Town budget — Malabar, Florida

The Town of Malabar budget for fiscal year 2026/2027 is $4,543,728, adopted by Ordinance 2026-08 for the period from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027.

Section 1 of Ordinance 2026-08 divides the total into $4,414,728 for general fund expenditures and $129,000 in approved expenditures for Stormwater projects funded through non-ad valorem fees. The ordinance passed its first reading 5 to 0 on September 3, 2026, according to the September 21, 2026 Budget and TRIM Adoption agenda. The Malabar Town Council took the final vote on September 21, 2026, at Town Hall at 2725 Malabar Road. The draft minutes of that hearing record the budget ordinance passing 3 to 1, with Council Member Mary Hofmeister voting no after arguing for a 3 percent pay raise instead of 4 percent, and with Mayor Steve Rivet and Council Member Frederick Heiler excused.

The new Malabar budget is smaller than the one it replaces. The budget workshop line items show estimated revenues of $5,521,096 in the amended FY 25/26 budget, against $4,543,728 for FY 26/27. Debt proceeds fall from $1,052,818 to $630,386, and two FY 25/26 lines, $241,300 from restricted building fund balance and $339,673 of SLFR and restricted funding, carry no FY 26/27 amount. Florida law sets the calendar: section 166.241 of the Florida Statutes requires each municipality to establish a fiscal year beginning October 1 of each year and to adopt a budget each fiscal year by ordinance or resolution.

Malabar levies 4.5218 mills for FY 2026/2027 under Ordinance 2026-07, which is exactly the rolled-back rate, so the town portion of the tax bill on existing property is set to raise the same revenue as the year before.

Under section 200.065 of the Florida Statutes, the rolled-back rate is the millage that produces the same ad valorem tax revenue for each taxing authority as was levied during the prior year, leaving new construction aside. The Malabar budget report gives a gross taxable value of $467,810,775 inside the town, as provided annually by the Brevard County Property Appraiser's Office, and a gross levy of $2,115,347. The arithmetic checks: $467,810,775 times 4.5218, divided by 1,000, is about $2,115,347. Ad valorem revenue rises by $60,908 compared with the prior year's millage rate of 4.5000, the report adds.

Malabar does not plan on collecting every dollar. The town budgets ad valorem collections at 97 percent of the levy, or $2,051,887, according to the revenue summary. The Malabar Town Council had approved advertising a millage of up to 4.9740 during the Truth in Millage process, the reserves section of the report notes, but kept the rolled-back rate. The September 21 minutes record the millage ordinance passing 4 to 0 on a motion by Council Member Wayne Abare, seconded by Council Member Cliff Dykes.

Property tax is the largest single source: ad valorem collections of $2,051,887 make up 58.19 percent of Malabar's $3,526,221 in General Fund revenue for FY 26/27.

The rest of the Malabar General Fund comes mostly from shared state and local taxes and fees. The summary of revenue sources lists sales and use tax at $718,519, fees and special assessments at $367,455 and intergovernmental revenue at $343,060. Among the individual Malabar line items, the utility tax on electricity is budgeted at $437,825, the electricity franchise fee at $296,455, the local option gas tax at $135,000 and Malabar business tax receipts at $19,500.

Two Malabar revenue streams can only pay for their own departments: building permit revenue funds the Protective Inspections (Building) Department and stormwater fees fund Flood Control. Three more are restricted by council policy: $630,386 of loan proceeds goes to the road repaving priorities, $2,500 goes to the Beautification Trust fund for public areas, and $75,000 is a Transportation Impact Fee Trust allocation requested from Brevard County for road improvements, as the Malabar budget report explains.

Fire protection and town roads take most of the Malabar budget: the fire department carries $833,555 of personnel costs, and Streets and Roads holds $1,154,950 of the capital money and $342,424 of debt payments.

The department allocation table (Exhibit A) totals $1,542,197 for personnel, $1,143,195 for operating costs, $1,431,815 for capital, $402,521 for debt and $24,000 for a grant item. The Malabar fire department (department 522) adds $144,500 of operating costs and $20,000 of capital, and Streets and Roads (541) carries $288,002 of personnel and $168,000 of operating costs. Malabar's legislative department (511) is budgeted at $172,721 for personnel and $21,900 for operations.

Staffing shrinks. The personnel section funds 15.75 full-time equivalent positions, 2.25 fewer than the current year, because the Malabar building department moves to contracted plans review, permitting and inspections, and a vacant medium equipment operator post in Streets and Roads is dropped. All 15.75 positions get a 4 percent cost of living adjustment, and Lieutenants and Driver/Engineers covered by the collective bargaining agreement get the 10 percent increase applied in the budget. Contracted services, from the Town Attorney and Town Engineer to county dispatch and disaster debris collection, are expected to cost $469,400.

Malabar's FY26/27 Capital Improvement Plan totals $1,431,815, of which $1,154,950 sits in Streets and Roads, including $569,450 to pave nine named town roads and $450,000 for road improvements, while $231,865 goes to Town Hall development at MCP.

The Capital Improvement Plan table lists each Malabar street with its paving width and length: Benjamin at 18 by 3,325 feet ($189,064), Glatter Road at 18 by 2,890 feet ($95,000), Lacourt Lane at 18 by 2,640 feet ($90,000), W. Railroad Ave at 20 by 1,830 feet ($65,000), Blanche Street and Florence Street at $40,000 each, Riverview Drive ($28,000), Gilmore Street ($13,886) and First Lane ($8,500). It also funds a $50,000 Howell Road improvement, a $25,000 Benjamin widening project paid from the restricted flood control fund, a $75,000 F350 flat bed truck and a $10,500 loader root rake. For the fire department, the plan buys facility insulation ($8,000) and eight SCBA masks and related equipment ($12,000).

The paving runs on borrowed money. The debt section of the Malabar report lists biannual payments on the Road Repaving Program Loan of $342,424, with 12 years remaining and a penalty-free early payoff allowed in 2030; the last payment on the fire engine loan ($49,696); and $10,400 on the State Revolving Loan for stormwater master planning, with 14 years remaining. The town's audited statements put the Webster Bank loan balance at $3,354,380 on September 30, 2025. Malabar also plans to seek a grant that may reimburse half of a $24,000 all-terrain rescue vehicle with a patient sled, since more than 30 percent of the town's land is preserve or conservation habitat, according to the personnel and operating section.

Malabar ended fiscal year 2025 with an unassigned general fund balance of $5,644,545, equal to 108.2 percent of general fund spending, according to the town's audited financial statements.

The Town of Malabar's budget and actual statement for the year ended September 30, 2025 shows revenues of $5,207,961 against a final budget of $3,595,443, mostly because intergovernmental revenue came in at $1,399,808 instead of the $133,781 budgeted. Spending was $5,190,062 against $8,093,959 budgeted, as transportation projects ran $2,273,491 against a $3,727,940 budget. The management discussion in the Malabar audit reports the unassigned balance, and the FY 26/27 report notes the new budget uses no general fund, building fund or stormwater fund reserves.

The bigger risk for Malabar is on the ballot. The budget report says a Brevard County Tax Collector estimate of the Amendment 3 homestead exemption measure on the November 2026 ballot shows the town losing $439,490 of ad valorem revenue in FY 27/28 and a further $598,853 in FY 28/29 if voters approve it. Last verified: October 13, 2026, on the Town of Malabar website.