Overview
On October 1, 2025, the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a $1.8 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2026, effective October 1, 2025 — the county’s first property tax reduction since FY2021. The budget allocates $383 million from property tax revenue, cuts General Fund property taxes by $9.1 million, adds $4.9 million in Fire Rescue funding, and establishes a $20 million Emergency Response Fund, the first in county history. More than $159 million goes to capital improvement projects.
At a glance
Headline budget
| Total budget, FY2026 (county figure) | $1,800,000,000 |
| Total budget, FY2026 (press-reported figure, NOT used) | $1,900,000,000 |
| Property tax revenue allocated | $383,000,000 |
| General Fund property tax reduction | $9,100,000 |
| Fire Rescue funding increase | $4,900,000 |
| Emergency Response Fund / Reserve (new) | $20,000,000 |
| Capital improvement projects | more than $159,000,000 |
| Adoption vote | Unanimous |
| Effective date | October 1, 2025 |
Source: St. Johns County, “SJC Adopts $1.8 Billion Fiscal Year 2026 Budget” (October 1, 2025).
Breakdown
What the county’s announcement says the budget funds (highlights, not a breakdown summing to the total):
| Four new fire stations (with law enforcement presence) | Under construction |
| Four new regional parks | Under construction |
| One new library branch and two new library hubs | Under construction |
| Capital improvement projects, incl. roadways and water/wastewater | more than $159,000,000 |
| Workforce energy efficiency program (Facilities Management) | Lower recurring utility costs |
| County Administrator’s Office reorganization (lean management) | Launching in FY2026 |
Budget process per the announcement: workshop sessions May 8, 9, 12, and 13, 2025, and Board public hearings September 3 and September 16, 2025. The county states it maintains one of the lowest millage rates in Northeast Florida, without a local option sales tax and without maximizing the local option gas tax.
Elected officials
Board of County Commissioners (unanimous adoption). County Administrator Joy Andrews is quoted in the announcement as the budget’s presenter. Individual commissioners are not named in the announcement as extracted, so none are listed here.
Sources & notes
- Sources used: St. Johns County (sjcfl.us) news release, “SJC Adopts $1.8 Billion Fiscal Year 2026 Budget with Historic Investments, Property Tax Reduction, and Public Safety Expansion,” October 1, 2025.
- Reconciliation (batch flag): the county’s own release states a $1.8 billion FY2026 budget, unanimously approved, effective October 1, 2025, with $383 million from property tax revenue; local press reported the same September 16 adoption as $1.9 billion. The $1.8 billion county figure governs every total on this page; the $1.9 billion figure is disclosed only to name the discrepancy. Possible causes (rounding, inclusion of reserves or transfers in the press figure) are not established by the county release and are not asserted here.
- What is not claimed: no fund-level breakdown, millage rate, or exact-dollar total is shown, because the county’s release states rounded figures and the FY2026 budget book was not separately retrieved. Re-check route: the St. Johns County FY2026 Budget web page / budget book on sjcfl.us for exact totals and a fund split.
- Jurisdiction palette: no verified Florida jurisdiction palette was on file, so this page uses the neutral Hometown Numbers dark-glass theme rather than a jurisdiction color.