FY27 Budget Overview

The mayor’s final budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) was presented Thursday with a pre-recorded message and a presentation from the city’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Dennis Rogero. The top line only increases 2% over FY26 to $2.039 billion.

There will be a lot of attention on the budget as the debate continues over the proposed state property tax cut amendment. The presentation showed the city would see a reduction of $60-$65 million in revenue in the second year. The Tampa Monitor’s analysis puts that number on the low end of the estimate. Additionally a point emphasized by the administration is language in the amendment defining how the funds can be spent. What’s not on the list? Parks & Recreation. Technology & Innovation. And the people who manage it all.

And spoiler, that’s where a lot of the budget goes. People. Residents of Tampa should want their employees to be appropriately compensated. And that goes beyond salary. Health care and retirement are important (and increasingly more costly) parts of the equation. The mayor’s presentation highlighted how Tampa rates against other Florida cities in number of employees versus population and Tampa continues to have one of the lowest rates. In 2007, prior to the 2008 real estate crash that resulted in drastic cuts to city services, the city had 5,048 employees. For FY27 there are 5,054 employees budgeted. 2,176 are public safety. The population has increased by 80,000 residents in that time. Currently the city employees 12 people per 1,000 residents.

The mayor’s budget proposal is primarily focused on wrapping up existing projects and setting aside more unassigned funds (savings) than what has been typical the last couple of years. Her proposal sets aside 25%, approximately $190 million. The city policy is “general fund’s balance reserve target is 20% of the current year actual expenditures.” The city has maintained at least 23% since FY18.

What’s next

• August 3, 2026 9am Budget Workshop - Enterprise Funds
• August 10, 2026 9am Budget Workshop - Transportation & Stormwater
• August 17, 2026 5pm Budget Workshop - General Fund
• September 8, 2026 5pm Public Hearing - First Consideration
• September 22, 2026 5pm Public Hearing - Budget Adoption

Council will hold 3 workshops before taking their first vote in September. A final public hearing for adoption followed by the start of fiscal year on October 1, 2026.

Council can accept the mayor’s proposal as is with 4 votes or write their own with 5. In between, they can amend the proposed budget with the understanding the mayor has line item veto authority so amendments may also need 5 votes.

If council are unable to approve a budget before October 1, they can, with the mayor’s approval, operate under a resolution to fund basic operations without any new spending until an agreement is reached.

The budget is online, available through the OpenGov platform. Using that information, Tampa Monitor is publishing department overviews showing their change year-over-year for this term with a brief intro. Every attempt was made to link directly to the source.

One note: you will see a lot of “other” buckets. Often these are transfers. Click through to the source to drill down deeper.

The overviews are meant to provide overviews and entry points to a complex budget, not forensic accounting of each department. As the process proceeds, more in-depth analysis may follow.