Annual financial report — Palm Bay, Florida

The City of Palm Bay's audited Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the year ended September 30, 2024 received an opinion from Forvis Mazars, LLP, that the statements present fairly in all material respects, in a report dated May 29, 2025 (ACFR FY2024, page 24).

The ACFR is the Palm Bay Finance Department's yearly account of the closed fiscal year: what the city owns, owes, collected and spent, checked by outside auditors. The transmittal letter submits the report for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2024, and says the audit was performed by Forvis Mazars, LLP, a firm of licensed, independent certified public accountants (ACFR FY2024, page 8). State law sets the clock. Section 218.39, Florida Statutes, requires each municipality above a revenue threshold to complete an annual financial audit within 9 months after the end of its fiscal year by an independent certified public accountant (s. 218.39, F.S.).

The opinion is the line that matters most. The auditor states that the Palm Bay statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the governmental activities, the business-type activities and each major fund at September 30, 2024 (ACFR FY2024, page 22). The same report notes that another firm audited the Police and Firefighters' Retirement System, whose figures the opinion relies on. The schedule of findings lists no reportable financial statement findings for fiscal 2024 (ACFR FY2024, page 229), and the management letter says the city did not meet any of the financial emergency conditions in section 218.503(1), Florida Statutes, and that the auditor had no recommendations to improve financial management (ACFR FY2024, page 233).

The report is not the budget. The Palm Bay City Council must adopt a final budget by September 30, the close of the fiscal year, after public hearings (ACFR FY2024, page 10); the ACFR looks back at how that year actually closed. The Government Finance Officers Association awarded Palm Bay its Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the fiscal 2023 report, the 39th consecutive year the city has received it (ACFR FY2024, page 17).

The Finance Department posts the reports on its Annual Comprehensive Financial Report page, where the newest entry listed as of October 12, 2026 is the year ended September 30, 2024, followed by 2023, 2022, 2021 and earlier years. The same audit report is on file with the Florida Auditor General. Questions about the report go to the Finance Department at 120 Malabar Road S.E., Palm Bay, Florida 32907-3009 (ACFR FY2024, page 43). Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the City of Palm Bay Finance Department website.

At September 30, 2024, Palm Bay's assets and deferred outflows exceeded its liabilities and deferred inflows by $481.8 million, its net position (ACFR FY2024, page 25).

The Palm Bay total rose by about $63.4 million in one year, which the report attributes mainly to construction in progress for the utilities water plant expansion and other infrastructure (ACFR FY2024, page 30). The arithmetic checks: $481,834,134 minus $418,430,838 is $63,403,296, within a dollar of the $63,403,297 change in net position shown in the report's changes table (ACFR FY2024, page 31).

Capital assets account for the bulk of it. The largest portion, $265.9 million or 55%, is Palm Bay's net investment in capital assets such as land, buildings, equipment and infrastructure; restricted net position is $174.7 million for capital improvement projects and special revenues; and unrestricted net position is $41.2 million (ACFR FY2024, page 29). The governmental side carries an unrestricted deficit of $15,712,113 along with $320,769,418 of the city's long-term liabilities, while the Palm Bay business-type activities hold $56,912,083 in unrestricted net position (ACFR FY2024, page 30).

Palm Bay's government-wide revenues were $262,645,399 in fiscal 2024 against expenses of $199,242,102, with property taxes the single largest source for governmental services (ACFR FY2024, page 31).

Property taxes accounted for 37.47% of the revenues used to fund Palm Bay's governmental functions (ACFR FY2024, page 33). The report credits growth in governmental revenue, up $15 million or 10.0%, to impact fees from construction and higher property tax collections from rising assessed values. Palm Bay collected 97.9% of its $63,319,921 fiscal 2024 levy by year end (ACFR FY2024, Schedule 8, page 201).

On the spending side, public safety, meaning the Palm Bay Police Department and Fire Rescue, cost $61,963,714, or 46.0% of governmental expenses; general government took 24.3% and transportation 16.7% (ACFR FY2024, page 32). Transportation expense rose to $22,552,652 from $14,129,877 the year before (ACFR FY2024, page 31). Interest on long-term debt was $8,308,168.

The Palm Bay business-type activities run on user fees. Water and wastewater expenses were $31,418,028, solid waste $15,245,448, stormwater $12,717,382 and building inspections $5,195,612 (ACFR FY2024, page 31). The Utilities Fund net position grew by $30.3 million in fiscal 2024, Stormwater ended at $27.3 million after a $2.1 million decline, and the Building Inspection Fund ended with restricted net position of $22.8 million (ACFR FY2024, page 39).

Palm Bay's General Fund ended fiscal 2024 with an unassigned balance of $40.0 million, 42.9% of the year's General Fund expenditures and transfers out (ACFR FY2024, page 25).

