Thursday, October 1, 2026
The village of Atlantic Beach’s tentative 2026-27 budget, totaling $5.1 million, includes a modest but notable shift for residents: a reduction in the property tax levy, along with a broader effort by village officials to stabilize finances after years of rising costs and legal challenges.
Under the proposed spending plan, the property tax levy would account for roughly 85 percent of village revenue, down from 87 percent in the current fiscal year. The reduction, officials said, is part of an effort to ease the burden on taxpayers while improving the village’s financial footing.
“We had to look at our assets, our liabilities, our revenue and our appropriations,” Mayor Barry Frohlinger said. “The foundation of the decrease was the ability for us to settle five of the items of litigation this year.”
Those included legal entanglements over the Libbey property, the Chabad of the Beaches building and the Sunny Atlantic and Shores Atlantic Beach clubs — all of which were settled before the budget was prepared.
“We’re able to clear the debt, and we’ve got great visibility on what the settlements are and the ability to manage down our legal costs,” Frohlinger added. “As we have less litigation, we have less legal costs, and that’s been a huge part of the budget.”
By settling the legal disputes rather than continuing prolonged court battles, the village has curbed escalating legal fees, which have been a major budgetary strain in recent years.
“We’ve been able to bump up revenue not coming from the residents but from commercial establishments, lower the legal costs, and that’s giving us the great ability to come up with a 2 percent property tax decrease,” Frohlinger said.
According to the mayor, there are roughly 1,000 single-family homes in the village, and the average residential property tax is around $3,400.
“Prior to the increase last year, it was down slightly, to under $2,000,” he said. “There are some that are significantly less or more, but that is the average.”
The village has also focused on paying down debt, and conducted a comprehensive review of its financial position. That review included a full analysis of its assets, revenue streams and liabilities aimed at providing a clearer picture of its fiscal health.
As part of that effort, the village plans to hire a part-time financial consultant, James Olivo, to offer ongoing oversight and ensure that budgeting practices remain sustainable. Officials said that Olivo will help monitor expenditures, evaluate long-term obligations and guide future financial planning.
“Everyone that we reached out to recommended him extremely highly,” Trustee Laura Heller said. “He’s extremely competent and teaches classes about municipal finance. We have complete faith in him, and we felt quite lucky he was willing to come on a part-tine basis to help us.”
Olivo will be paid $2,500 a month for up to 20 hours of consulting work. He will officially join the village in late April or early May. His fee increases the treasurer’s budget by $25,000 over the current year.
“As far as getting our money’s worth for the consultant, we got a lot of good feedback from attorneys that work with him,” Trustee Douglas Garczynski said of Olivo. “We’re in really great hands.”
While the budget reflects restraint in some areas, it also includes a significant investment in infrastructure — particularly roadwork. The proposed paving allocation, $605,000, is the largest in the village’s history, according to officials, signaling a renewed focus on long-deferred capital improvements.
“We’re putting money back into the infrastructure,” Frohlinger said.
Over the next four years, the plan is to devote $3 million to capital improvements, including extensive road milling and repaving, redoing the Public Works yard on the Plaza and repairing five bulkheads on Reynolds Channel.
“Not only are we budgeting this decrease in property tax, but we’re budgeting a huge investment into the village,” Frohlinger said, “with a plan to finish the boardwalk next year and then redo the Putnam [Boulevard] playground over the next three months.”
The combination of reduced legal costs, debt management and targeted infrastructure spending comprises what trustees described as a more balanced and forward-looking approach to budgeting.
The tentative spending plan will be discussed at the board’s April 13 meeting, at which residents will have the opportunity to weigh in before it is finalized.
“I’m very excited for the village,” Frohlinger said, “because we’re able to show, with hard work, we can get some results for the residents.”
