Staff is budgeting about $147.3 million in new general fund revenue, which is down 1.8% from the $149.9 million estimated for fiscal year 2020-21, according to the budget. This money will be supplemented by a beginning fund balance of about $38.6 million.
The majority of revenue in the general fund comes from property taxes; however, sales tax, franchise fees and other funding sources are also included.
Total property tax revenue is projected at $67.9 million for the upcoming fiscal year, a 3.6% increase of $2.3 million year over year.
Sales tax is expected to land at $38.9 million, an annual decrease of about $5.4 million; however, city officials said they are budgeting sales tax conservatively due to the ongoing pandemic.
A $0.01 reduction in the property tax rate to $0.61516 per $100 valuation translates to an additional $34 a year for the average homeowner. That increase would have been $62 had the city adopted last year’s rate of $0.62516 per $100 valuation.
The move will cost the city $1.8 million in revenue year over year.
“This is a very unique year in the context of our ability to make that penny reduction at a relatively painless revenue cost on the [operations and maintenance] side,” Mayor Paul Voelker said at the Aug. 11 council meeting. “I’d like to think we can offer an average tax rate with superior services, and I think we have a tradition of doing that.”
Residents and commercial businesses will see a 2.5% increase in the city’s water and sewer rate. City Manager Dan Johnson said this is necessary to support system upgrades and improvements.
Other facets of the budget include an unchanged property tax exemption for seniors of $100,000, pay increases for public safety personnel, and funding for events that were canceled last year due to COVID-19. There is also money set aside to reactivate a modified version of the Eisemann Center’s in-house productions.
A copy of the proposed fiscal year 2021-22 budget can be found here.
