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Lorenzo adopts 0.899766 tax rate after residents object to larger increase
Summary
After a public hearing with residents urging restraint, the Lorenzo City Council set the city tax rate at 0.899766 per $100 valuation (a rate the minutes describe as a 0.56% effective increase), voting 5-0 to approve the rate at its Sept. 8 meeting.
The Lorenzo City Council on Sept. 8 adopted a property tax rate of 0.899766 per $100 valuation, voting unanimously after a public hearing where residents urged the council to avoid a larger increase. The rate adopted by motion differs from the initially noticed proposed rate of 0.924766; the notice had reported a proposed tax levy of $362,681 and said the proposed rate did not exceed the voter-approval tax rate.
Residents at the hearing said they were surprised by the change from the budget document and urged the council to find savings. "The notice doesn't give us the reason for the increase but if I did the math correctly according to the purposed and current tax assessments that gives us an increase of eleven thousand six hundred and eighty one dollars," resident Hilda Castillo said, urging the council to "please find that in the budget before you burn the citizens with a tax increase that will be permanent." Another resident, Delia Quintana, said raising taxes "isn't in the best interest of our community" during a plea for salary and spending reviews before any levy change.
Council Member Cheryl Birdwell moved to adopt a tax rate of 0.899766; Council Member Janet Peterson-Gonzales seconded and the motion passed with five in favor. The minutes record the council's action but do not include additional fiscal detail such as line-item adjustments or staff estimates of the specific budget gaps the change addresses.
The action closes the Sep. 8 public hearing on the tax rate; the council's minutes show the adopted rate and the unanimous vote but do not record a longer staff presentation or a formal, itemized explanation in the minutes for the difference between the budget document's 0.92100 reference and the adopted rate.
