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Payson council leans to keep property‑tax rate steady as staff presents three levy scenarios
Summary
At a first public hearing on the FY2026–27 levy and budget, staff presented three options — a levy that keeps current rate and produces about $41,000 more revenue, a lower levy to avoid a truth‑in‑taxation notice, and a higher levy option that would raise about $106,000; council members signaled consensus to keep the rate the same but took no final vote.
Council heard staff presentations and discussed three property‑tax levy options during the first public hearing on the town budget and levy. The town manager described the options and the trade‑offs between transparency and revenue.
Option 1: a proposed property‑tax levy of $830,000 (keeps revenue higher and would increase collections by roughly $106,000). Option 2: set the levy at $724,002.96 which would avoid truth‑in‑taxation notice requirements. Option 3: keep the current rate (0.2885) which would increase town revenue by about $41,000.
The manager explained the town had not assumed an increase in revenue in the base budget and emphasized transparency: “when you guys hired me, you wanted everything to be transparent and no surprises,” he said while describing the decision to post truth‑in‑taxation notices when appropriate. Legal counsel warned that the council should decide a direction because different levy choices can trigger different public‑notice requirements.
Several council members said they preferred keeping the rate the same for now and signaled a working consensus to proceed with the rate‑preservation option. No formal action was taken at the first hearing; staff will publish the tentative budget and property tax levy notice consistent with the council’s direction.
Next steps: staff will publish the tentative budget and the levy information for public review; council may take formal action at a later meeting after required notice and any public comment period.
