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The Brevard Example

Eighteen budgets under a voter-approved cap on property tax revenue. How the limit came to be, what the county's own figures show, the times the County Commission set it aside and the reasons on record, and what people in Brevard say about it.

County figures FY2015–FY2025 (baseline FY2019; comparisons on FY2024) Population 667,900 (2025 estimate) Published October 15, 2026

What this is. An exercise in analysis and transparency. This study takes no position on county spending, on property tax policy or on Amendment 3; it puts the public record in one place so that local officials and the voters who choose them can decide with all of the information in front of them. Statement of intent, sources and method →

Brevard's county page All counties compared Sources

In brief

26.5%

Property tax revenue growth, FY2019–FY2025, against a 42.5% population-and-inflation baseline — 16.0 points below

3.9456 → 2.8643

County operating millage, FY2019 to FY2026 (county figures); 2.9207 in FY2025 on the DOR roll

$425

Property tax revenue per resident, FY2024 — #54 of 65; statewide median $666

$1,111

County outlays per resident, FY2024 — #65 of 66 (the second-lowest); statewide median $1,770

2 + 1

Budgets in which the commission set the cap aside on an emergency or critical-need finding, of the eighteen adopted under it (FY2009-10 through FY2026-27): two confirmed in the record, one attested by participants but not documented online

49.5%

Operating spending growth, FY2019–FY2025, 7.0 points above the same baseline — funded by sources other than property tax

$656.3M

Net added to the governmental funds' balance over the 7 years FY2019–FY2025 (revenues and other sources minus spending and other uses)

73.1%

Share of the votes cast on the November 4, 2008 charter amendment that approved the cap, as reported by Florida Today

Brevard County is, as far as the public record located for this study shows, the one Florida county whose charter limits how much its property tax revenue can grow. In the figures every county reports to the state, Brevard sits at the low end of every measure of property tax in this study: the lowest property tax growth against its own baseline of the 65 counties compared, the second-lowest county outlays per resident, and a countywide operating millage that was reduced in every budget from FY2019 through FY2026 while taxable value grew 80.3% between FY2019 and FY2025. The same records show the other side of the ledger: operating spending that grew 49.5%, 7.0 points above the baseline, funded by sources other than property tax; a county manager's budget message citing "years of deferred maintenance"; and a commission that voted this year to go past the limit, the second such finding the record confirms and the third by the accounts of participants. The records show these things side by side; they do not show which caused which, and this page draws no conclusion from them.

How the cap came to be

1994 Brevard adopts a county charter. (House staff analysis, 2007)
2002 According to a 2007 Florida House staff analysis, voters amend the charter to add Section 5.4, limiting growth in ad valorem revenue for operating funds to the lesser of 3% or the change in CPI unless a majority of electors approved more. (Florida House staff analysis, 2007; Vose memo, 2016)
2004 In Ellis v. Burk, 866 So. 2d 1236, the Fifth District Court of Appeal holds Section 5.4 unconstitutional — because, in the House staff analysis's description of the ruling, chapters 129 and 200, Florida Statutes, "set forth the exclusive statutory scheme for establishing the budget and the resulting millage rate." The Florida Supreme Court declines review. (Florida House staff analysis, 2007; Vose memo to the Charter Review Commission, 2016)
2007 The Legislature passes a special act for Brevard (HB 1577, Chapter 2007-310, Laws of Florida) allowing the county to cap annual growth in ad valorem revenue by charter at no less than the lesser of 3% or CPI, with a supermajority emergency or critical-need override. Committee votes were 6–0 and 12–0. (Florida House staff analysis, 2007)
Jan. 2008 Brevard voters approve the special act in a referendum on January 29, 2008. (Vose memo to the Charter Review Commission, 2016)
Nov. 2008 Voters approve the charter amendment that became today's Section 2.9.3.1 on November 4, 2008; Florida Today reported 73.1% in favor. The new section differs from the old one in three ways: a commission supermajority, not only the voters, can approve growth above the cap on a finding of emergency or critical need valid for one budget year; the cap also covers municipal service taxing units and dependent districts; and millage for general-obligation bonds or approved by referendum is exempt. (Brevard County Charter, s. 2.9.3.1; Florida Today, July 25, 2019; Vose memo to the Charter Review Commission, 2016)
2016 The general counsel to that year's Charter Review Commission advises that the section is "plainly inconsistent with general law as provided in Chapters 129 and 200, Florida Statutes," that there is "a persuasive argument" it is illegal under s. 200.001(7), and that a court might instead find the later special act controls. The cap stays. (Vose memo to the Charter Review Commission, 2016)
2019 The commission sets the cap aside for the Sheriff's law-enforcement taxing unit (below). In December the Clerk of Court sues to stop the county from carrying that year's excess into the next year's base; the suit is dismissed for lack of standing, so the question is not decided. (Vero News, Jan. 2, 2020; CRC Proposal 1 agenda report, Feb. 3, 2022)
2022 The Charter Review Commission takes up Proposal 1, which would have required the allowable increase after an override year to be computed from the last year without one; its agenda report states that voters intended the critical need or emergency revenue "to last for only one budget year and not become the baseline ad valorem tax revenue." It is not among the proposals forwarded to the November 2022 ballot. (CRC Proposal 1 agenda report, Feb. 3, 2022; CRC page)
2026 The commission sets the cap aside again, this time for the General Fund (below). (Space Coast Rocket, July 22, 2026; Talk of Titusville, Sept. 24, 2026)

