BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Keystone Heights city council members approved a final millage rate of 3.6073 for its 2025-2026 budget, lower than the 3.6422 tentative rate council members approved during a September 18 meeting.
The city’s current rate is 3.8847. In the September 18 meeting, council members said the correct rollback rate—the millage rate at which taxpayers would pay in property taxes next year, as the same amount they paid this year, adjusted for changing property values—was 3.6422. City staff had earlier determined an incorrect rollback rate of 3.067 and advertised it as the official rollback rate under Florida’s Truth in Millage law.
However, during the September 29 meeting, council members announced a third rollback rate of 3.6073, which they said was correct.
Interim City Manager Jamie Booth said the new rate would reduce the city’s 2025-2026 revenues by $3,491, which would be taken from reserves to balance the municipality’s budget.
Booth also summarized the city’s 2025-2026 budget, which totaled $4,539,963, and council members approved. Spending in the General Fund is set at $2,299,888. The budget for the infrastructure fund is $1,220,684, and the spending forecast for the community redevelopment agency trust fund is $490,142. The cemetery fund budget is $529,249.
The budget leaves the city with a reserve of $690,560,
Council member Dan Lewandowski said that the city’s reserves should be at least $540,000 according to the Government Financial Officers Association.
