Ellsworth council members and city staff discussed the municipal mill rate, recent property valuation changes and internal data deadlines that affect the timing of tax-bill mailings, and agreed to bring a detailed mill-rate conversation to the finance committee.

A city official said city staff had previously committed to deliver necessary data to the tax and billing team between Aug. 4 and Aug. 10 but that staff recently realized those internal deadlines might not be met, which could affect the timing of tax-bill distribution. "That was the commitment in writing to have the information that the other teams needed to move forward," the official said. "That was the first time that I had heard about that we might not make that deadline internally in order to get the tax bills out on time."

The official said staff would investigate resources and timelines—possibly using internal or external assistance—to determine whether the city can meet current mailing time frames or whether the council should consider changing the tax-bill mailing deadline. The official warned that shifting the tax-billing schedule has downstream impacts, including debt service and short-term borrowing costs (tax anticipation notes).

Council members asked for a more detailed presentation to the finance committee. One council member said they would prefer any decision about changing the billing date be deliberate; staff said they would report back to the finance committee and, if necessary, make a recommendation at the next council meeting. "My first step is gonna get the clarity on, is do we have the resources internally or potentially externally, to ensure that the data needed for the commitment gets us to our current time frames for bill distribution," the official said.

No formal decision was taken during the discussion; staff committed to further analysis and a report to the finance committee by the following week.