CC - Agendas - City Council - REGULAR - 7/23/2013

Home

Prescott City council Regular Voting Meeting — June 25, 2013 Page 14 Mr. Woodfill said the increase that adds to the 37 percent is the reduction in property 'tad taxes last year of $160,000.00; the levy was reduced by approximately 17 percent last year. Councilman Scamardo said the increase represents $410,000.00 per year for property tax. There being no further public comments, the Public Hearing closed at 5:48 P.M. MAYOR KUYKENDALL MOVED TO CLOSE THE PUBLIC HEARING; SECONDED BY COUNCILMAN ARNOLD; PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Deputy City Clerk Webb called for a roll call vote, as required by State Statutes. MAYOR KUYKENDALL MOVED TO RAISE PRIMARY PROPERTY TAX OVER LAST YEAR'S LEVEL BY $410,148 AS SET FORTH IN THE TRUTH IN TAXATION NOTICE; SECONDED BY COUNCILMAN SCAMARDO; Councilman Kuknyo talked about the service levels the City would like to maintain. He noted that the City does not sell anything and only provides services, while people out of their control were taking from our budget. • Councilman_ Lamerson asked if an increase in a pension should be considered a raise Nod of some kind. Councilman Kuknyo noted that it is estimated that the Prescott Valley Wal-Mart will take 40 percent of the sales away from the Prescott Wal-Mart, which currently supplies the City with 43 percent of our sales tax revenue. He said our sales tax is half of what Prescott Valley's is and we have the lowest property tax. The City of Prescott is going to live within its means and if there has to be small tax increases, there will be. Councilman Blair noted that the City could take the $1.8 million of library budget and turn it over to Yavapai County and let them raise the property rate on the Library District. He said the small amount they are requesting to raise is a lot less than doing something different with the Fire Department or the Library. Councilman Arnold said that at the end of the day his vote would be what he believes in and Council should look at the long term future. He looks forward to items coming back to Council in FY 14. AYES: MAYOR KUYKENDALL, COUNCILMAN LAMERSON, COUNCILMAN BLAIR, COUNCILMAN CARLOW, COUNCILMAN KUKNYO, COUNCILMAN SCAMARDO NAYS: COUNCILMAN ARNOLD Nod