COLUMBUS — Columbus City Council unanimously approved an ad valorem tax hike during a special-call meeting Thursday, raising the city’s property tax rate by 3.65 mills.
The decision comes a week ahead of the planned approval of the city’s Fiscal Year 2020 proposed budget of $23,363,778 that includes a projected surplus of $564,480.
The millage will increase from 47.59 to 51.24. The millage for Columbus Municipal School District, which the council also set Thursday, is 61.98 mills, the same as it was in Fiscal Year 2019.
For taxpayers, the mill increase would be roughly $36 annually on a property valuation of $100,000.
Chief Operations Officer David Armstrong previously told The Dispatch the mill increase would result in an increase in tax revenue of $746,550. The majority of the new mills — 2.9 — will go toward debt service, which is increasing from $528,868.16 this year to $869,727, an increase of $340,858.84.
Mayor Robert Smith said while it’s not a popular choice to raise taxes, it’s necessary to help pay off the city’s debt service and that it probably “should have increased a couple of years ago.”
The sentiment was echoed by city council members.
“Sometimes you have to have tax increases,” Ward 6 Councilman Bill Gavin said. “I think we put off some tax increases in the past, and it kind of caught up with us a little bit and now we’re having to do something.”
The council is expected to vote on the final budget at another special-call meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday in City Hall.
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