City staff outlines tax digest and rollback options; council discusses modest millage cut

City finance staff presented the 2025 tax digest and millage-rate options at the Aug. 18 work session, laying out the calculations council will use ahead of any final millage decision.

"This current year, we're at 5.223 mils for the M and O," Ron Shelby told council, then walked members through digest components: 6.69% new-construction growth, 1.66% exemption growth and a net new-construction value growth of 5.03%. He said the calculated rollback rate is 5.093 mills and presented an example rollback option of 5.065 mills that would still leave roughly $657,000 of additional revenue compared with the budget baseline.

Shelby provided homeowner examples to show direct impacts: at a $375,000 non‑homesteaded house the rollback figure would produce an estimated tax of $764 (staff example); the average homesteaded home in the city ($500,000) was cited at roughly $1,018 including the parks bond debt-service component. He also detailed the parks bond debt-service millage (about 0.54 mills for FY26) tied to voter-approved bonds from November 2023 and bonds issued in 2024 to fund park and trail projects.

Council members expressed support for pursuing a modest tax decrease while retaining flexibility because of outstanding appeals and pending grant responses for new fire personnel. No final millage decision was taken at the work session; council discussed returning to set the official rate during upcoming hearings.

Next steps: Staff will continue to refine digest numbers through the appeals period and present a formal millage ordinance and required notices ahead of any vote.