No other Florida county with an equivalent charter cap was located. A court struck down a voter-adopted charter amendment limiting the commission's authority in Charlotte County (1995) and a millage cap by ordinance in Marion County (1983), and a 2001 Attorney General opinion advised Hillsborough County that it could not cap its operating budget by charter; Brevard's cap rests on its own special act. (Senate staff analysis, 2005; Vose memo to the Charter Review Commission, 2016)

What the cap says

In plain terms: each year the County Commission may not set a millage rate that raises budgeted property tax revenue more than 3% above the prior year, or more than the change in the Consumer Price Index if that is lower. Revenue from new construction, additions and major renovations does not count toward the limit. The limit applies to the countywide rate and to the taxing units and dependent districts the commission sets rates for. It does not apply to millage for general-obligation bonds or millage approved by referendum. And it can be set aside for one budget year if a supermajority of the commission finds an emergency or critical need and states the facts on which the finding rests.

Section 2.9.3.1(c), as it reads today: "Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection, the Board of County Commissioners may impose an ad valorem tax for county, municipal or district purposes at a rate which exceeds the limitations in paragraphs (a) and (b), if a supermajority of the Board concurs in a finding that such an excess is necessary because of emergency or critical need. The finding shall set forth the ultimate facts upon which it is based, and shall be valid for a single budget year." (Brevard County Charter, s. 2.9.3.1)

The charter does not define "supermajority"; on the five-member commission it has been treated as four votes. Nor does it say what the next year's limit is computed from after an override year. The county attorney's office has read the charter as not requiring a return to the pre-override revenue, the Clerk has argued the opposite, and the 2022 Charter Review Commission did not send the question to voters. (Florida Today, July 25, 2019; Vero News, Jan. 2, 2020; CRC Proposal 1 agenda report, Feb. 3, 2022)

What the numbers show

Property tax revenue against the baseline

Between FY2019 and FY2025, Brevard's population grew 12.6% and prices in the South region rose 26.6%; together they account for 42.5%. Property tax revenue — every county levy, as reported in the county's Annual Financial Reports — rose from $232.6M to $294.2M, 26.5%. At the baseline it would be $331.5M in FY2025; it is $37.3M below. Over FY2020–FY2025 it ran a cumulative $130.0M below the baseline path. Per resident it went from $392 to $441, which is $348 in FY2019 dollars. On the FY2024 comparison Brevard ranks #65 of 65 (the lowest) on growth above the baseline and #64 of 65 (the second-lowest) on cumulative dollars above the path per resident.

Governmental funds, all county levies, as reported in the county's Annual Financial Reports. The baseline grows the FY2019 figure by Brevard's own population and CPI-U South.

