Roanoke City Council approved its fiscal year 2019-20 budget and property tax rate at its meeting Sept. 10. The adopted property tax rate will remain $0.37512 per $100 valuation. Roanoke has maintained the same rate since 1996. In “Our budget hasn’t gone up tremendously. It’s conservative budgeting, I would say,” Mayor Scooter Gierisch said of the tax rate. The council also approved an operating budget of $21.35 million, up 4.54% over FY 2018-19. Most of the bump is due to increases in health care benefits and 3.5% merit-based pay raises for city workers. While the city expects increased expenses in the upcoming fiscal year, it is also expecting an increase in revenue. Roanoke is projecting nearly $21.4 million in revenue, a 4.65% gain over FY 2018-19. Most of the boost will be fueled by property taxes, which are forecasted to grow by 13.19% due to increased values and new construction.