Melbourne Property Taxes and Millage — Melbourne, Florida

The City of Melbourne levies 6.9473 mills for city operations on property assessed in calendar year 2026, according to Resolution No. 4436, the final levy resolution posted after the September 2026 hearings. One mill equals $1 of tax for every $1,000 of taxable value, so the Melbourne operating levy comes to $694.73 for each $100,000 of taxable value. The resolution adds a separate voted debt service rate of .2885 mills, or $28.85 per $100,000, bringing the city's combined rate to 7.2358 mills.

The operating rate sits 1.01% above the rolled-back rate of 6.8781 mills, the resolution states. The Brevard County Property Appraiser certified a gross taxable value of $9,172,575,549 for Melbourne operating purposes, and the revenue is appropriated to the General Operating Fund for the fiscal year that began October 1, 2026 and ends September 30, 2027. The city's Budget page links the document under the label Resolution No. 4336, establishing the fiscal year 2026-2027 millage rates, although the file itself is titled 4436.

The city rate is only one line on a Melbourne tax bill. Brevard County, the school district and special districts set their own levies, and the City of Melbourne's figures above cover only the city's share.

The rate is set by the elected council. The city's About page states that the council, as the legislative body, sets the policies and goals of the City of Melbourne, including the annual budget and tax rate, and that citizens may speak at public hearings held before the annual budget and property tax rate are finalized. In 2026 a City Council Budget Workshop Meeting on July 29 at 5:30 p.m. took up the FY2027 budget and tentative millage rate, and the two required hearings followed on September 9 and September 23.

The steps come from Section 200.065 of the Florida Statutes. After the property appraiser certifies taxable value, each taxing authority has 35 days to report its proposed millage rate, its rolled-back rate and the date, time and place of its first public hearing and the property appraiser uses that information in preparing the notice of proposed property taxes for Melbourne owners. The statute defines the rolled-back rate as the millage that would raise the same ad valorem revenue as the prior year, leaving out new construction and similar changes, and requires the percentage above that rate to be announced.

In Melbourne's case that announced figure is the 1.01% stated in Resolution No. 4436. A taxing authority that misses the reporting deadline is barred by the same statute from levying more than the rolled-back rate for the coming fiscal year. Last verified: October 8, 2026, on the City of Melbourne website.

Inside Melbourne's two redevelopment districts, some of the growth in city property taxes is set aside. The Community Redevelopment Areas page explains that each CRA has a base year, and as property values rise above that base the increment flows into a redevelopment trust fund. The tax increment is only collected from the general fund millage rates charged by the City of Melbourne and Brevard County; property tax revenue collected by the School Board and any special district is not affected.

The two active districts are the Melbourne Downtown CRA and the Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront CRA. Their money must be spent on redevelopment within the area that generated it, consistent with each adopted redevelopment plan, rather than on general government. A third Melbourne district, the Babcock Street CRA, ended with a sunset date of September 9, 2024.

Amendment 3 is a proposed change to the Florida Constitution that the City of Melbourne summarizes on its property tax amendment page. The Florida Legislature approved the measure on June 2, 2026, and it will appear on the November 3, 2026 ballot. It needs approval from at least 60% of voters statewide, and if approved it would take effect January 1, 2027.

As described by the City of Melbourne, the amendment would raise the homestead exemption from $50,000 to $150,000 beginning January 1, 2027, and to $250,000 beginning January 1, 2028; require the Legislature to set a schedule for full elimination of homestead property taxes; exclude school district levies from the larger exemption; lower the cap on annual assessment increases for non-homestead property from 10% to 5%; and require people who become Florida residents after January 1, 2027 to wait five years before qualifying for the larger exemption.

The city's two published numbers allow a simple illustration. Each $1,000 of homestead value that becomes exempt removes 6.9473 mills of Melbourne operating tax, so every additional $100,000 of exemption lowers the city operating portion of a qualifying homestead bill by $694.73 at the 2026 rate. Moving from a $50,000 to a $150,000 exemption in 2027 would therefore cut up to $694.73 from that city line, and the $250,000 level scheduled for 2028 would cut up to $1,389.46, for homes assessed high enough to use the full exemption. This arithmetic covers only the city operating levy, not county, school or special district taxes, and the actual 2027 and 2028 rates will be set in future Melbourne budget hearings.

On transparency, the City of Melbourne states that property tax dollars assessed on Melbourne properties stay in Melbourne, and that its current budget and the budgets for the previous four fiscal years are posted on the Budget page for residents to review.

Using 2026 tax roll data, the city estimates that approval would leave Melbourne with a funding gap of approximately $10.1 million in FY2028 and an additional $4.9 million in FY2029, a combined total of $15 million in the operating budget. The city adds that the amendment currently has no guaranteed replacement funding plan and that changes would begin with the fiscal year starting October 1, 2027.

The City of Melbourne lists the services that could be reduced: police and fire; hurricane response and recovery; roadway and sidewalk maintenance; park maintenance; recreation centers; athletic fields, pools and tennis and pickleball courts; and community events including MelBOOM. It states that the final bill passed by the Legislature did not include the protections for police, fire and emergency services budgets found in the original version, and that the only portion of the tax dollar shielded from the additional homestead exemptions was Brevard Public Schools. The city also says it may need to sunset its two CRA districts early.

Staff presented the revenue impact to the Melbourne City Council at its June 9, 2026 meeting. The city says it is weighing three options if the measure passes: an increase in other taxes, fees or charges for services; a decrease in the levels of service provided to residents; or a combination of both. The outcome depends on the statewide vote on November 3, 2026.