For Fiscal Year 2027, the City's total proposed budget across all funds is $181,323,409, the resources the City expects to collect and spend on governmental services, utility operations, capital improvements, and employee pension trusts. The Citywide budget is organized into four primary fund categories:
| Fund Category | FY2027 Budget | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Funds | $79,871,440 | 44.0% |
| General Fund | $73,336,976 | 40.4% |
| Special Revenue Funds | $23,015,146 | 12.7% |
| Pension / Fiduciary Trust Funds | $5,099,847 | 2.8% |
| Total City Budget | $181,323,409 | 100% |
Revenue projections are as important as expenditure planning: the level of available resources determines the City's ability to maintain services, respond to emerging needs, and invest strategically. These charts show where all City dollars (General Fund, Enterprise, Special Revenue, and Fiduciary combined) are projected to come from and go in FY2027.
Total $179,257,594 (excludes inter-fund transfers)
Total $172,023,670 (excludes inter-fund transfers). "Physical Environment" includes Utilities, Stormwater, and Solid Waste enterprise operations.
Pension contribution rates: 19.36% for general employees, 21.39% for police & fire. The 19 new positions (17 public safety, 1 building maintenance, 1 engineering) remain subject to the outcome of the Amendment 3 ballot initiative.
The City of Winter Garden collects General Fund revenue from property taxes, state-shared revenues, service fees, intergovernmental sources, and investment earnings. Revenue growth over the past ten fiscal years (FY2018–FY2027) closely mirrors the City's own growth in population and assessed property value: General Fund revenues grew from $38.9M in FY2018 to $75.2M in FY2027, a 94% increase driven by growth, not rate hikes.
General Fund only. Audited actuals FY2018–FY2025; FY2026 adopted & FY2027 proposed budget shown lighter.
Other major General Fund revenue movements for FY2027: Local Government Half-Cent Sales Tax projected flat at $9.7M; State Sharing Revenue down from $3.6M to $3.3M; Utility Taxes & Franchise Fees up 3.7% to $11.29M; Charges for Services up to $9.3M (new red-light and school-zone camera revenue); Permits, Fees & Special Assessments down ~$1.9M (Building Inspection function moved to its own fund).
The General Fund is the City's primary operating fund: it pays for the services residents use every day. In FY2027, the City plans to spend $73.3 million delivering those services. More than half (57 cents of every General Fund dollar) goes directly to keeping the community safe through police, fire, and code enforcement. The rest funds roads and engineering, parks and recreation, city administration, building and fleet maintenance, and economic development.
Total General Fund expenditures: $73.3 million
The largest single driver of spending growth is public safety. Law enforcement and fire control grew from $16.5M in FY2018 to $41.2M in the FY2027 proposed budget, a 150% increase over ten years. This reflects 46 net new public safety positions added since FY2018 to serve a city that has grown by nearly 9,000 residents, rising personnel costs driven by market wages and benefit requirements, increased costs for specialized equipment, and expanded service demands in newly developed parts of the City. These are mandated essential services determined by the community's growth and safety expectations, not discretionary increases.
The cards below show how spending breaks down within each major General Fund service category, including total cost, cost per resident, and staffing levels.
Dividing each service area's total cost by the City's estimated FY2027 population of 53,629 residents shows the City's spend per resident for each service.
Note: reflects the City's cost per resident, not what an individual resident pays; actual property tax bills vary based on assessed home value.
One of the most important data points for taxpayers: every year from FY2018 through FY2027, Winter Garden spends more on police and fire alone than it collects in all property taxes combined. The figures in this section cover Police Department and Fire Rescue expenditures and personnel specifically; they do not include code enforcement or protective inspections, which are part of the broader General Fund Public Safety category shown elsewhere in this summary. In FY2027, the police and fire gap is projected at $8.5M ($41.2M in police and fire costs vs. $32.6M in ad valorem revenue). Property tax revenue alone does not cover these costs; it requires supplementation from all other revenue sources.
All figures above reflect Police Department and Fire Rescue operating expenditures and personnel only. The City's full General Fund Public Safety category, which also includes code enforcement and protective inspections, totals $41.8M (57% of the General Fund budget, 256 employees) and is shown in the Where the Money Is Spent section.
Police and fire costs exceed all property tax revenue collected in every single year.
FY2018–FY2025 actuals; FY2026–FY2027 budget
FY2027: $607.50 vs. $767.37, a $160/resident gap
The 17 new FY2027 public safety positions remain contingent on the outcome of the Amendment 3 ballot initiative; if it passes, the City will re-evaluate the fiscal impact and identify funding sources in the context of its overall financial position.
