City budget, tax rate back on table

That means a proposed property tax increase of about three-quarters of a mill is also up in the air.

The council had scheduled a work session for Thursday, July 15, to try to reach a consensus, but that session was canceled. The council will take up the matter at its Aug. 2 work session instead.

The need for a .75-mill tax increase to fund the budget was the issue that led mayor pro tem Keith Burchett and Ward 2 councilman Darren Owensby to vote against the budget June 14, and their votes led Ward 4 councilman Clark Hill to ask during the work session for a reconsideration of the budget.

Hill indicated he was concerned that the split decision could lead to a failure this fall to approve the tax rate necessary to fund the budget.
If that happened, he said, “We won’t be able to do what we say we’re going to do.”

The proposed budget anticipates $358,000 in property taxes. That represents only 1.7 percent of the net budget revenue, but as tight as finances are, replacing the extra $120,000 the tax rate would generate is a challenge.

Hill’s concern is that the council vote unanimously on the budget, with or without a tax increase.

“If we don’t start on the same page, we’re going to stumble all year along,” he said.

Owensby responded: “The culture in my ward and the culture in your ward are different,” he said. “I’ve gotten 15-20 calls saying ‘Darren, I can’t afford this.’ At some point in time, I have to speak for the people in my ward. If you’re looking for a unanimous vote, I don’t know you’re going to get it.”

Burchett said he’d also had 15-20 calls against the matter and “none asking me to vote for that tax increase.”

“If you’re not going to vote for the budget, you’ve got to have an alternative bottom line,” insisted Ward 5 councilman Johnny Eubanks.

Archie D. Chaney and Mark Fitzpatrick, the Ward 1 and Ward 3 councilmen, were not at the meeting.

Hill, while defending his position on the tax increase proposed in the budget, stressed a desire to have a unanimous vote.

“We’ve got to figure out what it is we can (all) live with from a budget standpoint,” he insisted.