Algoma council adopts 2025 budget, sets $2,179,289 tax levy

The Algoma Common Council voted to adopt its 2025 budget and set the city’s tax levy at $2,179,289, Council members said during the Dec. 2 meeting.

Treasurer (staff) presented Resolution 12/10/2024, which lists the tax levy amount, a small group of special charges affecting select properties, and the fund budgets for the city. The resolution authorizes staff to forward the approved budget numbers to the county for tax-bill production.

Staff estimated the total tax rate will be approximately $17.29 per $1,000 of assessed value, a modest reduction from an earlier estimate of $17.40 per $1,000. Officials said that if a property’s assessed value rose substantially (for example, by about 31%), the owner’s tax bill could stay about the same as last year. Staff also noted that the first-dollar credit and the lottery credit will be smaller this year, cutting the credit total by about $38 per property on average.

The resolution was moved and advanced during the meeting and council members answered affirmatively during roll call when asked to move the budget resolution forward. Council recorded members saying “yes” during the roll-call responses on the record; staff will send the approved figures to the county so tax bills can be produced and mailed next week.

The council did not provide a consolidated, named vote-tally sheet in the meeting transcript; the record shows individual affirmative roll-call responses from council members when called. The resolution text and the $2,179,289 levy figure were stated on the record.

Next steps: staff will forward the budget and levy numbers to the county for tax-bill production; staff reiterated tax-collection hours, payment options and deadlines and said payments placed in the secure drop box before Dec. 31 will be credited to 2024.