Live Oak council advances 9.25 millage rate on first reading; budget and Spruce Street engineering concerns discussed

The City of Live Oak City Council on first reading approved ordinance 1539 to set the city's millage rate at 9.25 mills, a rate the clerk said is about $110,000 above the calculated rollback rate and would yield roughly $3,362,653 in revenue at the proposed rate.

City Clerk (unnamed) read the ordinance text into the record, including the millage figure and a statement that public hearings had been noticed and conducted at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 8, with a final public hearing noted as conducted on Tuesday, Sept. 23. After a motion and a second, the council approved the first reading by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.

The budget discussion included the first reading of ordinance 1540, the city's operating budget for fiscal year 2025-26, which was described in the record at $49,896,385. A councilmember moved and a second was recorded for the first reading of that ordinance; the provided transcript excerpt includes subsequent discussion but does not record a final vote on the ordinance in that excerpt.

Joanne Litza, identified in the meeting as finance staff, explained how the rollback rate is calculated and said the rollback rate for the city is 8.9452. "The rollback is 8.9452," Litza said, describing the rollback as the rate that would generate the same tax dollars citywide as the previous year without counting new construction. Litza also noted the proposed 9.25 rate is slightly less than last year's published 9.2623 figure.

Councilmembers used the budget discussion to raise neighborhood infrastructure concerns, most prominently paving for Spruce Street. One councilmember urged that a short stretch of Spruce Street be added to the paving plan and included in the budget, saying residents on that dead-end street pay city taxes and utilities and should not be excluded from improvements.

A staff member cautioned that paving Spruce Street may require engineering work on a sanitary sewer main that runs very close to the surface. The staff member said heavy paving equipment or compaction could damage the sewer main and cause sewage to surface and run downhill, and recommended obtaining engineering estimates for digging and relocating the main deeper before paving. Councilmembers asked that any engineering estimate be emailed to all council members for review and consideration in the next budget cycle.

Several councilmembers urged a more comprehensive approach to infrastructure planning. One member said short workshops would not suffice and asked for multi-department planning sessions to produce a citywide, prioritized plan for streets, sidewalks and lighting to guide future budgets.

The council recorded a voice vote advancing the first reading of ordinance 1539; the transcript shows the motion and the verbal "ayes," but no roll-call vote or numeric tally is included in the excerpt. The first reading of ordinance 1540 (the operating budget) was moved and seconded and discussed at length; no final vote on that first reading appears in the provided transcript excerpt.

Next steps recorded in the meeting: staff agreed to obtain and circulate engineering cost estimates for the Spruce Street sewer main work to council members and to bring the item back for further budget consideration.