{"id":74157,"date":"2023-09-15T08:25:12","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T13:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=74157"},"modified":"2023-09-15T08:25:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T13:25:16","slug":"commissioners-vote-to-keep-mill-levy-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=74157","title":{"rendered":"Commissioners vote to keep mill levy the same"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By ALICIA FEYERHERM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Tiger Media Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Hays City Commission approved the 2024 budget during its meeting Thursday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the last 15 years, the city has stayed at 25 mills. A mill is $1 per $1,000 of assessed value.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs we know, if the mill stays the same, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean property tax won\u2019t go up because it is a calculation between the assessed valuation and the rate,\u201d Deputy City Manager Collin Bielser said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bielser also noted Hays has the 11th lowest city mill levy in the state when compared to first- and second-class cities, and the lowest city mill levy outside of Johnson County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking at total tax bills, Hays ranks 10th lowest compared to first- and second-class cities in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is going up a little in valuations, but we don\u2019t control that and I think we do a good job of controlling what we can,\u201d Mayor Shaun Musil said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The proposed budget for the year would keep the city\u2019s levy at 25 mills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The budget includes a $903,060 increase in operating expenditures. More than 40 percent of that is going towards a 2% STEP increase and a 3% Cost of Living Adjustment increase in wages for city employees.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe greatest resources we have are the people, our employees,\u201d commissioner Mason Ruder said. \u201cThey\u2019re citizens as well. They pay the same taxes we do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other highlights of the budget include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Financial and utility billing software upgrade ($101,900).<\/li><li>New fire engine pumper truck to replace a truck that has been in operation for more than 20 years ($550,000).<\/li><li>Main Street bridge repair ($300,000).<\/li><li>Approximately $1.4 million in temporary notes will be used to start the process of the new police station.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>City Manager Toby Dougherty commended the commission and past commissions for their commitment to fiscal responsibility. Dougherty said there have been years where the assessed valuation has stayed flat, but yet there were large increases in employee benefits or other areas funded by the levy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t go to the taxpayers and say, \u2018Could we have more money?\u2019 \u201d Doughtery said. \u201cWe dealt with it. We made do with it.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One example of this is with the construction of the new police station.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve needed a new police station for 10 years, but only now with a combination of assessed valuations increasing and bond debt dropping off are we able to incur the debt for a new police station,\u201d Dougherty said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The proposed budget does exceed the revenue neutral rate, which means a public hearing is required. During the hearing, Ken Kennedy voiced his concerns. Even though the city mill levy has stayed consistent through the years, increases in assessed valuation have led to what Kennedy sees as significant tax increases.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEach of us, every one of us in here, faces that tax increase because of that assessed valuation and the appraisals going up,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cThat is really hard on a community. It\u2019s hard for the school district. It\u2019s hard for the county, and it\u2019s hard for the city\u2019s taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kennedy said he went through the city\u2019s budget and overall was pleased with how it was laid out. However, he said in the future, when assessed valuations increase as much as they have the last few years, to consider returning some of that revenue back to citizens by reducing the mill levy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI realize it\u2019s way deep into the budget year,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cIt\u2019s more difficult to make those decisions now, so let this presentation tonight stand for my presentations next year.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the budgets for the following years are drafted, Kennedy hopes the commission will keep his comments in mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThink about all of us and all of your taxpayers, and especially those taxpayers that are on fixed incomes,\u201d Kennedy said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ruder said he understands those concerns and while tax increases are never enjoyable, he sees them as an investment in Hays\u2019 future.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI see my girls who are playing who are 4 and 2, and I\u2019m like, \u2018If I don\u2019t invest now into their future, what am I going to leave them by the time they\u2019re my age in this community?\u2019 \u201c Ruder said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The hearing was closed and then the budget was approved unanimously.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By ALICIA FEYERHERM Tiger Media Network The Hays City Commission approved the 2024 budget during its meeting Thursday.&nbsp; For the last 15 years, the city&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72031,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3397,3398,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-area-news","category-campus-news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/City-of-Hays-logo.jpeg?fit=1200%2C642","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74158,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74157\/revisions\/74158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/72031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}