Taylor City Council is scheduled to conduct a public hearing Thursday to set the property-tax rate, the highest increase possible without voter approval.
Local leaders also will consider ordinances to adopt the annual budget and increase city fees for 2025.
Residents are invited to address the council during the public-hearing portion or during the “citizens communication” part of the meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. in Council Chambers, 400 Porter St.
The tax rate under consideration is the highest increase possible allowed by law without taking the matter before voters.
The tax rate to keep property owners’ 2024 tax bills the same as their 2023 bills, on average, would be 55.5974 cents per $100 valuation, according to the city. The rate being proposed is 59.1368 cents, or a hike of 3.5 cents.
While city officials note this is the lowest tax rate set by the city since 1997, the increase over time in property values means this assessment will still increase the average property owner’s tax bill over last year.
The rate will raise more total property taxes than last year by 19.5%, though a large portion of that is from properties that were not on the 2023 tax rolls, according to officials.
The proposed fiscal year 2025 budget, which takes effect Oct. 1, includes $66.75 million in expenditures. Property taxes accounts for less than half of the revenue needed to fund the budget.
The funding must come from other sources, which include municipal fees that are being considered for increases, officials said.
Airport and cemetery fees, parks and recreation, development services, solidwaste collection and water and wastewater services will almost all cost a bit more starting in October.
Processing fees for creditcard payments to the city made in-house or online will increase from $3, or 3%, to $4.50, or 4.5% per transaction.
A technology fee of $15 or $25 has been added to the cost of plan review and building permits for new construction and remodeling. The fee is also being considered as an addition to the permit cost for banners, plumbing and electric work, fences, mobilefood vendors, tree removals and more. Technology fees for items such as engineering inspections and development agreement applications could range as high as $100.
The prices of residential curbside trash service and recycling are both going up, with collection for a single trash container rising from $11.27 to $11.73 and a recycling container going from $5.55 to $5.77.
Overall, the city is proposing an increase of 4% to residential solid waste services.
Water and wastewater rates are rising as well, with the base minimum water fee going up just over $2 and the base minimum wastewater fee increasing to a little over $1. The proposal will hike water-service rates by about 5% and wastewater-service rates by about 3%.
Also on the agenda for the meeting is an update on the Parks Master Plan and Capital Improvement Plan, as well as consideration of rescheduling some future meetings.
