HOLMES BEACH – Mayor Judy Titsworth has tasked department heads to “sharpen their pencils” to reduce budget requests in order to try to lower the millage rate, giving a break to taxpayers.
During a July 11 budget work session, department heads presented their proposed budgets to commissioners. City Treasurer Cindy Dunham-Tozer created the proposed city budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year at a 2.0677 millage rate. The millage rate is the amount taxed per $1,000 in assessed property value. At 2.0677 mills, ad valorem taxes in the city are estimated to bring in $6,165,117, an increase of $716,549 over last year’s $5,448,568. Dunham-Tozer said that property values in the city increased about 13% from the previous year.
During the budget discussion, they agreed to set the maximum rate at 2.25 mills, though the final millage rate adopted in the fall during two public hearings on the budget is not expected to be that high.
The maximum millage rate is the rate that commissioners cannot exceed when setting the final millage rate for the tax year, though they can go lower. And while the city treasurer used a 2.0677 reduced rate to create the budget, Titsworth said she’d like to go even lower if possible.
Commissioners planned to meet to set the maximum millage rate on July 18, after press time for The Sun.
