Budget Message for the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year

Published on September 12, 2025

By Stan Morris, City Manager

In accordance with article IV Section 4.5 of the charter of the City of Sunny Isles Beach, I am pleased to present to you the proposed comprehensive budget and the 5-year Capital Improvement Program for FY 2025-2026.

The preparation of this budget represents months of thoughtful collaboration among the City Commission, Administration and residents of Sunny Isles Beach. Guided by the Commission’s vision for the year ahead, City departments worked to identify the programs, services, and resources needed to bring that vision to life. Through planning and prioritization, this vision was refined to balance community needs with the City’s financial realities, resulting in a fiscally responsible plan that reflects the goals of both our elected officials and residents.

Our tax base saw an increase in value of approximately $1.3 billion from last year. Similar to the past 12 years, when this level of growth was realized, this year the City Commission voted to reduce the millage rate from 1.8 to 1.7 mils per $1,000 of assessed value. Based on this reduction, and the continued rise in necessary operating expenses, we prioritized expenses and postponed some new initiatives.

Public Safety remains an area of utmost importance. The budget continues to provide for a professional police department that will continue to meet the standards of accreditation and utilize technology to expand coverage and improve officer safety.

Other priorities include our commitment to providing quality programming for our community. We have identified the programs and events that are most important to our residents and are focused on enhancing those while remaining budget conscious.

The Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code continue to be a work in progress with the State legislature limiting our ability to make certain changes. Following an indepth review, minor amendments have been approved. We will continue to monitor state directives to be ready to present future amendments to address the long-term vision for the west side of Collins Avenue when permissible.

With the future in mind, we are adding funding in our Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Fund of $6,000,000 to allocate for potential land purchases. Several parcels have been identified for possible future growth for the city. We will be completing the Golden Shores Pump Station project early in this fiscal year and are committed to funding the Central Island Drainage Project at $22M in the upcoming year.

We are still faced with significant economic issues beyond our control such as rising costs of ongoing construction costs, challenges in hiring contractors for repairs and projects, and impacts on staffing due to the increased cost of living. This budget prioritizes the needs of the community while reducing expenses where possible.

General Fund

As stated, the Budget provides for a reduction in the property tax rate, reflecting a millage rate of 1.7 mils per $1,000 of assessed value. This is achievable due to an 8.32% increase in the taxable value of all property within the City. This includes $186 million of property value decrease after value adjustment board changes through appeal, $1.3 billion increase of property values due to reassessments and over $142 million of new construction added to the tax rolls in our city this year. The revenue for the fiscal year 2025-2026 in the General Fund is $56,987,649, which represents an increase of $1,937,533, or 3.52%, from the fiscal year 2024-2025 adopted budget.

The changes in various revenue categories are outlined below:

At 1.7 mils, property tax revenues reflect an increase of $377,047 due to the increase in property values. The City’s assessed value as reported by the Property Appraiser is $19,114,425,368, which is a $1,282,408,167 increase over 2024-2025. The recent history of the City’s taxable values is provided below:

Franchise fees are estimated to decrease by $54,000. Utility tax revenues are estimated to increase by $200,000. Communications Services’ Tax revenues are expected to increase slightly by $39,887. Revenues from licenses/permits are expected to decrease by $35,120 primarily related to lower revenues for lane closure fees.

Intergovernmental revenues are expected to increase over the prior year by $42,487 due to the state revenue sharing and local government half-cent sales taxes. Charges for services are expected to increase by $223,437 over the prior year. This is primarily due to increases in administrative charges of $45,075, parking fees of $219,552, recreational programs of $143,500, public safety overtime reimbursements & towing fees of $15,310 offset by a reduction in public safety special duty assignments of $200,000.

Fines and forfeitures are estimated to increase by $666,860 primarily due to the implementation of the red-light camera program of $843,260 offset by reductions in code compliance citations, parking, school crossing and court fines of $185,000. Other increases include school zone speeding fines of $8,600. Miscellaneous revenues are expected to increase by $476,935 primarily due to investment interest earnings and the rental of city-owned properties. There are no transfers in estimated for the fiscal year.

The proposed General Fund budget expenditures (not including transfers out to other funds) increased to $62,232,549, which represents an increase of $6,408,737, or 11.5%, from fiscal year 2024-2025.

