It’s going to Christmas in July when Oxford Village residents receive their property tax bills in less than two months.
On Tuesday night, council members voted 3-1 to propose the village’s tax rate be reduced by one full mill ? from 11.12 mills to 10.12 mills ? for the upcoming 2009-10 fiscal year, which begins July 1.
The new, lower millage rate will officially be set when council formally adopts next year’s budget at its May 26 meeting.
For property owners, a mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s taxable value. For the village, one mill is equal to $115,630 in tax revenue.
Councilman Tony Albensi, who proposed the tax cut, said it was his goal to ‘reduce (residents?) tax burden as much as possible . . . yet still maintain the same level of services.?
‘I thing we can do that. I know we can do that.?
A large part of the reason Albensi feels confident the cut can be successfully made is because the village’s general fund has a fund balance that well exceeds the recommended minimum.
Prior to council’s decision Tuesday night, the proposed $2.33 million general fund for the 2009-10 fiscal year was projected to have a fund balance of $445,291 or 19.1 percent. When the $700,000 that gets allocated to the police budget is subtracted out, the $445,291 fund balance becomes 27.2 percent of the remaining $1.63 million general fund.
Most auditors recommend municipalities carry fund balances between 10-15 percent. The village’s recommended minimum for fund balances is 12 percent.
‘I’m not, as an individual council member, going to look at that fund balance and say how can we spend this money,? Albensi said. ‘I’m looking at it as how can we give it back to our residents.?
Councilwoman Teri Stiles cast the lone vote against the tax cut because she worried that going beyond the half-mill reduction Albensi originally suggested might leave the village in a position where it has to increase the rate in the future.
Even if the village kept its current tax rate at 11.12 mills, the municipality would still lose $128,795 (or 9 percent) in revenues because of declining property values and taxable values, according to village Manager Joe Young. The village also expects to lose $12,000 in state revenue sharing funds for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
Resident Steve Allen, a former councilman, stated his opposition to cutting the millage rate given the poor economy.
‘I appreciate the fact that you guys are trying to keep the budget as low as possible and have been talking about a tax cut, but I have absolutely zero confidence that this economy’s going to turn around within the next 12 months,? he said. ‘I would urge you, just as a matter of caution, to keep the rate at the same (level).?
‘I hate to see you drop (the taxes), then have the bottom drop even further then it is right now and turn around and have to raise them again,? Allen said.
Following council’s approval of the millage reduction, resident Maureen Helmuth, a former village employee whose job was eliminated last year as part of a cost-saving measure, threw her two cents into discussion from the back of the room.
‘I’m just wondering when you’re down one full mill and you’re short, which employee you’re going to get rid of next?? she said. ‘You’re running out of full-time employees here.?