Every elected body struggle with balancing the tax burden for citizens with a need to provide adequate funding for operational and capital activities within the organization itself. It is that balance that City Council again tried to achieve in the 2024/2025 budget.
The City tax rate for 2024/2025 is budgeted to remain at $15.67219 per $1,000 of valuation, the same rate as 2023/2024. Maintaining the same tax rate was possible primarily due to using the prior year State COVID-19 Relief funds and the remaining balance in the Emergency Tax / Emergency fund ($690,695) to balance the General Fund budget. The City was also able to offset individual tax levy increases with tax levy decreases.
The total property tax rate for the 2024/2025 budget of $15.67219 per $1,000 of taxable valuation is comprised of the following individual tax levies:
- Combined General Fund Levy $8.37000 (maximum rate; no change)
- Transit .07346 (decrease of 62.2%)
- Tort Liability .46998 (increase of 30.3%)
- Employee Benefits 4.77363 (increase of 1.5%)
- Debt Service 1.98512 (decrease of 2.8%)
$15.67219