The operating millage

The County Commission's countywide operating rate was 3.9456 mills in FY2019. It was reduced in every subsequent budget through FY2026, to 2.8643 — the DOR rolls show 2.9207 for FY2025, and the county's FY2026-27 budget message shows 2.8643 for FY2026 — while taxable value grew 80.3% between FY2019 and FY2025, from $37.70B to $67.96B. The operating levy (taxable value × rate) therefore grew 33.4% over those years, against a 42.5% baseline, and the FY2025 adopted rate of 2.9207 sat below the baseline rate of 3.1196. In each year FY2020–FY2025 the adopted rate was above the rolled-back rate, as the cap's 3%-or-CPI allowance permits. For FY2026-27 the commission adopted 3.0942 mills, the first increase in the series and 10% above the rolled-back rate of 2.8129, under the critical-need finding described below. (Florida DOR County Profiles; FY2026-27 proposed budget message; Talk of Titusville, Sept. 24, 2026)

FY2018–FY2025: Florida DOR County Profiles (roll year + 1 = fiscal year). FY2026 and FY2027: the county's FY2026-27 budget message and the adopted FY2026-27 rate as reported at adoption; the 2025-roll DOR profile for Brevard is internally inconsistent and is not used. The baseline rate is the FY2019 operating levy grown by population and inflation, divided by that year's taxable value.

Where the money came from instead

The cap limits one revenue source. Brevard's total governmental revenue grew 41.6% between FY2019 and FY2025, close to the 42.5% baseline, because other sources grew faster than property tax: federal grants and miscellaneous revenue (interest, rents and sales) above all, as the table shows against each source's own baseline. Operating spending grew 49.5% over the same years, 7.0 points above the baseline. Federal grant revenue went from $13.6M in FY2019 to a peak of $71.7M in FY2021 and $33.5M in FY2025. Over the 7 years FY2019–FY2025 the county's governmental funds took in $656.3M more than they paid out, adding that amount to fund balance.

Revenue by source	FY2019	FY2025	Change	At baseline, FY2025	Above baseline
Ad valorem (property) taxes	$232.6M	$294.2M	+26.5%	$331.5M	−$37.3M
Other taxes (sales surtax, fuel, tourist, utility)	$84.0M	$120.1M	+42.9%	$119.8M	+$0.4M
Permits, fees & special assessments	$79.1M	$107.7M	+36.1%	$112.8M	−$5.1M
State grants & shared revenue	$77.4M	$101.6M	+31.3%	$110.3M	−$8.7M
Federal grants	$13.6M	$33.5M	+145.4%	$19.4M	+$14.0M
Charges for services	$68.3M	$96.6M	+41.5%	$97.3M	−$0.7M
Miscellaneous (interest, rents, sales)	$22.2M	$65.4M	+194.1%	$31.7M	+$33.7M
Other (fines and forfeits, local grants)	$5.3M	$5.7M	+7.5%	$7.6M	−$1.9M
All revenue	$582.6M	$824.8M	+41.6%	$830.4M	−$5.6M

Against its peers

The four counties closest to Brevard in population, on the same year and the same yardstick. A dagger marks a county with a data note affecting the years compared; Volusia's operating rate moved in FY2024 in a way consistent with a change in the structure of its levy, so no rate is shown for it.

County (FY2024)	Population	Property tax per resident	County outlays per resident	Property tax growth FY2019–FY2024	Baseline	Above baseline, pts	Operating millage, latest year with a baseline
Brevard	653,703	$425	$1,111	19.4%	36.2%	−16.9	2.9207
Pasco	633,029	$734	$1,756	68.4%	43.3%	+25.1	7.4292
Volusia†	594,643	$625	$1,201	38.8%	35.8%	+2.9	—
Seminole	493,282	$666	$1,297	49.4%	30.8%	+18.6	4.8751
Polk	826,090	$500	$1,219	61.3%	45.0%	+16.3	6.6348
Statewide median (65 counties with property tax reported; outlays 66)	—	$666	$1,770	54.7%	33.4%	+17.7	6.8822

What the county spends it on, per resident

Public safety was 39.0% of Brevard's operating spending in FY2024 (statewide median 45.0%). The account lines people ask about most, per resident, against the statewide median:

Spending line per resident, FY2024 (operating funds)	Brevard	Statewide median
Sheriff-related (law enforcement, detention, other public safety)	$263	$442
Fire and EMS	$125	$182
Roads and streets	$117	$156
Parks, libraries and cultural	$111	$54
Financial and administrative (account 513)	$59	$107

The sheriff-related figure counts spending reported by function in the county's own filing; counties differ in how much of a constitutional officer's budget they report by function rather than by transfer, so the comparison is indicative. See the county page for every line and every year.

