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Votes at a glance: Franklin board approves budgets, sewer fee changes; hotel‑occupancy tax deferred
Summary
The Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved FY 2025–26 budget ordinances, amended the municipal tax rate, adopted sanitary sewer user fee updates and approved multiple contracts; consideration of a hotel-occupancy tax increase was deferred for legal review.
At its June meeting the Board of Mayor and Aldermen took a cluster of routine and substantive votes.
Key outcomes
- Budget ordinances: The board approved ordinance 2025-12 to amend the FY 2024–25 budget and ordinance 2025-13 adopting the FY 2025–26 budget. Both measures passed unanimously.
- Municipal property tax rate: The board ultimately adopted ordinance 2025-14 as amended to set the tax rate at 0.296 (29.6 cents). (See separate story for full debate and roll-call votes.)
- Sewer user fees: Ordinance 2025-09 to update sanitary sewer user fees for 2026–2028 was approved unanimously.
- Hotel-occupancy tax (item 9 / ordinance 2025-15): The proposed increase in the hotel-occupancy tax from 4% to 5% was deferred to the August 12 meeting to allow the state comptroller’s office and possibly the attorney general to review whether local private‑act carve-outs change the city's authority to act.
- Consent and contracts: The consent agenda (items 24–27) passed unanimously. Multiple contracts and resolutions were approved (examples below) by unanimous vote of members present, including a third-party claim administrator amendment, several small vendor contracts, and appointments.
What passed (examples from docket)
- Ordinance 2025-12: FY 2024–25 budget amendment — passed unanimously. - Ordinance 2025-13: FY 2025–26 budget adoption — passed unanimously. - Ordinance 2025-09: Sanitary sewer user fee updates for 2026–2028 — passed unanimously. - Resolution 2025-42: Amend travel and expense policy — passed unanimously. - Several contracts (listed in docket) for professional services and small purchases — passed unanimously.
What was deferred
- Ordinance 2025-15 (hotel‑occupancy tax increase from 4% to 5%) — deferred to Aug. 12 for further legal review by the comptroller and possibly the attorney general. - Multiple Harlan PUD items (annexation / development plan / related contracts) — deferred to July to allow staff, county and developer to finalize an interlocal agreement and supporting materials.
Ending: Board members said staff will return with any required corrections, finalized contracts, and analyses at the scheduled July and August meetings.