Expenditures have increased primarily due to: (1) additional positions ($901,227), compensation adjustments for Police raises, cost of living and merit increases ($1,455,158), overtime ($133,200), FICA ($185,807), retirement system contributions ($829,115), and health and other insurances ($219,319), (2) additional departmental needs for Public Safety, Facility repairs & maintenance and Cultural & Community Services ($3,157,084), (3) a decrease in capital outlay needs ($-293,473), (4) a decrease in debt service due to lower interest payments ($-144,000), and (5) a decrease in other disbursements for donations and election expenses ($-34,700).

Street Maintenance and Construction Fund

Major revenue sources in the Street Maintenance and Construction Fund include intergovernmental revenues such as State Revenue Sharing, Transportation Surtax, and Local Option Fuel Tax. The fund accounts for the costs related to transportation, street construction and maintenance programs including improvements to pedestrian safety. The total budget is $7,649,927

Building Fund

Major revenue sources in the Building Fund include fees generated from building permits and inspections. This fund accounts for the costs related to the administration and enforcement of the Building Code. Revenues, not including appropriated fund balance, are $5,979,499, a decrease of $1,982,001 from the prior year due to two large development projects being budgeted in the prior year. Expenditures are $9,073,108, a decrease of $73,756 from the prior year which is primarily due to a decrease of $324,500 in capital outlay needs offset by increases in personnel and operating expenditures of $250,744. These expenditures are necessary in meeting the increased demands on this department by the two new major developments underway as well as the new legislative performance requirements. The excess of expenditures over revenues this fiscal year are funded by the carryover (fund balance) of the previous year’s revenues.

Public Art Trust Fund

This fund was created in 2014-2015 for the benefit of segregating the use of Public Art Trust Fund revenues to purchase and maintain art within the City. The total budget is $764,070.

Sunny Spaces was developed in celebration of the City’s 25th Anniversary and under the initiative of the Public Art Program. Sunny Spaces aims to bring the community together through the visual arts by co-creating artistic spaces curated by our residents.

Art Uncorked, a new cultural initiative launched last fiscal year focuses on more cultured and curated, art inspired events such as a gallery showing during Art Basel and Poetry in the Park. These initiatives continue to be funded in the coming year.

Enterprise Funds

The City has a Stormwater Operating Fund and a Stormwater Capital Projects Fund. The Stormwater Operating Fund is primarily self-supporting and has budgeted revenues of $1,544,000, which is $9,000 higher than the prior year.

This fund incurs costs to ensure compliance with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit. Stormwater capital projects are funded by the Local Option Fuel Tax, and transfers in from the Stormwater Operating Fund, as available.

Accumulated fund balance (carryover) will be utilized for major drainage projects. The City is finalizing the design for bidding of the Central Island Drainage Project to improve its stormwater pumping capacity.

Capital Improvement Program

The Capital Improvement Program concentrates on the development of parks, infrastructure, and rehabilitation of our facilities including major road resurfacing, sidewalk improvements, and pedestrian safety. A capital improvement project generally exceeds $25,000 and has a useful life of five years or more. The City has been successful in leveraging City dollars to obtain grant awards and legislative appropriations for some capital projects and will continue to seek these where possible to account for the lower millage rate.

The Capital Improvement Program Fund is funded by a transfer from the General Fund, grants, impact fees, other development fees and contributions/donations.

Capital projects, which total $62,077,040 (including $46,863,406 carryover from the 2024- 2025 fiscal year), are recommended, and funded by the Capital Improvement Program Fund. All of the capital improvement projects requested and proposed for this year are fully detailed in our proposed Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) located in the CIP section of this document. Please note that many capital projects are multi-year endeavors.

Conclusion

In conclusion, our 2025-2026 Fiscal Year Budget is one that is presented with transparency and represents our meetings with elected officials, with the understanding to prioritize financial savings while providing the right sized government for our community. Our goal is to maintain fiscal responsibility while providing the utmost level of high-quality services our residents and visitors have come to expect. This work could not have been accomplished without the input and vision of the Mayor, Vice Mayor and Commissioners, the direction of our Finance Director, Tiffany Neely and the Finance Department team, and our Department Directors. On behalf of Deputy City Manager Susan Simpson, we express our sincere thanks and gratitude.

Respectfully submitted,

Stan Morris

City Manager