The City of Jefferson has put its proposed budget together for the 2020 fiscal year.

The overall tax levy for the next fiscal year which starts on July 1st is proposed at $14.81 per $1,000 of property valuation. It is a $0.02 decrease from the current fiscal year. City Administrator Mike Palmer says not only is that good news, but the decrease is in line with what the recent historic trend has been for taxpayers.

“We’ve had $0.46 worth of a decrease in the last six (fiscal) years. We must be doing something right. A lot of it comes down to the valuation that’s being created within the City. There’s more value to draw on so the tax rate can continue to go down.”

There’s been a $5.2 million taxable valuation increase for the 2020 fiscal year. As for the budget itself, the revenues are estimated to exceed expenses by $17,707. There’s been some significant changes to the expenses. The police department budget has an overall increase of $110,000, where other departments had some sizeable decreases. Those departments include recreation of an $83,000 decrease for building improvements and economic development of $30,000 reduction due to completing two projects.

Palmer points out the majority of the budgetary work is done before the budget workshop with the City Council. The work is handled through the different City department and committees that city council members serve on.

“Department heads are always bringing up items to the committee members so that everyone is very well informed with what’s going on throughout the budget year. That’s why the budget workshop goes pretty smooth by the time it gets there. Everybody’s very well informed of what they’re expecting out of that budget.”

The public hearing on the 2020 fiscal year budget will take place at the next city council meeting on Tuesday, March 12th.