Rollingwood City Council had its first discussion on next year’s budget July 20. Mayor Thom Farrell said he expects the property tax rate—.2011 per $100 of assessed value—to decrease in the next fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2016 to Sept. 30, 2017. “We try to keep our taxes as low as possible,” he said. “We do this in a very strict, business-like manner.” Farrell said he had four areas of the budget he wished to focus on in the coming year, including a review of third-party contracts, building permit fees, increasing reserve funds for improvement projects such as street parking, and enhancing the city’s sales tax. “If I take a little bit [of revenue from the budget] each year and put into a sinking fund, at the end of 20 years I’ll have the funds available to do [city improvement projects] without having to go do bonds,” he said. City Administrator Charles Winfield gave council members a brief overview of the next fiscal year’s proposed budget and said personnel expenditures are expected to remain the same. However, he said a few promotions in the police department are possible and discussions on salary increases are likely to occur in the next few weeks. Winfield said the city is expected to save $949,157—up $48,166 from the current fiscal year’s adopted budget—in next year’s general fund. He said water sales were up more than $200,000 in the current fiscal year from what was budgeted last fall, with total revenues expected to end at $881,630. This gives the city $8,230 in savings for this fiscal year and a projected deficit of $30,690 for the next fiscal year, he said. Farrell said he expects to spend less on the police department in the next fiscal year because costly capital expenses such as body cameras, defibrillators and handheld radios were purchased in the current fiscal year. Police Chief Dwayne Pryor said he is interested in purchasing an all-terrain vehicle, or ATV, for the department. Winfield said the proposed budget  has officially been filed with City Secretary Robyn Ryan and is available on the city's website. City Council is expected to propose a tax rate Aug. 17 and vote on the proposed budget Sept. 21.