Key West approves $300 million budget, sets rollback rate

Key West City Commission reached consensus on a rollback rate of 1.8848 for the proposed fiscal 2026/2027 budget after a public workshop that began at 9 a.m. Monday, July 20. A city notice said day two of the budget workshop was canceled once the rollback-rate decision was reached.

The budget, rounded publicly to about $300 million, comes to $286,615,419 for the fiscal year that runs from Oct. 1, 2025 through Sept. 30, 2026. With a permanent population of about 27,000, that works out to roughly $11,000 per resident in city spending, a figure that underscores how much of the local tax discussion turns on property taxes and the services those dollars support.

Key West’s last adopted budget was approved Sept. 25, 2025, and the city’s budget materials placed the total at $286,615,419, an increase of $24,092,251 from the prior year. The adopted budget covered Mayor Danise Henriquez and commissioners Monica Haskell, Samuel Kaufman, Donie Lee, Lissette Carey, Mary Lou Hoover and Aaron Castillo. The city’s Business Impact Estimate for the ad valorem tax ordinance listed meeting dates of Sept. 11 and Sept. 25, 2025, showing how the commission’s budget decisions moved through formal hearings before final adoption.

The current rollback-rate step continues a pattern of close scrutiny over Key West tax levels. In the city’s archived 2021/2022 budget approval, the commission voted 5-2 and set the millage rate at 2.136 mills. The latest consensus gives the city a firmer number as officials move toward final budget adoption and taxpayers look ahead to bills tied to the new rate.

The Key West budget also lands in the middle of a broader Monroe County fiscal squeeze. County commissioners approved a $672.7 million annual budget in September 2025, then later discussed a proposed $695.7 million fiscal 2027 budget that carried a preliminary 7.7% tax increase and, separately, a proposed $2 million in cuts. For Key West, the immediate issue is how much of that citywide spending will show up in the tax rate, and how much pressure will remain on housing, infrastructure, resilience and public safety funding in the year ahead.