The tax rate adopted at the Sept. 5 meeting, $0.25056 per $100 valuation, falls below the posted no-new-revenue rate of $0.250561. The maintenance and operations portion of the rate, which is used for general spending, is $0.136328, and the interest and sinking portion, which is used to repay debt, is $0.114232.
The overview
The adopted tax rate is used for calculating revenues used in the city’ fiscal year 2023-24 budget. Council also approved the budget, which totals around $212.3 million across all city funds.
Included in the budget are market- and merit-based pay increases for city employees and first responders. For all employees, there is a market-based adjustment of 2% with a 3% merit increase for general employees and a 3% or 5% step-based increase for first responders.
Quote of note
“This addresses the continued inflationary pressures, maintains the city’s priority to keep employee compensation at 50% of market levels, and provides for transfers to the quality of life and the permanent capital maintenance funds,” acting Chief Financial Officer Jeff Strawn said.
Dig deeper
To cover both compensation increases and inflationary pressures, the general fund expenditures are increasing by 8%, which is about $6.2 million. Two full-time-equivalent employees are being added across the general fund and the convention and visitors bureau fund, respectively, along with six positions within the golf fund, according to the proposed budget.
