City sets upper limit for tax rate

For next year’s budget, city property taxes will rise by about 5.2 percent thanks to higher values, but not as much as in the surrounding communities — and they will be collected at a much lower tax rate, say city leaders.

At the Aug. 10 meeting, the City Council took the first formal step in adopting the 2023-2024 budget and setting the upper limit of the tax rate at 63 cents per $100 of valuation, which is two cents lower than last year’s.

“It is a tax increase, but it is one of the lowest that is being proposed of all the communities,” said Chief Financial Officer Jeff Wood. “At $62.87, we are down there at the same level were at back in ’98 and ’99.”