Agenda - Council - 01/08/2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mayor LeTourneau thanked Finance Director Lund for the thorough presentation. Councilmember Riley referenced the difference between the amount approved as the preliminary budget and the decrease of $75,000 that has been made and presented tonight and asked for additional input on that decrease. Finance Director Lund noted that a current police officer resigned from his position and there were also changes to the coverage amount selected by employees. Councilmember Riley asked for more details on the cost savings for the police officer position. Finance Director Lund explained that the previous employee was a 12-year police officer to an officer that is starting at step one. Public Hearing Mayor LeTourneau called the public hearing to order at 7:29 p.m. Citizen Input Spencer Butler, 17405 Nowthen Boulevard, stated that he has a 14.9 percent increase in his property taxes this year. He stated that he can pay that amount but is unsure that is a sustainable rate of increase. He stated that the value of his home was increased by 17 percent, noting that his home is 100 years old, and acknowledged that is probably due to the amount of land he owns as well. He asked whether this rate of increase will increase and what that amount would then be in five years. He realized that new homes in the community have higher values and believed that the increase in value on his home was steep. He noted that he is not on a fixed income, but these increases might become too steep for those people on fixed incomes. He thanked the Council for taking his comments. Mayor LeTourneau thanked Mr. Butler for this input. He stated that some property owners are experiencing an increase in their tax rate while others are seeing a decrease and asked staff for additional input. Finance Director Lund explained that the lower priced homes are not staying on the market and therefore people are paying more than what the home is worth. She explained that the property assessor is using the sale prices of the homes to determine the value of the properties. Mayor LeTourneau stated that a number of years ago during the recession, the tax amount was decreasing as the property values were decreasing. He explained that property values tend to ebb and flow with the market. He stated that he would not expect property values to continue to increase at the same rate each year but noted that it is market dependent. Finance Director Lund stated that the school levy was added to the property tax levy in 2018 and continues on in 2019 as well as the loss of the market rate exclusion. City Council / December 11, 2018 Page 5 of 18