By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The City of Great Bend expects to collect more than $5.8 million dollars in property taxes for the 2024 fiscal year, and the municipality voted to stay even with their Revenue Neutral Rate (RNR) of 45.202 mills.
RELATED STORY: City of Great Bend to gain additional $16 million from valuations
The Great Bend City Council held public hearings for their 2024 RNR and budget Tuesday night, and City Clerk Shawna Schafer said the city does not plan to exceed the RNR certified by Barton County.
"To protect the amount of the revenue that we levied in the budget, it is recommended that we hold an RNR hearing regardless," said Schafer. "The RNR is calculated off of estimated valuations and not final valuations. Final valuations will come out in November."
The early figures showed Great Bend to collect an additional $16 million in valuations in the proposed 2024 budget compared to last year. With the increase in property valuations, the council approved dropping their mill levy from 51.692 in 2023 to 45.202 in 2024.