No property tax increase in city of Clinton’s budget
At its meeting Monday evening the Clinton City Council passed on first reading two ordinances, one dealing with the budget — without a tax increase — for the coming fiscal year and another revamping the city’s fee schedule for inspections and other building services.
The new $14.6 million budget is slightly larger than the current estimated budget.
The proposed budget contains an 8-percent minimum increase in salaries for city employees.
Chris Phillips, the city’s finance director, noted that some employees might receive more than an 8-percent increase in order to bring them up to a required minimum. City manager Roger Houck noted that this was the biggest increase in some time, adding “We have to stay competitive.”
The property tax rate stays the same at $0.8646 per $100 of assessed property value.
As for the current budget, Phillips announced that the fiscal year was 83-percent completed and expenditures were at 91 per cent of the budgeted amount, while projected revenues were over 100 per cent.
As for the revised fee schedule, building official John Householder informed the council that some fees have not increased since 2009.
He said that there are also mandatory federal and state inspections for which the city currently has no fees.
“We compared with other cities and tried to stay in the middle,” he said.
“I think they are very fair and needed,” Mayor Scott Burton said of the new fees.
The mayor announced that food truck rallies would begin the next day and would be held downtown each Tuesday through the end of June from 4-8 p.m.
He also announced that the Historic Downtown Youth Board won the Club Madness Challenge, and the $5,000 prize money will be used for planting trees and placing art works downtown.