Daytona Beach proposes $406.5 million budget for fiscal 2026-27

Daytona Beach has released a proposed $406.5 million budget for fiscal year 2026-27, a plan that would increase total city spending by approximately 7% over the current fiscal year.

The proposal sets a direction for essential services, infrastructure and capital improvements, but it is not the city’s final spending plan. The Daytona Beach City Commission still must consider millage action and move through public hearings before adopting the budget.

Workshop scheduled for July 29

The city scheduled a public budget workshop for July 29, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. at Daytona Beach City Hall, 301 S. Ridgewood Ave. The workshop is open to the public and is intended to give commissioners and residents a closer look at the proposed plan.

The agenda includes the city’s financial outlook, proposed expenditures, capital-improvement priorities and funding options. That makes the workshop an early opportunity to examine how the proposed total was assembled and which priorities may compete for funding as the process continues.

The approved city material does not establish the outcome of the workshop. It also does not provide a final millage rate, final departmental appropriations or a project-by-project list showing which capital proposals will receive funding.

Public safety and infrastructure are part of the discussion

Daytona Beach’s 2026 State of the City publication provides additional context for the budget debate by identifying public-safety personnel spending and broader infrastructure investment among the city’s priorities.

The publication also identifies several signature projects: a new Fire Station No. 1, upgrades to Jackie Robinson Ballpark and restoration of the Main Street Arch. Those projects indicate the types of public-safety, facility and civic investments the city has highlighted as it considers its priorities.

However, the publication does not confirm that each of those projects is funded in the proposed $406.5 million budget. The city’s budget notice likewise does not specify which proposed capital projects will ultimately receive money.

What the proposal means for residents

The roughly 7% increase describes the proposed change in total city spending compared with the current fiscal year. It does not, by itself, establish how much any individual resident will pay in property taxes or how much funding a particular department or project will receive.

Those details depend on decisions still ahead, including the city’s millage action and the final budget adopted after public hearings. Until that process is complete, the $406.5 million figure should be treated as a proposal rather than a final commitment.

The remaining process will determine the city’s final spending levels, millage rate and funded capital priorities. For Daytona Beach residents, the practical questions are which services and projects remain in the plan, how the city will fund them and whether the Commission changes the proposal before final adoption.