Tallahassee city commissioners will have their first of two public hearings Wednesday on the city’s proposed $1.21 billion budget and its general property tax rate for the 2025 fiscal year.
As city officials signaled earlier, the tax rate is edging downward — some 3 cents for every $1,000 of property value — but because of rising values, the new rate still amounts to a tax increase.
The city is proposing notching its general property tax rate down from $4.45 for every $1,000 of property value to $4.42, according to agenda materials. But because of a 9.24% increase in property values from 2023 to 2024, the new rate will still raise an additional $6 million in revenue for the city.
City officials told the Democrat last month that they were eyeing a very slight reduction in the millage rate in light of a half-million dollars in new revenue coming in through a school speed zone program that it approved in June.
“The additional revenue of $503,701 enables the city to roll back the millage rate from 4.4500 to 4.420, continuing the fiscally responsible management that reduced expenditures by nearly $3 million through operational expenses,” the agenda item says.