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Citizen warns council: 20-year property-tax rise unsustainable; CIP transfers lagging
Summary
A citizen presented numbers showing property-tax revenue to the general fund rose from $238,724 in 2006 to $6,057,344 in the current fiscal year and warned that skipping general-fund transfers to the CIP produced a multi-year shortfall.
Jim McKenzie told the council he had emailed members background figures and stressed the long-term consequences of relying on property tax growth to balance operations. “02/2006, property taxes budgeted for our general fund were $238,724. 20 years later … property taxes budgeted to the general fund were $6,057,344,” McKenzie said, calling the 20-year trend “not a sustainable trend.”
McKenzie also said the city has not transferred general-fund dollars to the capital-improvements program (CIP) for two years, creating roughly a $1.2 million shortfall and projecting a $600,000 gap entering fiscal year 27/28 if transfers remain paused. “That creates a deficit over the last 2 years of funding for the CIP of a little over $1,200,000,” he said.
Council members and staff agreed the trend requires attention; staff described the current exercise as a “budgetary pause” to let the council identify priorities and find sustainable revenue or expenditure adjustments. The mayor and staff said they will continue the conversation at follow-up meetings and incorporate county valuation data to test whether proposed reductions or new revenue sources can close structural gaps.
