Along with presentations from various city departments requesting additions to the budget, the workshop touched on the possibility of a higher tax rate and plans to dedicate more savings towards future capital improvement projects.
The rundown
The budget worksheet includes a proposed tax rate of $0.1625 per $100 valuation, while the FY 23-24 tax rate was $0.1440 per $100 valuation.
This new tax rate would generate about $644,000 in new revenue for the city, according to the document.
City Manager Joseph Molis said if the city adopted the no new revenue rate instead, the council would have to cut $1.1 million out of the operations budget as it is today.
The proposed rate of $0.1625 is just under the 2022 voter-approved tax rate, and therefore would not require an election, Molis said.
Full details on how the tax rates were calculated can be found within the presentation.
The approach
In the meeting, Molis said the city is looking to transition from using bonds to pay for large capital projects to creating a multi-year Capital Improvement Plan.
The plan could include public facilities, road and pedestrian projects, and would be funded by capital reserves.
In order to add more funding to the reserves each year, Molis said one option is to raise the tax rate, but the implications of doing so have yet to be discussed by council.
On top of planning for future projects, inflation and cost of living increases are among the main considerations council faces on the balance sheet, Molis said.
What's next?
The council will meet again on Aug. 19 to discuss the proposed budget and CIP in greater detail.
A final review will take place at a Sept. 3 meeting, and the budget ordinance will be adopted on Sept. 16.
FY 24-25 runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
