As tax revenue spiked, so did push for services
By Rich Pollack and Larry Barszewski
As a member of the statehouse’s Joint Legislative Auditing Committee, Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman says she has seen numerous examples of overspending by municipal governments and the apparent misuse of taxpayer dollars.
“What was most surprising to me was the actual number of municipalities throughout the state who failed their own taxpayers by excessive spending and by failing to support budget expenditures with proper documentation,” she said. “There is excessive spending throughout Florida in several municipalities.”
With a proposed state constitutional amendment coming before voters in November that could dramatically cut the amount of property tax dollars filling municipal coffers, a fresh focus on local government spending has emerged.
The challenge is that what is wasteful spending to some is money for necessary services to others.
Republican Gossett-Seidman supports and voted to put on the ballot Amendment 3 this November, which will increase the state’s homestead exemption — from $51,411 this year to $150,000 in 2027 and to $250,000 in 2028 — if 60% of voters agree. Proponents say the increased exemptions will force governments to be more efficient and help curb unneeded spending on nonessential services.
Opponents of the amendment say the increases will handcuff local governments as they attempt to provide services that residents need and want.
State Rep. Rob Long, a Democrat who previously served on the Delray Beach City Commission, says that there is lots of talk about government waste by state leaders but not a lot of details.
“There are always ways to optimize things in government but there needs to be a discussion that focuses on real data and specifics,” he said.
What to provide?
Delray Beach Mayor Tom Carney, who is at odds with his fellow commissioners over their proposed tax rate increase in his city this year, has pushed for fiscally responsible city budgets, saying that municipalities must always prioritize core services.
“The core function of government is to provide public safety and good infrastructure,” he said.
That translates into providing money for police and fire services, water and sewer services, and ensuring roads and other public property are well maintained.
Still, Carney — who has not publicly said how he will vote on Amendment 3 — says governments cannot simply rule out spending in other areas.
“You never retreat from core function but if you can demonstrate the value of other enhancements and they contribute to the success of the city, then those are things you should pursue,” he said.
An event that brings recognition to Delray Beach and that helps make the city special, for example, might be worth spending money on, he said.
In an opinion piece that appeared in the Palm Beach Post in July, Carney wrote that should Amendment 3 pass, he thinks his city will be able to weather what he calls more modest revenue growth.
To do so, he says the city would need to delay non-essential hiring, push back lower priority capital purchases, consolidate administrative functions, prioritize the order of projects and “closely review overtime, contracts and discretionary spending.”
Carney, in the opinion piece, pointed out that Delray Beach’s general fund budget and spending grew significantly during the years when property values increased substantially.
And it wasn’t just Delray Beach.
Tax revenues rise
A Coastal Star analysis found that property tax revenues in 10 southern Palm Beach County coastal communities increased significantly in recent years. The analysis used Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports and other published financial documents from the municipalities.
In Boca Raton and Delray Beach, property tax revenues nearly doubled from 2016 to 2025 — a jump of $65 million in Boca Raton and $47 million in Delray Beach — and more than doubled in Boynton Beach.
In contrast, the Consumer Price Index and the Municipal Cost Index — a measure that looks at the change in government costs and not household ones — generally grew between 35% and 40% during the same time.
However, the MCI and CPI wouldn't take into consideration items like population growth, new services, added employees and one-time expenditures.
The coast’s smaller communities also saw large property tax revenue increases during that time, with Lantana’s tax revenues increasing 180%, going from $2.6 million in 2016 to $7.3 million in 2025. Other hefty increases ranged from a 61% jump in Highland Beach to a 102% increase in Manalapan in the years looked at.
Only Gulf Stream’s 25% increase was under the change in the CPI and MCI.
The outlier is Briny Breezes, which saw a substantial decrease in its property tax collections over the same period. That was due to its unique position as a town and a corporation — and a decision several years ago to shift a greater portion of the town’s expenses from the town’s budget and onto the corporation’s budget, both of which are paid for by property owners there.
Lantana’s huge increase, meanwhile, was directly related to the town’s 2022 decision to raise its tax rate 7.1% — even though taxable values in town that year increased 15.8%.
Council members moved forward with the increase despite resident opposition. Taxpayers complained about many things — including how frequently the town bought new vehicles — but then-Council member Lynn “Doc” Moorhouse said the town was turning a corner and needed to make up for past neglect. Not raising the tax rate would lead to the town’s infrastructure “going to crap again,” he said.
Among the items included in Lantana’s budget that year were 5% cost-of-living raises for regular employees (7.5% to 8.5% COLAs for police), making a part-time lifeguard position full time, and adding hours for part-time library employees to provide better service to patrons.
