Jefferson City Council holds public hearing on budget, property tax rates

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Jefferson City Council held a public hearing Monday night on its fiscal year 2023 budget and its property tax rate.

Jefferson City's proposed budget for next year is $75,563,805.16. Mayor Carrie Tergin is asking that employee raises be included in the budget.

In her amended budget proposal, Tergin says inflation is at a 40-year high and that it's important to keep employee salaries in mind. Part of the money for that comes from property taxes. Tergin proposed the rate stay the same at $0.46 for every $100 of property value going to the general fund.

Ward 3 Councilman Scott Spencer asked to lower the property tax rate. Tergin pushed back during the meeting, worried about who it might affect.

"So your proposal which you'll bring forward on Thursday is to eliminate some staff which may in turn limit some services to the public because once this is lowered is likely unable to be raised," Tergin said.

"I do believe it's important we have a legitimate discussion about property tax rates and how to best serve people. And I think they're worthy of having an in-depth discussion about their property tax rates," Spencer replied.

Ward 4 Councilman Ron Fitzwater asked if some of the $3.9 million in Sales Tax G funds included in the budget, also known as "Gleaning," could be used for various city projects.

"And like every other department in the city we always have more requests than we have dollars able to fund them," Fitzwater said.

Council said that decision could not be made until the budget was final. The Council will have a meeting on Thursday to discuss the amendment to the property tax rate proposal.