The Columbus City Council approved a slight overall millage decrease during a budget hearing Tuesday.
The council is expected to approve the fiscal year 2016 budget on Tuesday, but were required to hold a hearing for public input and also set 2016’s tax levy prior to the budget being formally approved.
FY2016 will see a drop in the overall millage rate for the city and Columbus Municipal School District. The overall rate was set at 103.08 mills. FY2015’s rate was 107.08 mills.
For a person filing homestead exemption on $100,000 in residential property, the decrease in millage represents $40 in savings when compared to last year. For commercial property, the savings on $100,000 worth of property would be $55, according to Lowndes County Tax Assessor Greg Andrews.
Millage for the city is higher, at 43.69 mills, compared to last year’s 41.23, but the school district’s millage dropped enough to bring the overall rate down. School millage, which was set at 65.85 mills in FY 2015, fell to 61.39 for FY 2016.
Columbus Chief Operations Officer David Armstrong said the decrease in school millage rate is due to the school district not having a shortfall note, which accounted for 1.15 mills last year, as well as a reduction in general obligation bonds from 10.64 mills to 8.09 mills.
A qualified zoned academy bond, which Armstrong said was used to pay for renovations at Columbus High School, is also rolled off, removing another 1.27 mills.
Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box applauded the school district for reducing its millage for the fiscal year.
“Sixty-percent of our budget goes to the school board,” Box said. “We’re running our city on 43 mills and they’re getting 61 mills. They did a good job this year and I commend them for cutting their millage.”
The bump in the city’s millage rate comes from an increase in mills allocated for general revenue purposes and operations and maintenance, to 33.21 mills from last year’s 30.25 mills.
Armstrong said a city mill is worth $180,000. A school district mill is worth $207,000.
Chief Financial Officer Milton Rawle gave a brief overview of the city’s budget during the budget process.
The final budget includes $24.33 million in expenditures and $24.15 million in revenue. Councilmen will approve an extra $178,325.56 from city reserves to balance the budget, as required by state law.
Rawle said personnel services saw the largest increase in this year’s budget, due to a 3-percent pay raise for city employees councilmen approved last month during a budget meeting.
Personnel services accounts for $14.28 million in this year’s budget, an increase of more than $844,000 from last year’s $13.41 million.
“That is due, number one, to the pay raises. And number two, to some new hires between the police department and fire department,” Rawle said. “As we did the raises, we also increased expenditures for our retirement match and also worker’s compensation and health insurance benefits.”
No citizens attended to speak at the public hearing.
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