Pasco Schools Adopt Tentative Budget With a $17M Bigger Tax Levy, Even as Spending Drops

The School Board of Pasco County adopted its tentative 2026-27 property tax rates and budget Tuesday night, locking in the numbers that will appear on the TRIM notices Wesley Chapel homeowners open in August. Total proposed levy: $436,627,342, up from last year's actual $419,589,837. That is about $17 million more collected from Pasco property owners, even though the district's proposed operating budget spending is 0.9% lower than last year's.

The hearing started at 6 p.m. at the district office at 7205 Land O' Lakes Blvd. Meeting materials put the tentative total rate at 6.275 mills: 4.684 mills for operating expenses, plus a separate 1.500-mill capital outlay tax the board voted to continue.

Flat rate, bigger bill

The rate itself barely moved. Pasco Schools finished last year at 6.274 mills. At 6.275, the rate is effectively unchanged, which means the extra $17 million comes almost entirely from rising taxable property values in a county that keeps adding rooftops. In Wesley Chapel, where whole neighborhoods have come out of the ground since the last assessment cycle, that math lands harder than it does in older parts of the county.

Levy	Amount
Last year (actual)	$419,589,837
This year (proposed)	$436,627,342
Increase	about $17.0 million

A mill is $1 per $1,000 of taxable value. At 6.275 mills, a home with $250,000 in taxable value owes roughly $1,569 in school taxes before any exemptions are applied. Your TRIM notice will show your own number, along with what every other taxing authority is proposing.

Not all of it is the board's call. Under state law, part of the levy is required for the district to receive $618,708,496 in state education grants, and the district's notice says that required portion actually dropped 1.00 percent and makes up roughly half of the total proposed taxes. The rest is set at the board's discretion.

What the 1.5 mills buys

The capital outlay levy alone is projected to bring in about $101,672,603. Florida law bars that money from paying classroom salaries. It goes to buildings, vehicles and systems, and the district's published project list reads like a maintenance backlog at a district with 100-plus campuses:

• Roof repairs and replacement, plus renovation and repair from hurricane damage
• HVAC, flooring, paving, security systems and fire safety retrofits
• Traffic safety improvements and site work
• Leasing portable classrooms at various sites
• 28 new school buses, plus fleet vehicles
• Required charter school capital outlay

Portables and buses are the line items Wesley Chapel parents see first. Local reports have put Wesley Chapel High School around 500 students over capacity and Wiregrass Ranch High School 600 to 700 over, and relief is years out: the district is planning a medical magnet high school in Meadow Pointe and a K-8 campus in the Two Rivers development, both targeted to open in fall 2028. Until then, capacity in the east side of the county gets handled with boundary changes and portables.

What the August notice actually means

The rate adopted Tuesday is a ceiling, not a final bill. The board can come back and adopt the same rate or a lower one at the final hearing; it cannot go higher without re-advertising. The TRIM notice is not a bill either. It is the estimate, and it lists the date and location of each authority's final hearing so residents can show up and object before the numbers are locked.

The district's official 2026-27 budget summary has the full advertised notice and the complete capital project list.

A second and final hearing is still to come before the budget is adopted for the year. The district has not posted that date on its budget summary page; last year the board took its final vote on Sept. 9. Students return Thursday, Aug. 13.

For more on school and county decisions that hit local wallets, read our education and government & politics coverage at Wesley Chapel Community Website, and follow along on Facebook, Instagram and X.

Opening your TRIM notice this month and seeing something you did not expect? Join the conversation in our Community Forum and tell us what your neighborhood is seeing.