St. Lucie County Budget and Millage

Many separate taxing authorities set millage in St. Lucie County, including the Board of County Commissioners, the School Board, the Fire District, regional districts and the cities of Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie.

The St. Lucie County Property Appraiser publishes every one of them in a single table, with each authority's 2025 final millage rate, its 2026 rolled-back rate, its 2026 proposed rate and the place, date and phone number of its budget hearing (Property Appraiser rates and hearings table). Nine lines in it list the county's own hearing at 2300 Virginia Ave in Fort Pierce: the County General Fund, Fine and Forfeiture (Jail), the Law Enforcement, Community Development and Transit municipal service taxing units, Stormwater Management, Mosquito Control and two erosion districts.

A mill is a tax rate unit. The Property Appraiser's millage and tax rates page explains that one mill equals $1 for every $1,000 of taxable property value, so a total rate of 19.94 means $19.94 for each $1,000 of taxable value; the same page links a tax estimator for a range of likely annual taxes. The TRIM notice for each property lists the proposed rate and estimated taxes for each taxing authority that applies to it, including the County Commission, School Board, municipalities and other taxing districts (Property Appraiser TRIM notice page). How the bill is paid, and its discounts, is covered in the St. Lucie County property tax bills guide.

The Property Appraiser lists the County General Fund at 4.1985 mills for 2025 final, 4.0441 mills rolled-back and 4.0441 mills proposed for 2026, and Fine and Forfeiture (Jail) at 2.7294 mills for 2025 final and 2.7294 mills proposed for 2026.

Each of these lines lists the same hearing, held at 6:00 pm on September 3, 2026, on the 3rd floor of 2300 Virginia Ave in Fort Pierce, with 772-462-1670 as the contact number (Property Appraiser rates and hearings table). The table's 2026 columns are headed rollback and proposed rates; the Property Appraiser posts the adopted 2026 rates as a separate 2026 Final Tax Rates file on its millage and tax rates page, alongside final rate files for each year back to 2016 and a millage history covering 2005 to 2015.

Beyond the county commission's levies, the Property Appraiser lists the School (by State law RLE) rate at 3.0480 mills for 2025 final and 2.9970 mills proposed for 2026, and the Fire District at 3.0000 mills for 2025 final and 3.0000 mills proposed for 2026.

The hearing list shows where each body met. The School Board heard its rates at 5:01 pm on September 8, 2026 at 9461 Brandywine Ln, Port St. Lucie; the Fire District at 5:01 pm on September 9, 2026 at 5160 NW Milner Dr, Port St. Lucie; Port St. Lucie at 5:30 pm on September 14, 2026 at 121 SW Port St Lucie Blvd; and Fort Pierce and St. Lucie Village at 6:30 pm on September 15, 2026 (Property Appraiser rates and hearings table). The South Florida Water Management District lines list a West Palm Beach hearing, and the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND) one in Jensen Beach.

Each St. Lucie County taxing authority follows the state Truth in Millage process, reporting its rates to the Property Appraiser and then adopting a tentative and a final budget and millage at two public hearings.

The proposed rates reach owners first on the TRIM notice in mid-August, as described below.

Under section 200.065, Florida Statutes, the rolled-back rate is the millage that, applied to the new tax roll excluding new construction and certain other additions, would raise the same property tax revenue as the prior year. Within 35 days of the Property Appraiser certifying taxable value, each authority must report its proposed rate, its rolled-back rate and the date, time and place of its first hearing. At that hearing the governing body adopts a tentative budget and announces the percentage, if any, by which its proposed rate exceeds the rolled-back rate. Within 15 days it must advertise its intent to adopt a final rate and budget, and at the final hearing the budget and the millage-levy resolution are adopted by separate votes; the final rate may not exceed the tentative one.

The St. Lucie County Property Appraiser's TRIM notice page explains how that shows up for an owner. The notice, mailed mid-August to the owner of every Saint Lucie County property, is an estimate rather than a bill: one column shows last year's taxes, a second shows taxes if each authority raised the same property tax revenue approved for the prior year, a third shows taxes at the proposed rates, and a hearings column lists when each taxing authority will discuss its tentative budget. The page encourages owners with concerns about the amount or use of taxes to attend those hearings or call the taxing authority.

Yes, state law bars counties from levying more than 10 mills on real and tangible personal property, except for voted levies; the Property Appraiser lists the St. Lucie County General Fund at 4.1985 mills for 2025.

The same statute lets a county levy up to 10 more mills within a municipal service taxing unit; the Property Appraiser's table lists three county MSTUs: Law Enforcement, Community Development and County Transit.

Section 200.071, Florida Statutes sets the 10 mill county limit and directs the Board of County Commissioners to reduce the millage for county officers, departments and other units if the proposed millage for the county and its dependent districts would exceed the maximum. The same section lets a county levy, within a municipal service taxing unit, an added millage of not more than 10 mills to pay for services of the kind cities usually provide.

The St. Lucie County Office of Management and Budget posts the Recommended Budget Book for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 and the Final Budget Book for Fiscal Year 2025-2026, with archived budgets by fiscal year, on its budgets page.

The office prepares and manages the county's annual budget: it sets the budget schedule, estimates revenue for each fund, reviews department requests, recommends actions to the County Administrator, and publishes and monitors the adopted budget, including transfers, amendments and resolutions (Office of Management and Budget page). Its presentations page carries the slides from each final budget hearing, most recently the St Lucie County FY 2026-2027 Final Budget Hearing, along with an FY 2022-2023 Adopted Budget Summary and FY 2021-2022 Adopted Budget Highlights.

The budget keeps changing after adoption. According to the budget resolutions page, the Board of County Commissioners adopts resolutions each year that amend the county budget, approved during advertised meetings, and summaries are posted for every fiscal year from FY2011-2012 through FY2025-2026; the resolutions themselves are found by number in the county's public legal documents.

The county also has a Citizens Budget Development Committee, created by Resolution 91-221 and amended by Resolution 93-77. It has no more than 15 members, two named by each commissioner and one by each constitutional officer, needs 8 for a quorum, and lists meetings at 7:30 am on the third Friday of the month from January through June, August and October in Conference Room 3 of the Roger Poitras Administration Annex at 2300 Virginia Avenue, Fort Pierce; its clerk can be reached at 772-462-1670 (Citizens Budget Development Committee page).

Last verified: October 22, 2026, after reading again the Property Appraiser's taxing authority table, millage and TRIM pages, the county budget office's budget, presentation, resolution and committee pages, and sections 200.065 and 200.071 of the Florida Statutes.