Across all Palm Bay governmental funds, combined ending fund balances were $234.1 million, up from $212.1 million at September 30, 2023 (ACFR FY2024, page 25). Much of that money is spoken for. The GO Road Program Fund, which holds proceeds of the general obligation bonds of Series 2019, 2021 and 2023 for the road program, had restricted net position of $64.5 million, and the Impact Fee Fund, which pays for police, fire, recreation and major road capacity tied to new development, had $88.1 million restricted (ACFR FY2024, page 38). The Bayfront Community Redevelopment Agency fund balance rose by $372,364 to $3.04 million.

The General Fund itself, which the report calls the chief operating fund of the City of Palm Bay, had a total fund balance of $55.4 million (ACFR FY2024, page 37). Policy sets the floor. The city keeps unrestricted General Fund balance at a minimum of two months of the next year's operating expense, plus a 4% stabilization fund for emergencies approved by the City Council (ACFR FY2024, page 11).

The tax side has its own limit. A 2016 voter-approved Palm Bay charter amendment restricts the City Council from setting millage that would grow total ad valorem revenue more than three percent over the prior year without a supermajority vote for an emergency or critical need, and voters reaffirmed that cap in November 2022 (ACFR FY2024, page 10). For fiscal 2025 the council applied the cap while lowering the millage rate from 7.0171 to 6.7339.

Palm Bay reported total long-term liabilities of $353.8 million at the end of fiscal 2024, of which $88.0 million is secured solely by specified revenue sources such as revenue bonds and notes (ACFR FY2024, page 42).

The general obligation bonds of Series 2019, 2021 and 2023 fund the GO Road Program, designated to overhaul and revitalize Palm Bay roadways (ACFR FY2024, page 38). As of September 2024, the city had paved 440 miles, or 56%, of its 791 miles of roadway under the Road Bond Paving program (ACFR FY2024, page 10). The State Revolving Fund loan, carried in the business-type activities, grew with a $4.3 million drawdown in fiscal 2024 (ACFR FY2024, page 42). Outstanding long-term debt fell by $9.35 million during the year, mainly from paying down the utility series 2001 bonds and the utilities series 2016 note (ACFR FY2024, page 25).

Measured per resident, Schedule 9 puts total Palm Bay primary government debt at $262,886,107 in fiscal 2024, or $1,875 per capita, down from $1,990 in 2023 and up from $1,455 in 2020; the city does not have a legal debt limit (ACFR FY2024, Schedule 9, page 202). Dividing $262,886,107 by the 2024 population of 140,199 gives about $1,875, matching the schedule.

The FY2024 transmittal letter ties the numbers to named Palm Bay work: road bond paving, Malabar Road and St. Johns Heritage Parkway widening, new fire stations, park repairs and Indian River Lagoon stormwater projects.

Public Works installed seven baffle boxes to reduce pollutant discharges into the Indian River Lagoon and completed the Malabar Road Widening Project Development and Environment study, with a public hearing held in November (ACFR FY2024, page 13; page 14). Construction was under way at the Babcock Street and St. Johns Heritage Parkway intersection to add turn lanes and mast arm signals, and engineering design had begun for widening St. Johns Heritage Parkway from Malabar Road to north of Emerson Drive; federal funds were expected to design the widening of Malabar Road from Minton to St. Johns Heritage Parkway (ACFR FY2024, page 16). Stormwater utility and grant money is slated for water quality work from the Turkey Creek Restoration Feasibility Study.

On the parks and safety side, the Palm Bay report lists design work to improve electrical infrastructure at Fred Poppe Regional Park (ACFR FY2024, page 12), and planned shoreline revetment at Castaways Point and Stearns Park and boardwalk replacements at Castaways and Goode Park (ACFR FY2024, page 15). Fire Station 7 was expected to be complete in fall 2025, and Fire Station 8, planned for northwest Palm Bay near St. Johns Heritage Parkway and Malabar Road, was in design. These are plans as the letter described them in May 2025, not audited results.

Florida's Office of Economic and Demographic Research reports that Palm Bay collected $441.99 per resident in ad valorem taxes in fiscal 2024, against $586.29 in neighboring Melbourne.

EDR compiles both cities' figures from data obtained from the Florida Department of Financial Services (EDR Palm Bay revenues, source note). Palm Bay's ad valorem total of $61,967,137 matches its ACFR (EDR Palm Bay revenues), and EDR lists the Palm Bay 2024 municipal population as 140,199 (EDR). Melbourne's per-capita ad valorem figure is $586.29 (EDR Melbourne revenues).

Palm Bay's EDR total of $379,189,685 in revenues is larger than the $262,645,399 in the ACFR's government-wide statement; the EDR total spans every fund type, pension funds included (EDR Palm Bay total revenues), and its rows include $30,734,175 in inter-fund transfers in (EDR) and $4,108,779 in debt proceeds (EDR). Total Palm Bay expenditures were $291,263,623, or $2,077.50 per resident (EDR Palm Bay expenditures), compared with $3,183.64 per resident in Melbourne (EDR Melbourne expenditures).