City Council proposed the voter-approval tax rate within a preliminary budget discussion during the Aug. 12 virtual meeting.
The less than $0.1 increase would provide the city with an additional $190,000 in revenue compared to FY 2019-20, according to city Finance Officer Vonda Ragsdale, who said any rate higher would trigger a rollback election, meaning the increase would require local voter approval.
Council voted not to raise property taxes during the previous year’s budget cycle, and according to Mayor Linda Anthony, this decision was made when the city was not anticipating losing revenue or seeing an increase in operating expenses.
At that time city officials were also working toward a $22 million infrastructure bond election, which was later canceled due to financial complications caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think it’s only prudent, given that we don’t know if and when we will be having a bond election in the near future, to go ahead and adopt a rate that increases taxes to the minimum amount without triggering a rollback [election],” Anthony said.
