The vote at a special meeting Thursday evening to consider re-establishing a Cumulative Capital Development Tax Rate will result in a tax increase for the Crothersville property owners.
Reuben Cummings of GFC, the town’s financial consultant, had earlier explained to the town council that the Cumulative Capital Development fund already exists and when established had a rate of a nickel.
“But as the town’s assessed value grows the rate decreases and needs to, periodically, be re-established to maximize the amount of money the town can use to pay bills,” said Cummings.
Currently the rate is .0132 per $100 of assessed valuation. Re-establishing (raising) the rate back to 5¢ would generate about $25,000 a year to the town coffers, Cummings said. Raising the rate by a little over 3 1/2 cents back to 5¢ per $100 would mean about $12 a year tax increase to a property in town assessed at $100,000, Cummings said.
The money raised can be left to accumulate or can be spent on any general fund expenditure such as police or road, sidewalk repairs, he said.
After debating the merits of increasing town property tax rate and the needs for funding for town services, the council vote 4-0 to re-establish CCD fund back to the higher rate. Councilman Jason Hillenburg was not in attendance to vote on the issue but offered his thoughts on the matter via telephone.
In another matter the council approved selling surplus utility department equipment no longer needed by the town. A legal notice listing the equipment and accepting sealed bids is found in the Legal Notices section in this week’s online Times.