Melbourne Beach, Florida · mb-fy27-budget
Town of Melbourne Beach — the money trail
Total spending across the town’s funds for the year that began October 1, 2026, as stated on the official Budget Summary the town posts (“TOTAL EXPENDITURES $5,359,912”). The Town Commission approved the budget and a tax rate of 4.6000 mills on September 16, 2026. Click any number to see exactly where it comes from. Where the trail goes dark, it becomes a numbered issue in the
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Cross-foots ✓ 18/18
Where it comes from — the thinner half of the record
▶General Fund and Building Fund revenue$5,126,81796%✓ Sourced
What the town expects to collect in its main fund and its building-permit fund for the year that began October 1, 2026. Property tax is budgeted at 97% of the levy, because Florida lets taxpayers pay early for a discount. These six groups add up to $5,126,817 exactly.
▶Taxes$4,242,46383% of fund✓ Sourced
Property tax is three of every four tax dollars. The rest are taxes and fees on electric, water, gas, phone and cable bills, plus a share of gas and insurance taxes.
The levy at 4.6000 mills on $725,977,934 of taxable value is $3,339,498 (PDF p. 23). The budget counts 97% of it.
Mostly building permits ($205,000), plus vacation-rental, golf-cart (LSV) and bonfire permits.
The local half-cent sales tax ($224,000), state revenue sharing ($107,271), alcohol licenses, and a $6,000 safety grant.
Almost all of it is the Brevard County School Board paying for the school resource officer ($77,000).
Interest on the town’s savings ($100,000) and $84,170 carried forward from last year.
Where it goes — $5,359,912 appropriated
▶General Fund (001)001$4,704,28588%✓ Sourced
The town’s main fund: police, fire, public works, town hall. The ten departments below add up to $4,704,285 exactly. The General Fund also moves $204,278 to other funds (mostly $116,250 for the town-hall bond and $74,078 for stormwater). Those dollars are counted where they are spent, in the funds below, so they are not counted twice here.
▶Town Commission and Clerk (Legislative)001-11$278,169✓ Sourced
Five commissioners paid $3,000 a year each, the town clerk and deputy clerk, elections, legal notices, and records software. A $3,000 transfer to stormwater is counted in the stormwater fund.
▶Professional services (incl. $10,000 transcription)001-11-510.31.00$10,840✓ Sourced ▶Licenses and fees (records, video, web software)001-11-543.00.00$56,753✓ Sourced ▶Town Manager (Executive)001-12$354,406✓ Sourced
The town manager ($124,500, contract) and an assistant, plus $78,000 of professional services: $33,000 for grant writing and $45,000 for a non-ad valorem (special assessment) study (PDF p. 33). Honest arithmetic: the lines below, printed to the cent, add to $354,405.70; the book rounds the department to $354,406.
▶Professional services — grant writing and assessment study001-12-510.31.00$78,000○ Cited ▶Finance001-13$275,897✓ Sourced
The finance manager and finance clerk, the annual audit ($35,000), a federal single audit ($3,500), and an actuarial report (PDF p. 35). Honest arithmetic: the lines add to $275,898 — $1 more than the department total the book prints. That is rounding in the town’s own book.
▶Social Security and Medicare (FICA)001-13-500.21.00$9,670○ Cited ▶Professional services — General Fund projection001-13-510.31.00$25,000○ Cited ▶Town Attorney (Legal)001-14$160,042✓ Sourced
▶Town Planner001-15$55,000✓ Sourced
Up from $9,000 budgeted last year.
▶General Services (town hall, insurance, streetlights)001-19$574,836✓ Sourced
What it costs to run the town’s buildings: insurance ($151,417 across liability, flood, property, auto and cyber), phones and internet, streetlights, utilities, and $110,000 of capital — mostly a state-required elevator repair ($100,000, PDF p. 38). A $5,000 transfer to long-term capital is counted separately.
▶Police001-21$1,677,35336% of fund✓ Sourced
The Melbourne Beach Police Department: a chief, a deputy chief, two sergeants, two corporals, six officers (one is the school resource officer, paid back by the School Board) and an assistant (PDF p. 27). The largest department — 36 cents of every General Fund dollar. The police pension costs $225,481 this year. A $4,450 transfer to long-term capital is counted separately.
▶Fire001-22$782,710✓ Sourced
The Melbourne Beach Volunteer Fire Department: a paid chief and three paid captains, plus about 36 volunteers who share $59,200 in stipends (PDF pp. 21, 45). Up from $401,553 two years ago, mostly because the three captain jobs are new and paid. $79,460 a year goes to Fire Engine 58, bought on a lease-purchase in FY2024 (PDF p. 80).
