Hickman staff recommends keeping tax levy unchanged as assessed values rise; joint county hearing required

City Administrator Kelly presented the proposed fiscal 2025–26 budget to the Hickman City Council on Aug. 26 and recommended setting the city’s tax levy unchanged for the coming year while taking in measured growth under new state reporting rules.

Kelly told the council staff is proposing no change in the levy so the city establishes a new base for future allowed growth and inflation factors under revised state forms. She said certified assessed valuations provided by Lancaster County produced an increase that requires Hickman to participate in a joint county public hearing because the growth exceeded statutory notification thresholds.

Kelly explained the mechanics behind the recommendation: state forms permit municipalities to capture limited growth and a state-set inflation factor as part of a new baseline. She said the city’s draft forms factor in a modest allowed growth percentage plus a state-set inflation allowance and that keeping the levy steady now preserves the city’s ability to use that adjustment in subsequent years.

Council was briefed on other budget topics including an upcoming 15-year refinancing of a $4 million sewer bond, planned capital projects (including the booster pump station and Scot’s Creek Trail), and proposed small increases to extra-duty law-enforcement funding. Kelly noted the required budget-publication and hearing schedule and said a Lancaster County joint hearing is scheduled as part of the statutory process.

Council set the public hearing schedule and staff will publish the required notice before the Sept. 9 council meeting and participate at the county’s joint hearing, with subsequent ordinance readings and appropriation votes scheduled in September.