When you pay your annual property tax bill, only a portion goes to the City of Winter Garden. The majority is collected by the School Board and Orange County for their own services. Here is how the most recently published combined millage rate breaks down among taxing authorities.
Of every $1 you pay in property tax, Winter Garden receives approximately 30 cents. Most recently published (FY2026) rates; the City's own 4.8565 mills is confirmed unchanged for FY2027.
| Taxing Authority | Millage | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| School Board | 6.4490 | 39.6% |
| City of Winter Garden | 4.8565 | 29.8% |
| Orange County | 4.4347 | 27.2% |
| Special Districts | 0.5541 | 3.4% |
| Total | 16.2943 | 100% |
County, School Board and Special District rates reflect the most recently published (FY2026) millage; updated FY2027 rates for those authorities were not available at the time of this summary.
Two key metrics demonstrate Winter Garden's fiscal efficiency: the City maintains one of the lowest property tax millage rates among neighboring cities, while also employing fewer staff per 1,000 residents than nearly every peer municipality examined, delivering essential services at a lower tax and staffing cost than comparable Florida cities.
City of Winter Garden levies 4.8565 mills, the second-lowest rate among seven neighboring Orange County / Central Florida municipalities (most recently published, FY2026).
For a home with a taxable value of $300,000, Winter Garden's rate means approximately $219 less per year in city property taxes compared to the peer group average.
The City held its millage rate at 4.50 mills for seven consecutive fiscal years (FY2019-FY2025) before adjusting to 4.8565 mills in FY2026, where it remains for FY2027.
All 18 cities in the regional FTE study. Winter Garden's own FY2027 figure (7.78); the other 17 cities reflect most recently published data (FY2026).
If Winter Garden staffed at the peer average of 11.38 FTE per 1,000 residents, it would employ approximately 610 FTE instead of its current 417, an increase of roughly 193 positions.
Taken together, Winter Garden's low millage rate and lean staffing model are not accidental: they reflect deliberate policy choices by the City Commission to keep tax burdens competitive while maintaining service quality.
Peer-city millage and staffing figures are the most recently published comparative data available (FY2026); updated FY2027 peer-city figures were not available in source materials at the time of this summary.
Winter Garden maintains strong reserves and keeps its workforce lean relative to its size. The unassigned General Fund balance is projected at $14.4M at September 30, 2027, equal to about 21% of GF expenditures, comfortably above the Government Finance Officers Association's general guidance of two months of operating reserves (16.67%). The City's own goal is a deeper cushion of roughly three and a half months of reserves (30% of expenditures); this is an internal planning benchmark rather than an adopted policy, and the City continues building toward it following several years of major capital and infrastructure investment.
Bars show the unassigned GF balance ($); labels show balance as a % of GF expenditures. The gold dotted line marks the GFOA's general guidance of two months of reserves (16.67% of expenditures); Winter Garden's balance has remained near or above this level across most of the period, dipping modestly below it in FY2021, FY2022, and FY2025 before recovering to a comfortable margin in FY2026 and FY2027.
| Fund | Bal. 9/30/25 | Est. 9/30/26 | Budgeted Chg | Proj. 9/30/27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Fund | $10,398,489 | $12,540,034 | +$1,907,096 | $14,447,130 |
| CRA Fund | $11,041,824 | $12,747,926 | −$42,639 | $12,705,287 |
| Impact Fee Funds | $21,456,112 | $21,519,629 | −$7,011,957 | $14,507,672 |
| Building Inspections Fund | $8,219,591 | $7,732,679 | −$1,281,244 | $6,451,435 |
| Enterprise Funds | $99,742,320 | $68,846,620 | −$6,232,507 | $62,614,113 |
| Fiduciary Funds | $134,198,742 | $134,198,742 | +$19,939,188 | $154,137,930 |
| Total Funds, Citywide | $288,834,206 | $258,371,733 | +$7,233,926 | $265,605,659 |
Revenue growth is driven by a growing, thriving community, not increased tax rates. Every dollar of property tax collected is entirely consumed by public safety costs alone, and then some: the FY2027 gap between public safety spending ($41.2M) and ad valorem revenue ($32.6M) is projected at $8.5 million.
Winter Garden's FY2027 millage rate of 4.8565 mills remains the second-lowest among seven regional peers, and its staffing ratio of 7.78 FTE per 1,000 residents remains the lowest among peer Florida cities examined. Even so, the City delivers full city services on a $181.3 million citywide budget, at a lower relative tax burden and staffing cost than comparable communities.
Unassigned General Fund reserves are projected to reach 21% of expenditures in FY2027, comfortably above the GFOA's recommended minimum, even as the City continues to fund significant utility, stormwater, and transportation infrastructure investment.