Dec 18, 2020
City Council passed a half-mill real estate tax increase and approved Mayor Derek Slaughter’s $29 million 2021 budget Thursday, but with an eye toward reopening the budget in January to see if the size of the tax hike can further reduced.
Council and the administration set the tax rate at 16.22 mills, but upon getting information from Norman Lubin, city solicitor, learned they have until Feb. 15 to reopen, discuss options and adopt a revised budget. If nothing is done, the half-mill is $50 more per tax bill for households assessed at $100,000. To reach a quarter-mill would require finding $217,000 more in reductions, Council President Randall J. Allison said. Reaching a zero-tax-increase budget would mean $434,000 in reductions, he said.