The Kosciusko Board of Aldermen voted in favor of the 2016-17 fiscal year budget, totaling $8,573492, at a special meeting on Tuesday.
Mayor Jimmy Cockroft said a lot of work went into the difficult budgeting process for the upcoming fiscal year. According to Cockroft, the city was able to not increase taxes, while providing a salary bump for its employees.
“We did not give a raise last year after being able to give a little bump for years,” Kosciusko Mayor Jimmy Cockroft said. “The increase will average to approximately a 3 percent raise.”
The approved budget does include an increase in waste water collection rates. The rate for sewer will increase to a flat fee of $8, up from a $7.50 base last year and a $1.25 charge per thousand gallons.
“The cost of repairs at the sewer plant continues to grow, so this increase is something that we needed to do,” Cockroft added.
The City tax levy will see a slight decrease due to a reassessment. The City of Kosciusko mill rate will be 32.04, producing the same amount of revenue as the 32.25 mills collected last year. However, the bulk of the city’s budget is derived from sales tax, which collects 18.5 percent of the 7 percent collected in the city.
“Every few years the tax collector office reassesses property value, which allows us to adjust the mill rate to how many dollars we can expect to take in,” Cockroft said.
“We always try to end the year with a million dollars surplus and we have done this for years by budgeting our revenues low and expenses high.”
