After several weeks of sometimes venomous public opposition to a proposed property tax increase, Westminster residents are still set for an increase, albeit a smaller one.
“The final number will be a 4-cent tax increase,” Mayor Thomas Ferguson said Monday, before the evening?s council meeting making the increase official.
The 2007 budget, introduced on April 24, originally called for a 6-cent increase in residents? property taxes. But the mayor and City Council had said throughout the process that as updated revenue projections and expenditure calculations were compiled, there was still a chance for a smaller increase.
After last week?s lively public hearing on the tax increase, city leaders continued their discussions over the phone and in person with Joe Urban, Westminster?s director of finance.
“All four years I have been here the budgets have been extremely difficult, and changes have been made to the budget regarding a final set of adjustments every year,” Urban said.
On the revenue side, based on receipts received through April from Westminster?s share of state income taxes, the city felt its estimate for the full year was “a little low,” Ferguson said.
In addition, the city cut three key expenditures to make a smaller tax increase possible.
First, a $150,000 proposal for sidewalk installation for the Wakefield Valley Walking Trail was axed because anticipated matching funds from the state were deemed unlikely to materialize.
In addition, the city decided to delay purchase of a $70,000 automated filing system.
“We did not have a funding source associated with this item, so the system will be part of a longer-term technology initiative,” Ferguson said.
The city also removed from the budget about $38,000 for its downtown façade renovation grant program.
While the smaller tax increase was predicated on the revised numbers, including reduced state funding, Ferguson acknowledged the public outcry. “The comments we have heard from the public mean something,” he said.
Westminster Property Tax Rates
Current: 40 cents per $100 of assessed value
Originally proposed fiscal 2007 Budget: 46 cents per $100 of assessed value (+15%)
Adopted budget: 44 cents per $100 of assessed value (+10%)
