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Baldwin City weighs millage-rate options after 2024 tax-digest changes
Summary
Council reviewed new tax-digest figures from adjacent counties and discussed three millage options — including a minimum rate to meet budget needs — noting increases to property valuations mean the city must decide whether to raise the millage and hold required public hearings before a Nov. 1 adoption deadline.
Baldwin City Council members reviewed newly received tax-digest figures and began weighing millage-rate options during their Sept. 3, 2024, work session.
City staff told the council they received digest values from Hersheam and Banks counties that staff used to model three choices: a full rollback, a minimum rate to meet the budget, and the 1.11-mill increase included in the proposed budget. Staff said Hersheam’s digest rose from about $93.5 million to $103.5 million and Banks County’s from roughly $26 million to $30 million; staff cautioned that those figures drive collection projections used to set the millage.
The council was told the minimum option would still represent an increase compared with last year, although smaller than the previously budgeted 1.11 mills. “You need to decide quickly what your mill rate is going to be because should you choose to go up … we’re required to hold three public hearings and this has to be adopted before November 1st,” city staff said.
One council member said they would not support another rate increase and asked whether department heads could identify cuts that would avoid raising the millage. City staff and councilors discussed trade-offs: property taxes provide roughly 25% of the general-fund revenue, the general fund is just over $4 million of a roughly $6.9 million total budget, and further cuts could reduce services such as 24-hour police coverage or fire responses.
Councilors and staff defended recent investments in recruiting and retaining personnel. As one speaker put it, those changes — higher pay and improved equipment for police, fire and public-works staff — took several years and are intended to keep response times and public safety steady.
Staff said the council can present an option showing no increase but warned that option would not meet budget requirements. The council did not vote at the work session; staff framed Monday’s regular meeting as the next meaningful step and reminded members of the November 1 adoption deadline.
What’s next: The council will continue deliberations at its next meetings; if it chooses to raise the millage rate, the city must hold three public hearings and adopt the millage by Nov. 1.
