mmaroney@sungazette.com
City Council is expected to tackle next year’s proposed $29 million budget in a remote meeting tonight. It remains unclear if council will adopt the proposed budget, but Council President Randall J. Allison said there is a consensus to get it done before the end of the year because if no budget is passed no money can be spent.
Mayor Derek Slaughter’s proposed budget carries a proposed 1-mill tax hike, and he and council members said that could be reduced further with discussions tonight.
One mill of real estate tax generates $860,000. A 1-mill tax increase would be $100 more for a house assessed at $100,000.
mmaroney@sungazette.com
Mayor Derek Slaughter had a hard time selling his idea to cut next year’s proposed $29 million budget by a half-mill, by using half of the account reserved for repairs to City Hall.
Last week, City Council asked Slaughter to find $434,000, or 0.5 mills of property tax, by cuts or by augmenting the city budget before Thursday’s council meeting.
Slaughter and Joseph Pawlak, city interim finance director, did that by coming up with a plan to take half of the $850,000 out of the account reserved for City Hall repairs, including accessibility improvements for the disabled community.
Slaughter offered the proposal to council’s finance committee Tuesday.