The final numbers are in. Commerce residents can expect a 1.71-mill increase in property taxes this year, thanks in large part to the city’s reduced share in the local option sales tax (LOST).
Accounting manager James Wascher said the city will begin advertising its tax rate and five-year tax history on Sept. 12. The ad will run again in The Commerce News on Sept. 19, and the council will hold its first two public hearings on the tax hike that day.
Hearings are set for noon and 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 19 in the Commerce Room of the Commerce Civic Center. The third and final hearing will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 24, prior to a called city council meeting.
“We will set the tax rate immediately after the hearing,” Wascher said, adding that the city council is also expected to approve the final version of the city’s 2012-13 budget at the called meeting.
The proposed property tax rate is 4.02 mills.
“We were hoping for about a 1.5-mill increase,” Wascher recalled. “Then, when we first got the digest numbers, it got as bad as 1.9 to two mills. Don (Elrod, Jackson County tax commissioner) gave us the final numbers Friday and when all was said and done, it was a 1.7-mill increase.”
The levy is expected to bring in $603,787; last year’s levy amounted to $356,287. Both numbers are for real estate only.
The city council had budgeted in anticipation of a $130,000 per year revenue drop following the LOST negotiations. It wound up with a LOST share that will be $240,000 less per year (based on 2011 sales numbers) than what the city received last year.
Making up the difference also results in the city having no money budgeted for contingencies. A $130,000 line item for that purpose was sacrificed to close the revenue gap.
“Every time we turn around, we’re losing some kind of revenue,” Wascher commented. “On our five-year history, our net maintenance and operation revenue has been going down every year since 2009. Hopefully, we’re going to find the bottom.”
