How Clearwater is run
Who runs Clearwater, what it costs, and where your money goes
The city manager, council pay, the budget, your property tax bill and who provides each service, from Clearwater's own public documents. Every number links to its source and says which year it describes. Checked Oct 9, 2026.
Who runs Clearwater
A city manager hired by the council runs the city day to day and appoints department heads. The council of five, the mayor and four members elected citywide, adopts ordinances and the budget and hires the city manager and city attorney.
What they are paid
- 20 weeks' pay as severance if fired without cause, plus continued health coverage
- City pays 15% of base salary into a retirement savings plan
- $300 car allowance every two weeks
- 35 days of general leave a year, capped at 120 days
- City-paid health and dental coverage for her
- Had to live inside the city by April 4, 2024
- Council travel and training budget: $30,000 (FY2027)
Clearwater city staff
1,904 full-time-equivalent positions, including Police 398, Fire 208. FY2025. The FY2027 budget lists 1,904.8 positions, 1,172.4 of them in the general fund. City of Clearwater · Mar 31, 2026
Florida has no statewide pay database, and we found no city-published list of pay by position. Council agenda items state the city manager's salary. We name pay only for elected officials and the city manager.
Is Clearwater in the red?
Cities must pass a balanced budget, so "profit" and "deficit" mean something different here. The useful questions: does the city's everyday money (the general fund) cover its everyday costs, how much does it keep in savings compared with its own target, and how big are its pension and debt bills.
Savings against the city's own target
Unassigned general fund balance: $75.1M (2025-09-30). The city's own target: Keep unassigned general fund balance of at least 8.5% of next year's budgeted spending (8% for emergencies plus 0.5% for retirement payouts). The city prefers at least 16.67%, about two months of spending, because of storm risk. City of Clearwater · Mar 31, 2026
Why we skip the "budgeted deficit": many cities plan to dip into savings, then spend less than planned. The audited result tells you what really happened.
Where the money comes from and goes
The general fund only: the city's everyday money for FY2026-27.
Comes from
- Property taxes$106M · 46%
- Intergovernmental (state and county shared revenue)$33.6M · 15%
- Utility taxes$21.7M · 9%
- Charges for services$19.9M · 9%
- Transfers in (from utilities and other funds)$14.1M · 6%
- Franchise fees$12.4M · 5%
- Other taxes$6.5M · 3%
- Other (permits, fines, interest, rents, misc.)$15.9M · 7%
Goes to (FY2026-27)
- Police$64.3M · 28%
- Parks and recreation$50M · 22%
- Fire and EMS$42.3M · 18%
- Non-departmental (citywide costs and transfers)$19.2M · 8%
- Public works$15.8M · 7%
- Planning and development$9.7M · 4%
- Library$9.3M · 4%
- Other departments (council, manager, attorney, clerk, finance, HR and others)$19.1M · 8%
Your property tax bill: who gets it
Of each property-tax dollar a Clearwater homeowner pays, about 30 cents goes to the city. The EMS and transit rates apply to real estate only. Inside the downtown district, the Downtown Development Board adds 0.97 mills. For FY2026-27 the city set its rate at 5.8773, the rolled-back rate.
30¢
of each property-tax dollar goes to the city of Clearwater
- Pinellas County School BoardState-required 3.0450 plus local 3.24806.293 · 33%
- City of Clearwater5.885 · 30%
- Pinellas County (general fund and health department)4.6136 · 24%
- Juvenile Welfare Board0.825 · 4%
- Pinellas County EMS0.805 · 4%
- Transit district0.73 · 4%
- Southwest Florida Water Management District0.1831 · <1%
- Pinellas Planning Council0.0175 · <1%
- Total (mills)19.3522
2025 tax year (FY2025-26) rates for a home in the city of Clearwater (Pinellas County). Pinellas County Tax Collector
See what a Clearwater house pays, line by line →Who provides your services
Not everything in Clearwater is run by the city. Who provides a service decides whose budget pays for it and whose election decides it.
- PoliceThe cityClearwater Police DepartmentCity of Clearwater · Mar 31, 2026
- FireThe cityClearwater Fire & RescueCity of Clearwater · Mar 31, 2026
- Sewer (wastewater)The cityCity of Clearwater Public UtilitiesCity of Clearwater · Mar 31, 2026
- Natural gasThe cityClearwater Gas System (city-owned)City of Clearwater · Mar 31, 2026
- StormwaterThe cityCity of ClearwaterCity of Clearwater · Mar 31, 2026
- City streets and bridgesThe cityCity of Clearwater Public WorksCity of Clearwater · Mar 31, 2026
- LibraryThe cityClearwater Public Library SystemCity of Clearwater · Mar 31, 2026
- Parks and recreationThe cityCity of Clearwater Parks & RecreationCity of Clearwater · Mar 31, 2026
- Marinas, airpark, fishing pier and parkingThe cityCity of ClearwaterCity of Clearwater · Mar 31, 2026
Compared with similar cities
The cities in this state closest in population that we cover. Read it for scale, not as a ranking: cities provide different services.
| Per city | Palm CoastFL | Pompano BeachFL | Miami GardensFL | ClearwaterFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 110,330 | 115,813 | 116,192 | 118,327 |
| Top administrator's base pay | $225,000 | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | $301,220 |
| Council member pay | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | $55,000 | $45,000 |
| General fund per resident | $798 | $2,225 | $1,080 | $1,941 |
| Debt per resident | $1,487 | $2,957 | $741 | $1,236 |
| Unfunded pension per resident | $9 | $2,681 | $572 | $-1,458 |
| City staff per 1,000 residents | 5.4 | 7.9 | 6.1 | 16.1 |
Figures as shown in each city's section, divided by its population. Years differ by state, and pension figures are measured differently in each state (each city page says how). Palm Coast and Pompano Beach pays another agency for police or fire, so its own staff count is lower.
What Clearwater publishes
What a resident can find online today. A "no" is something you can ask the council to publish.
- Yes: Audited financial report filed on timeThe FY2025 audit, for the year ended Sept. 30, 2025, is dated March 31, 2026 and posted on the Florida Auditor General site. Florida Auditor General
- Yes: City manager's contract findable online City of Clearwater
- Yes: Council votes recorded member by member online City of Clearwater
- Partly: Council pay stated in a public documentThe city's council FAQ states the March 2024 salaries ($49,000 mayor, $45,000 council) and the yearly raise rule, but not current amounts. City of Clearwater
- No: Employee pay publishedWe found no city-published pay list by position on the city's transparency page. Florida has no statewide database. Agenda items state the manager's pay.
Questions to ask your council
- Unassigned general fund reserves were $75.1 million on Sept. 30, 2025, well above the 8.5% minimum policy. How much of that will the council use to soften any Amendment 3 cuts?
- The city owed $146.2 million in bonds and bank loans on Sept. 30, 2025, most of it for utilities. How will planned water and sewer projects be paid for, and how much new borrowing do they need?
- The city manager's salary was $301,219.61 in FY2025-26. What did the council decide at her September 2026 review?
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