Despite being the “universal language,” math and numbers can be very confusing, especially when it comes to taxes. For instance: Wilton Manors is cutting its tax rate in order to keep tax income the same.

During a special meeting on Sept. 24, city commissioners adopted the millage (property tax) rate for the 2027 fiscal year (FY27), which starts Oct. 1. The new rate is 5.9835, down from 6.227. The new rate is also the “rollback” rate. This means the city is charging, in real dollars, the same as it did for FY26.

However, this doesn’t mean your property tax bill will be the same as last year. Wilton only accounts for about a third of the overall taxes. County, school, and other taxes could increase. The city’s fire assessment rate is going up as well.

Wilton Manors found the extra money by continuing years-long staffing cuts, using realistic projections of revenue from code enforcement, and eating into a bloated “unassigned balance” fund, which was at about twice the size (35 percent) of what best practices recommend (15-20 percent).

Commissioners did leave enough in the unassigned fund to help the city absorb the impact of extreme property tax reform, which is on next month’s ballot. If Amendment 3 gets 60 percent voter approval, municipal budgets throughout Florida will be slashed and that will essentially force commissioners to reinvent the wheel.