City tax levy to stay flat for 2022

Proposed Medford budget calls for no increase in city property tax levy

Despite large jumps in the assessed value of city homes due to a citywide revaluation, the amount residents will pay in the city portion of their property taxes should remain about the same this year compared to last year.

Medford aldermen reviewed the 2022 general fund budget on Monday night reviewing the spending plan for the coming year. This was the first budget prepared largely by city coordinator Joe Harris and clerk Ashley Lemke.

The major good news for city taxpayers is that the budget is built on the local tax levy remaining unchanged at $896,849.

When questioned by alderman Mike Bub to confirm the levy amount was the same, Harris responded that the city did not need to raise the levy and would use the same amount as last year.

Bub said this would go a long way toward relieving the worry of local property owners some of whom are seeing estimated assessment increases of 40% or more. Under a citywide revaluation the property values on which municipal taxes are based are brought to be closer to the estimated fair market value of the property. The levy is divided by the total assessed value of the city to determine the tax rate. With the levy remaining unchanged, the higher the assessment, the lower the tax rate will be, but at the end of the day residents can expect to pay about the same as prior years regardless of what the rate ends up being. While assessed value is important for how property taxes are divided in a community it is different than the equalized value rate which is determined on the state level and is used by the county, technical college and school districts in setting their levies and tax rates.

Bub noted that it is important to make the point that the city is keeping its levy unchanged. “It all washes in the end,” he said.

There were relatively few changes in the 2022 budget compared to 2021, with increases proposed for employee and other insurance expenses and an increase proposed for the amount of subsidy for the shared ride taxi program.

City planner Bob Christensen explained that taxi ridership remains down due to the ongoing pandemic and that while CARES act funding has covered shortfalls last year and this year, it would not be there for 2022. Christensen said they put in their best guess for what the shortfall might be. The city receives state and federal grants to subsidize the fair income to operate a shared ride taxi service with overages split between the city and the grants based on a formula.

Aldermen questioned how law enforcement payroll appeared in the budget document. It appears to show the city budgeting over a million dollars for the payroll while the actual amount spent for the past few years was well below that amount.

City treasurer Kathy Tom explained it is how the costs are divided in the payroll system. The budget number includes the salary and benefits expense of the officers while the worksheet showing what was actually spent breaks them out into two separate line items. The bottom line amount for the department is a budget that is about $3,000 less in 2022 than the 2021 budget at $1,078,367.

In the culture and recreation portion of the budget, Alderman Clem Johnson suggested looking at an increase in the amount the city budgets for the baseball fields, noting the amount of work and improvements the Medford City Baseball group has done there. It was noted the city has an agreement in place with the group that is due for renegotiation next year.

There was also some discussion around the need to make the pool a more attractive place to work and some relatively minor changes to the purchase of equipment and additional uniform swimsuits which could help with attracting and retaining workers. Bub suggested the city look at adding about $700 to that area for additional equipment. With the city scheduled to talk about the pool and staffing ideas at an upcoming council meeting, the final amount will depend on what comes from that discussion.

The city does not finalize its budget until later in the fall when the combined tax levy including the city, county, technical college and state are set.

While the general fund portion of the budget covers basic city operations, the city also levies for the debt service payments. After dropping significantly between 2020 and 2021, the debt service levy will drop about $1,100 from $47,740 this year to $46,600. This reflects continued payoff of outstanding city general obligation debt.

The city is also projecting construction fund levy of $812,964, which is the same as what was levied in 2021.