Fort Lauderdale commissioners adopt $1.28 billion budget, keep same millage rate for 19th year

Fort Lauderdale commissioners voted 4-1 on Monday to adopt a $1.28 billion budget, while maintaining the same millage rate for the 19th year. Laura Reece, the director of the city’s office of management and budget, said the 2027 budget included about $12 million in reductions. “For somebody who has a $640,000 [home,] which is the average single-family value in this city, it was $180 a year or $15 per month,” Reece told commissioners before the vote about the impact on the city’s residents for the upcoming year. Dean J. Trantalis, the mayor; Ben Sorensen, the vice mayor; and Commissioners Steven Glassman and Pamela Beasley-Pittman voted to pass the proposed budget. “The increases that we see in our budget are often reflected in the increases that we provide in the salaries and benefits to our employees,“ Trantalis said. The budget included an increase of about $14 million in salaries and wages. It also included $6.1 million in employee benefits, such as health insurance and pension cont