City manager asks council to move forward with voter-approval tax rate to support proposed FY27 budget

City staff presented the preliminary FY27 budget and a property-tax proposal during a work session reconvened after the council’s regular meeting. The City Manager summarized the revenue and rate changes: general fund property-tax revenue is projected to increase by approximately $518,000 (about 4.9%), debt-service revenues by roughly $210,000, and the proposed maintenance-and-operations rate would rise from 26.6234¢ to 27.0554¢ per $100 valuation. The City Manager said the total proposed tax rate would increase from 35.7514¢ to 36.1832¢ per $100 valuation and framed the proposal as a five-year sustainability measure tied to a forecasted fund-balance trajectory.

Staff urged the council to endorse the voter-approval tax rate option (0.361832) rather than the no-new-revenue rate, saying the voter-approval rate allows the city to maintain services without deeper, recurring cuts. "The proposed general fund property tax revenue increases by approximately $518,000 or about 4.9% compared to the current fiscal year," the City Manager stated while reviewing the property-tax summary. He also gave a taxpayer-impact example: approving the voter-approval rate would raise the median homeowner’s annual bill by about $165, or roughly $14 per month.

The presentation included a five-year forecast showing that without the additional revenue the city’s fund balance would decline and could require larger cuts in later years; staff recommended using a mix of recurring revenue and limited one-time reserve usage for nonrecurring items. Council members asked detailed questions about the forecast, reserve usage and the timing for discussions about cutting versus adding services. After discussion the council provided direction to staff to move forward with the proposed voter-approval tax rate so the budget package can be filed and return for formal adoption in September.