Paris City Council adopts revenue-neutral FY2020 budget, holds tax rate at effective rate

The Paris City Council voted to adopt a revenue-neutral budget for the 2019–20 fiscal year after staff reduced proposed expenditures by $568,338, City staff said.

Gene Anderson, a city staff member who presented the plan, told the council: "I've gone back and done that by reducing proposed expenditures by $568,338," and explained that adopting the effective tax rate would fund the budget without a tax increase.

The council's chair, presiding over the special meeting, said the city has "well over $10,000,000 in reserve funds" and expressed a preference to keep taxes steady for the coming year. Council members discussed a separate suggestion — raised earlier by "Miss Portugal" — to raise the rate by one or two pennies and earmark the revenue for downtown development.

Council and staff said the downtown project has already received some bond, sewer and street funding, but the first phase may require roughly $500,000 more to finish features around the fountain and sidewalks. Council members said they preferred not to leave the square partially completed for an extended period and agreed the council could divert surplus funds or amend the budget later if needed.

A council member raised the police department's need for a new telephone system. Anderson said he removed a proposed voice-over-IP system from the budget that had been priced at "$120,000" and suggested deferring that purchase to next year. Council members discussed using reserves for a one-time purchase if necessary; Anderson noted the city's reserve-policy target of about $8,000,000 and said the council could come back in October to amend the budget and authorize spending from reserves.

After discussion the council moved to accept the budget "as presented by mister Anderson." A motion to approve was made and seconded; the chair called the vote and said it was "Unanimous." The chair then introduced Item 5, an ordinance to fix the tax rate and levy ad valorem taxes; staff said the effective tax rate to be adopted would be 0.51608 per $100. The transcript records a motion to fix the tax rate and a second, but it does not record an explicit roll-call or tally for that action in the minutes provided.

The special meeting proceeded to a motion for adjournment and a second, and the chair closed the session.

What happens next: staff said the council could amend the budget at a future meeting (staff mentioned October) if it chooses to authorize a one-time transfer from reserves to cover the police system or additional downtown work.