- October 11, 2024
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City staff has proposed a $58.4 million 2024 budget that would keep the city's property tax steady at the current 4.6100 mills, but the City Council might set that rate lower to reduce the burden on taxpayers.
The property tax has been $4.6100 per $1,000 of taxable property value for the past two years.
The budget proposed by city staff at a July 11 meeting would keep it there, generating $38.7 million in ad valorem revenue. Because of rising property values, that total is roughly $5 million more than the city is receiving through the same millage rate this year. Overall, the proposed $58.4 million budget, which includes multiple revenue sources aside from taxes, is $2.8 million higher than 2023's budget of $55.6 million.
Council members spoke about the possibility of reducing the tax rate.
Financial Services Director Helena Alves told council members that to drop back to the rollback rate of 4.2570, the city would have to cut the proposed $2.8 million in additional expenditures. The rollback rate is the rate that would bring in the same dollar amount of revenue as the city received in the previous fiscal year.
“The budget that's being presented today to council assumes the same millage rate as last year,” Alves said.
To get to the rollback rate, she said, “You would have to cut services.”
Mayor David Alfin countered that rather than cutting services, the city could look for alternative, non-ad valorem funding sources.
State law only allows city staff to budget for the revenue they know the city will receive, which comes to about $38.2 million, Alves said.
“If we were to budget at a higher number than that range between 96% and 96.5%, we would be budgeting revenue that we haven't realistically received,” Alves said.
Almost all of the city departments’ budgets are increasing, but most are rising by less than 10%, Alves said.
Much of the rise is due to health insurance cost increases or the cost of hiring more personnel.
The proposed city budget accounts for 15 additional full-time positions: one in the city manager’s office, a new planning manager to fill the position left vacant by Planning Manager Ray Tyner’s 2019 promotion, five personnel in Public Works, two in Parks and Recreation and six additional firefighters.
Fire Chief Kyle Berryhill told the City Council that the additional firefighters are needed, especially as the city looks to complete the new Fire Station 26 by the end of 2025. His firefighters work a lot of overtime as it is, he said.
“The current rate of overtime consumption is unsustainable from both a financial and a human perspective,” Berryhill said.
The council will meet to vote on the maximum millage rate on July 18.
Once the council sets the maximum rate, the council can later set the final millage rate lower than the maximum when the council votes on the final rate in September, but cannot exceed it.
CORRECTION: The city would have to lower the millage rate from 4.6100 to 4.2570 in order to be at the rollback millage rate — not in order to be revenue neutral, as an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated.
