Livingston Aldermen will hold a public hearing Monday to receive input on the tax rate included in the new fiscal budget.
The certified tax rate is $1.0896, and the city is proposing to exceed that rate by five cents. Livingston Mayor Lori Elder Burnett said the city needs the extra funds for growing costs.
“There’s a lot of things that we, you know, take care of through our general budget,” Burnett said. “Even trying to maintain our streets and our sidewalks and pay our employees and have a safe community, all of those things, but everything that we do costs more money year after year as well.”
Burnett said she has not seen much pushback from citizens on the proposed tax rate.
Burnett said five cents is not a big increase.
“For example, if you own property that’s worth $200,000 and we are increasing it by a nickel, that’s $25 in a whole year, is all the extra that you would be paying, which is like $2 a month,” Burnett said.
Burnett said she encourages citizens to attend the hearing, whether they are for or against the tax rate.
“Some people may want to say in the public hearing that they understand the need for that,” Burnett said. “That they still want to have the things that we have here. I think we have a great little town, and we want to keep it clean and safe, and, you know, moving forward. So I’m hopeful that they will understand the need to do that.”
The public hearing will begin at 5:30pm Monday.
