The City of St. Augustine sets its tax rate Wednesday evening. It is the rate the city has set every year since 2009.

That is Resolution 2026-23, item 3.A, on page 2 of the packet. It puts the final millage at 7.5000 mills. It also records the rolled-back rate, which is the rate that would raise the same money off this year’s property values, at 7.2385 mills, and says the difference is 3.61 percent.

Behind it, on second reading, is Ordinance 2026-22, which adopts the budget itself and the five-year capital improvement plan.

Second reading is the last stop. There is no third.

The budget totals $113,973,720. The overview on page 9 says that covers the General, Debt Service and Proprietary funds. It leaves out the Community Redevelopment Agency, whose budget is adopted separately and sits in the appendix. Against it, the fund summary on page 19 puts the revised FY26 budget at $134,534,840.

Gross taxable value in the city went up 8.5 percent over last year’s final figure, by the overview’s account. That is the number a flat rate gets applied to.

The rate is flat. The bill is not.

The city works the arithmetic for a reader on the same page. A home valued at $400,000 with $50,000 in homestead exemptions has a taxable value of $350,000, and the city’s share of the tax on it is $2,625.

Two sentences above that example, the same page says 7.5000 mills “translates to $0.0075 per $1,000 of taxable property value.” Run at that figure, the same $350,000 house would owe about $2.63.

The worked example is the one that matches the resolution.

The highlights list on page 9 opens with the line that the millage rate stays at 7.5000. A fire assessment fee increase is the one under it.

The packet does not print the new fire assessment anywhere in its 160 pages. It is not on the highlights page and it is not in the fund summaries.

The timeline on page 10 has the roll certified to the Tax Collector by Sept. 11. That is twelve days before the commission votes on the budget that counts the fees as revenue.

The rest of the list is priced. Utility rates go up 3.5 percent, and the surcharge paid by customers outside the city comes down 5 percent. Stormwater and solid waste go up 4.2 percent. Parking rates do not move. Paving is funded at $950,000, an increase over FY26 by the book’s own note. Conservation land funding stays at $100,000.

The payroll lines are on the same page. They give a 3 percent general wage increase for pay grades 19 and below, 2 percent for grade 20 and above, and merit of up to 2 percent on performance. One new code enforcement officer arrives, paid for entirely out of short term rental fees. Four General Fund positions come off.

The hearing is Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 5:05 p.m. in the Alcazar Room, and general public comments come second on the agenda, ahead of both votes, at three minutes a person.

The first hearing on this budget was Sept. 9, also at 5:05. Its minutes go to the commission for approval on Sept. 28, on the consent agenda, five days after the budget they describe is adopted.