Three findings in eighteen budgets

Section 2.9.3.1 has governed eighteen county budgets, FY2009-10 through FY2026-27. In two of them the record confirms the supermajority finding that lets the commission exceed the limit; a third is attested by participants but its details were not located. The record of each, as the county's own documents and the local press describe it:

Budget year	Status	Vote	What was set	Stated reasons	Sources
FY2016-17	Attested, details not located	Not located	Not located	Former Clerk Scott Ellis told the 2022 Charter Review Commission that "In 2016, the Board had done the same thing"; a commission member described the cap as having been set aside "twice in the whole 13 years." The vote, fund, amount and stated reason were not located in county records available online.	CRC minutes, Feb. 17, 2022
FY2019-20	Confirmed	4–1 (Tobia no), July 23, 2019	Law Enforcement MSTU: 1.0925 → 1.1142 mills; revenue +$1.77M (9.4%) over the prior year, to $20.47M; a cap-compliant rate of 1.0629 would have raised $19.52M	The Sheriff's request cited school-security costs under the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Act, deputy recruitment and retention, and deferred vehicle and equipment replacement. The county's adopted-budget message records that the rate was "adopted above the rate calculated under the County's Charter Cap," which "required a finding of critical need and a supermajority vote."	Florida Today, July 25, 2019; FY2019-20 budget message
FY2026-27	Confirmed by local reporting; the county's proposed-budget message describes the planned resolution. The adopted resolution and minutes were not located online.	4–1 (Feltner no), July 2026, and 4–1 at adoption, Sept. 2026	General Fund: 3.0942 mills adopted against a 2.8625 staff proposal, a 2.8643 prior rate and a 2.8129 rolled-back rate; about $17M (the chair put it at about $16.8M; the itemized uses sum to $15.5M)	Itemized at the July vote: $5M for the animal shelter, $3.5M for jail infrastructure, $3M for the Government Center North and other facilities, $1.6M for road resurfacing, $2.4M to restore reserves. The budget message listed critical needs of "General Fund Infrastructure, $15 Million Annually", "Public Safety, $25 Million Annually" and "General/Countywide, $7 Million Annually", and cited "Years of deferred maintenance, aging infrastructure, and construction cost inflation that continues to outpace CPI".	Space Coast Rocket, July 22, 2026; Talk of Titusville, Sept. 24, 2026; FY2026-27 budget message

Two further points from the record. First, according to the 2022 Charter Review Commission's agenda report for Proposal 1, the County Commission used the revenue raised under the 2019 finding as the FY2020-21 and FY2021-22 baseline rather than returning to the pre-finding base — the question the Clerk's suit raised and Proposal 1 would have answered. Second, a Review Commission member told the 2022 commission that, taking the 2019 law-enforcement increase together with general fund and road-and-bridge amounts, the total above the cap came to under one-quarter of one percent of the budget; if those figures are accurate they would mean amounts above the cap in years without a finding, but the chair asked staff to verify them and that verification was not located. (CRC Proposal 1 agenda report, Feb. 3, 2022; CRC minutes, Feb. 17, 2022)

What the record shows about the mechanism. The limit can be set aside only by a finding of emergency or critical need adopted by a supermajority of the commission at a public meeting, stating the facts it rests on, and valid for one budget year. In eighteen budgets the record confirms two such findings and participants attest a third. For the two confirmed, the vote, the amount and the stated reasons are in the county's own documents and in the local press; the commissioners who cast those votes stand for election.

What people in Brevard say about it

Public statements, quoted as the source prints them and attributed. They are offered as the record of the debate, not as findings of this study.

In favor of the limit

"I think it's always a milestone to try to hit that point, because the voters have asked us to do that." — Rita Pritchett, County Commission chair, on staying within the cap (2023) (Florida Today, 2023)
"Because of fiscally responsible decision-making and careful planning, Brevard County remains well-positioned…" — Frank Abbate, County Manager, FY2023-24 budget message (as quoted) (Florida Today, 2023)
"Typically, we don't have a very loose budget." — Rita Pritchett, County Commissioner (2022) (Florida Today, July 2022)
"In the County Charter, it says such an increase is good for one budget only." — Scott Ellis, Clerk of Court and Comptroller, on the one-year finding (2020) (Vero News, Jan. 2, 2020)
"For the 15th consecutive year, the proposed General Countywide property tax rate has been reduced." — The county's FY2026-27 proposed-budget message (the proposed rate; the adopted FY2026-27 rate was higher than the prior year's, and the county's own consecutive-year counts differ between documents) (FY2026-27 proposed budget message)
"Can we clarify something—that you're asking staff to prepare to exceed the charter cap?" — Rob Feltner, County Commissioner, the vote against in July 2026 (Space Coast Rocket, July 22, 2026)

