (8:40 a.m. on Wednesdays) and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., with drive thru service during all business hours including noon to 1 p.m. (Indian River County Tax Collector). Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the City of Vero Beach website, against the FY 2026-2027 budget book and the September 22 hearing minutes.

Three Vero Beach budget items deserve watching in 2026-27: the 46.1% jump in non-departmental General Fund spending, the 62.5% cut to the Three Corners project line, and whether a Code Enforcement Officer is funded at midyear.

The Three Corners project management line falls from $320,000 in the revised 2025-26 budget to $120,000 in 2026-27 (General Fund budget by department) while the budget book lists completing developer negotiations for the Three Corners Project as a goal and notes the line is staffed by contracted services. The Vero Beach Three Corners guide follows that project. Non-departmental spending rises from $4,454,988 to $6,506,929, and at the September 22 hearing the City Manager explained that reserve money held in the General Fund would be transferred to Fund 304 for capital use (September 22, 2026 minutes).

Midyear changes are normal in Vero Beach: the adopted ordinance lets the Finance Director carry forward open purchase orders and grants from September 30, 2026, and allows transfers between accounts so long as total combined appropriations do not increase (budget ordinance, September 10, 2026 agenda). The Vero Beach city finances and audit guide covers the city's audits and financial reports.