10-11-1999 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION COUNCIL MEETING ocr 1 1 1999 CITY OF ORONO DATE: October 8, 1999 ITEM NO:X Department Approval: Name RonMoorsc Title City Administrator Administrator Reviewed:Agenda Section: City Administrator's Report Item Description: Public Hearing - Tax Rate - Resolution A new law passed in the 1999 State legislative session requires that all cities over SOO population and all counties must hold a public hearing and pass a resolution if the levy for the upcoming year increases such that, in the absence of an increase in tax capacity, the tax capacity rate would need to be increased. Very simply, what this means is that generally if a city is increasing its tax levy, it needs to hold this public hearing. The legislation created a new term, "Levy Certification Tax Rate," and set of calculations, used to determine the "tax rate" increase as defined in the new legislation. The City's Levy Certification Tax Rate for 1999 is 13.12%, and for 2000 is 13.72%. What this generally indicates is that if the City's tax capacity was held constant, the City's proposed levy for 2000 would cause the City's tax rate to increase. This requirement was passed due to a conceir that cities and counties were claiming they were freezing taxes; when in fact the levy was increasing but the tax rate was frozen due to tax base growth. Under the law, a baseline tax rate is calculated using the prior year's levy and the current year's tax base. If the proposed levy will result in an increase in the tax rate over the baseline tax rate, the City Council must adopt a resolution at a public hearing to approve the tax rate. This resolution must be filed with the County Auditor by October 20. A resolution is attached for Council consideration. COUNCIL ACTION REQUESTED: Motion to adopt the attached resolution authorizing a tax rate for the 1999 tax levy collectible in 2000 that is greater than the Levy Certification Tax Rate for the 1998 tax levy collectible in 1999.