▶Code Enforcement001-29$90,748✓ Sourced
One code officer, plus a $15,000 software line. Honest arithmetic: the lines, printed to the cent, add to $90,747.95; the book rounds to $90,748.
▶Accidental death insurance001-29-500.23.10$42○ Cited ▶Maintenance supplies001-29-520.46.12$0○ Cited ▶Vehicle maintenance001-29-520.46.20$0○ Cited ▶Public Works001-41$455,124✓ Sourced
A director, a foreman, two maintenance workers and a groundskeeper who keep up streets, parks, buildings and trees. Honest arithmetic: the lines, printed to the cent, add to $455,123.93; the book rounds to $455,124.
▶Accidental death insurance001-41-500.23.10$83○ Cited ▶Ryckman House repairs001-41-530.46.32$0○ Cited ▶Old Post Office repairs001-41-530.46.33$0○ Cited ▶Building Department Fund (125)125$218,2544%✓ Sourced
Paid for by building permits, by Florida law kept apart from other town money. The building official is a contract ($120,000, “CAP Contract”). Honest arithmetic: the lines add to $218,255 — $1 over the printed total, rounding in the town’s own book.
▶Social Security and Medicare (FICA)125-24-500.21.00$4,008○ Cited ▶Accidental death insurance125-24-500.23.10$42○ Cited A citizen board’s small fund for environmental programs.
Paid for by the stormwater fee on property. Includes $72,000 of repair work (PDF p. 65). The plan sets $111,868 a year aside for emergency stormwater repairs (PDF p. 81).
No spending is planned from this savings fund this year. It holds money set aside for future equipment and buildings ($429,901, Budget Summary).
▶Debt Service — Town Hall Bond (201)201$116,2502%✓ Sourced
The yearly payment on the 2017 Florida Municipal Loan Council bonds that refinanced the municipal complex. The 2025 audit shows $405,000 left, with the last payment on October 1, 2029 (audit p. 34). The book lists $100,000 of principal and $13,550 of interest; the other $2,700 of the $116,250 is not itemized on the page. The separate stormwater loan (Fund 202) was paid off in July 2026, so it shows $0.
Pipes, drains and outfalls. Last year this fund spent about $2 million of savings on projects; this year’s $77,078 comes from the General Fund. The bigger list of road and drainage projects depends on the November 3 bond vote and is not in this budget (PDF p. 81).
▶Road Paving and Repairs (351)351$135,0003%✓ Sourced
Paid from savings set aside in this fund. The yearly “pave and mill one mile” line was removed “in lieu of GO Bond” (PDF p. 80).
▶Historic buildings — Ryckman House and Old Town Hall (390, 391)390/391$2,075✓ Sourced
Beside the county — separate governments, separate ledgers
Parking meters at Ocean Avenue Park and Ryckman Park are budgeted to bring in about $240,000 this year ($140,500 and $99,900). That money pays for lifeguards ($24,202), park upkeep, town events, playground and court repairs ($30,000) and transfers to other funds (PDF pp. 66–71). These two funds are in the budget book but not in the official one-page Budget Summary total — Docket #2.
▶Police and fire donation funds (103, 121, 122, 622)◐ Partial Small funds from donations and fees: fire donations ($18,000 planned spending), police education ($1,500), police donations ($2,150). Fund 122 held $167,510 that the town received for police work for another government (“Police Services to Other Governments”) and the book shows $154,593 spent from it (PDF pp. 25, 58).
The county is a separate government with its own budget. On a Melbourne Beach tax bill (millage code 34X0) it levies 2.8643 mills for its general fund, plus the library district (0.3242), mosquito control (0.1340), South Brevard Recreation District (0.3000) and environmentally endangered lands (0.0733). The Brevard County Sheriff runs the county jail. Its FY2026-27 budget — $2,425,831,993, adopted September 22, 2026 — is walked department by department on the county’s own site, brevardfl.countycommons.us.
The largest piece of most tax bills: 6.31 mills in 2025 — 3.0620 set by state law, 0.7480 by the local board, 1.5000 for buildings, and 1.0000 that voters approved for teacher pay. The district’s whole budget — $1.57 billion across five funds — is walked on brevardfl.countycommons.us, down to each school. Gemini Elementary, the public elementary school in Melbourne Beach, was allocated $3,352,442 for 2025-26.