But property values are up
By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer
The City of Burlington could adopt its 2023 budget showing a slight increase in the overall tax levy, but a drop in the tax rate, during a Common Council meeting scheduled in early December.
City Finance Director Steve DeQuaker called the preliminary budget set for council approval a standard year, budget wise, highlighting the city’s assessed value continued to grow at a solid rate to just over $1.23 billion in 2022.
“I am limited by law to only increase the operations portion of the tax levy by an amount equal to last year’s levy plus net new construction,” said DeQuaker. “This figure was an increase in the operation of about $123,000.”
The debt levy portion of the tax levy, which is the amount of money needed to pay for general obligation loans principal and interest for the current tax year, has no limits on the amount to be included in the overall levy, other than a statutory limit of how much money can be borrowed by a municipality.
The statutory limit, according to DeQuaker, is 5% of the city’s total equalized value.
“Currently, the city has about $19 million (as of the end of 2021) in outstanding general debt and can borrow up to an additional $35 million before reaching the cap by statute,” DeQuaker wrote in the email. “The debit levy and general operations levy make up the total levy going to the tax roll.”
As property values change on an annual basis and current debt is paid annually, said DeQuaker, the available amount to borrow changes.
Tax levy, rate changes
Meanwhile, DeQuaker projects the city’s total levy for 2022 will be $8,531,589, an increase from 2021 when the overall levy $8,245,180.
While the city will see slight increase in its overall tax levy, the tax rate will drop significantly from $7.616 to a projected $6.951 per $1,000 of assessed property value, but the decrease is largely attributed to an uptick in the city’s total assessed value.
In 2021, the city’s assessed value showed $1,091,955,810, but jumped to $1,229,397,290 last year.
To read the entire story, see the Nov. 24 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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