On the limit's costs

"This will negatively impact our ability to provide the current level of support to the citizens of Brevard County." — Sheriff Wayne Ivey, FY2022-23 budget submission, on the "revenue-generation constraints of the revenue charter provision" (Florida Today, July 2022)
"If we were to go with a lower rate, it would box us in." — Thad Altman, County Commission chair, moving the FY2026-27 rate (July 2026) (Space Coast Rocket, July 22, 2026)
"I can't begin to emphasize the dire straits that that facility is in." — Thad Altman, on the condition of a county facility (July 2026) (Space Coast Rocket, July 22, 2026)
"Years of deferred maintenance, aging infrastructure, and construction cost inflation that continues to outpace CPI…" — The county's FY2026-27 budget message (FY2026-27 proposed budget message)
"a reduction in millage rates is required in order to comply with the limitation in ad valorem revenue growth." — The county's FY2019-20 adopted-budget message (FY2019-20 adopted budget message)
"I'm here 150% to support the sheriff's budget request." — Ralph Perrone Sr., Merritt Island resident, at the 2019 hearing (Florida Today, July 25, 2019)

What the cap has not settled

Deferred maintenance. The county's FY2026-27 budget message cites "years of deferred maintenance, aging infrastructure, and construction cost inflation that continues to outpace CPI," a road paving program that "began with a $3.8 million funding shortfall," and funding "now 40% below the statewide average, creating an estimated $2.7 million annual funding gap." Talk of Titusville reported in September 2026 that the Sheriff told the commission the jail has more than 690 open work orders and needs at least $3.5 million a year for building systems (paraphrase). Florida Today reported county figures in 2023 showing the miles of county road rated good went from 498 in 2019 to 642, and poor from 73 to 31. The records do not say whether any of the backlog is attributable to the cap rather than to other choices. (FY2026-27 proposed budget message; Talk of Titusville, Sept. 24, 2026; Florida Today, 2023)
The Sheriff's budget. The 2019 finding was for the Sheriff; in 2022 the Sheriff withdrew a $1.76 million request that could have required another finding, after renegotiating jail contracts, while warning of a projected shortfall the following year. (Florida Today, July 2022)
The legal question. The general counsel to the 2016 Charter Review Commission advised it that the section is inconsistent with general law and may be illegal. No court ruling on the current section's legality was located; the one suit located, over the base after the 2019 finding, was dismissed on standing. (Vose memo to the Charter Review Commission, 2016; CRC Proposal 1 agenda report, Feb. 3, 2022)
The base after an override. Whether a one-year finding raises the base for every year after it has been argued since at least 2017; the 2022 Charter Review Commission did not send the question to the voters, and no earlier referendum on it was located. (Vero News, Jan. 2, 2020; CRC Proposal 1 agenda report, Feb. 3, 2022)
Amendment 3. The county's FY2026-27 budget message estimates that what it calls "the $250,000 homestead exemption" on the November 2026 ballot would reduce Brevard County property tax revenues "by more than $87 million annually (26%)," including $54,056,168 from the General Fund. This study takes no position on the amendment; the figure is the county's. (FY2026-27 proposed budget message)

Questions this raises

Questions a county official could answer. The records show the change; they do not show the reason.

Which services or capital items were deferred in each year since FY2019, at what estimated cost, and what role, if any, did the cap play in each?
What are the county's plans for the net $656.3M added to governmental fund balance over FY2019–FY2025?
What drove operating spending from $497.5M to $743.9M between FY2019 and FY2025 while property tax revenue grew 26.5%, and which revenue sources carried the difference?
Does the county compute the allowable increase after an override year from the override-year revenue or from the last year without one, and what is the cumulative effect of that choice since FY2019-20?
What did the FY2016-17 finding fund, and what was the vote?

Sources and method

County figures on this page are Brevard's own Annual Financial Report data as compiled by the Florida Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research, its taxable values and millage rates from the Florida Department of Revenue's county profiles, and the baseline, per-resident and ranking calculations described on the method page; they are the same figures as on Brevard's county page. The history, the override findings and the quotations are taken from the documents and news reports below, each fetched and read for this page; where a fact could not be located in a public record this page says so. Quotations are reproduced from the linked sources. This page names elected officials only in attributing their public statements and recorded votes. It is an analysis of public records, not an audit, and it makes no recommendation.