Budget, employee impacts
Not surprisingly, the extra revenues local towns and cities were collecting corresponded with bigger operating budgets, with nine of the 10 South County municipalities reviewed seeing their expenditures jump between 72% and 99% between 2016 and either 2024 or 2025.
The only municipality with a substantially smaller expenditure increase was South Palm Beach, up 28%.
The extra spending included more employees in most municipalities, including police and fire rescue positions.
Most of Highland Beach’s 49-employee increase between 2016 and 2025 can be attributed to the town’s decision to create its own Fire Rescue Department, while South Palm Beach’s drop from 13 employees to four over the same period is due to that town’s decision to shut down its own police force and hire the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for service.
Both are examples of municipal governments trying to determine the best and most affordable ways to deliver public safety services to their residents.
Salaries and benefits are typically the biggest part of a city or town’s operating budget. Officials must balance residents’ demands for good service and to be kept safe against the increased costs that come with a larger workforce.
In Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach, growth in each’s overall workforce outpaced growth in their public safety areas from 2016 to 2025, with total staff positions increasing 23% in Boca Raton, 19% in Boynton Beach and 15% in Delray Beach.
Employee costs, especially in the public safety personnel area, have mushroomed.
In Highland Beach, for example, police officer’s pay increased 61% from 2019 to 2026, with sergeant’s pay increasing 68%, according to Town Manager Marshall Labadie.
The pay increases are needed in large part because there is stiff competition for qualified police officers among local departments, which are also competing for personnel with the PBSO.
“This is an essential service in a competitive market,” said Long, whose district covers portions of coastal southern Palm Beach County, including parts of Delray Beach and Boynton Beach as well as Gulf Stream, Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes.
A quick Google search showed that starting salaries for police officers in the area that were in the mid-to-high $40,000s in 2015 are now in the low $70,000s or higher.
Local government leaders point out that other costs associated with employees, including health insurance and pensions, also continue to increase.
Municipal hiring practices were on the minds of legislators proposing the property tax referendum, said Gossett-Seidman, whose district includes Highland Beach and Boca Raton.
“We suspected that when funds were available before and after COVID that cities rushed out to hire personnel,” she said.
Other budget items
Cities and towns are facing some of the same skyrocketing bills as their residents, such as the cost of property insurance. There’s also the increased cost of maintaining municipally owned property and infrastructure.
“Everything costs more now,” Long said.
Highland Beach’s Labadie says officials also face the challenge of meeting the expectations of residents who want quality services.
“It’s difficult for elected officials not to spend money on what residents are demanding,” he said. “It’s challenging.”
Ocean Ridge Mayor Geoff Pugh, who plans to vote against Amendment 3, said it isn’t because he doesn’t want to pay less in taxes.
He said it has more to do with the quality of life people seek out in coming to Ocean Ridge — and probably other coastal communities as well.
“People expect to have certain things paid for and to have a certain way of life,” Pugh said. “They expect the amenities they get. ... They want the service to remain as it is today.
Another thing higher tax revenues provided coastal communities is the ability to have more savings on hand. Local governments have been putting more money into general fund reserves, which can be tapped for disaster relief and for budget stabilization.
Gulf Stream has relied on reserves to pay for infrastructure and road improvements taking place the past several years; Ocean Ridge has used reserves to support the cost of replacing aging water pipes; and Highland Beach used $4 million from reserves to build a new fire station when it started its own department.
Some local government leaders have said they will consider tapping into reserves to continue some non-core services if Amendment 3 passes. But they know they must be careful to use those reserves for one-time expenses and not to support ongoing costs such as employee salaries.
Show me the waste
One example of possible excessive government spending that came before the state audit committee, Gossett-Seidman said, included an audit that found a small North Florida community paid its town manager — who lived 130 miles away — $11,500 mostly in mileage reimbursements for travel to and from the town and to conferences. The manager spent only 69 days out of 755 workdays in the town, according to the audit.
The committee also heard about controversial purchases of 11 pickup trucks for $635,000 in Daytona Beach that drew concerns about overspending and lack of adequate documentation to prove that expenses were only for when the trucks were used for city business, she said.
Gossett-Seidman said that while there are other examples throughout the state, she does not know of any serious issues among South County municipalities.
It could be that little things adding up lead to the perception of spending that’s out of control.
For example, Gossett-Seidman said, consider redundancy and the general belief that tasks that could be handled by one person often are being done by two or three.
Carney says local governments will have to decide if the money they’re spending brings value to the municipalities and benefits taxpayers footing the bills.
“It’s their money,” he said. “We need to be the best stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
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