By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The City of Great Bend is recommending decreasing their mill levy by just over two mills for the 2023 budget.
City Administrator Kendal Francis said
Monday night at a budget session, property valuation is up nearly $6.9 million
from 2022.
"This is the first time since 2019 that our valuation has increased," said Francis. "It went from approximately $103 million to $110 million. One mill equals roughly $110,000."
The 2022 mill levy from the City of Great Bend was 54.543 and is
suggested to be positioned at 52.52 for 2023. The proposed budget,
includes a 3% wage increase for all employees, funding to hire two new
positions and a 7% premium increase to city and employees for health
insurance.
While the mill rate is suggested to drop, the amount will exceed the Revenue
Neutral Rate (RNR) of 51.130. RNR is the tax rate needed to collect the same
dollar amount of property tax as last taxing year using this year’s assessed
valuation.
"We had a plan if the city council chose to follow the Revenue Neutral Rate," said Francis. "We would need to reduce the cost-of-living adjustment by 1% and we would have about 50,000 additional dollars we would need to cut."
A Great Bend resident is taxed by seven entities, and the city represents 29%
of the total property tax levied to citizens. The city anticipates collecting
just under $5.8 million from property taxes in the 2023 budget.