City Council

NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING Mount Vernon City Council PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the Mount Vernon City Council will be holding a special meeting on Thursday, November 21, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Police/Court Campus, 1805 Continental Place, Mount Vernon, WA. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the items listed on the attached agenda. Becky Jensen City Clerk Copies provided to: Beaton Brocksmith Carias Hudson Molenaar Tercero Vander Stoep KBRC KAPS Skagit Publishing Skagit County Commissioners  CITY OF MOUNT VERNON SPECIAL MEETING AGENDA November 21, 2024, 5:00 p.m. Police Court Campus, 1805 Continental Place 1. Approval of Agenda 2. Public Comment 3. Public Hearing and Approval of Ordinance – 2025 Property Tax Levy (City staff is requesting approval of Ordinance 3900 Fixing the 2025 Property Tax Levy following a public hearing.) (required action –Ordinance) (staff contact – Doug Volesky) 4. Approval of Resolution – Set Electric Vehicle Charging Rates (Staff is requesting approval of Resolution 1064 setting the per kilowatt hour rates for electric vehicle charging.) (required action – resolution) Staff contract – Steve Sexton) 5. Adjourn  ITEM: 3 DATE: November 21, 2024 TO: Mayor Donovan and City Council FROM: Doug Volesky, Finance Director SUBJECT: PUBLIC HEARING ON THE 2025 CITY BUDGET REVENUE SOURCES RECOMMENDED ACTION: The City will hold a public hearing to present and take comments on the 2025 City Budget revenue sources and adopt Ordinance No. 3900 to set the City’s 2025 property tax levy amount. INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND: A major part of the City’s budget process is establishing revenue estimates for the budgeted year. The City’s revenue policies include: 1. Current revenues will be sufficient to support current expenditures, 2. Calculated using an objective, analytical process, and will be neither overly optimistic nor overly conservative, 3. Estimates will be performed utilizing accepted analytical techniques and shall access the full spectrum of resources available to finance City programs and services. Estimated total revenue included in the 2025 Preliminary Budget is $90,291,802. This is a decrease of $23,634,328 or 20.7% from the City’s 2024 budgeted revenue amount. This decrease is due mainly to changes in funding for major capital projects including $33,783,324 for the Mount Vernon Library Commons project. Total taxes increased $930,582 from the budgeted 2024 revenue amounts. Per MRSC, “As part of the budget process, the taxing jurisdiction establishes the amount of property tax revenue needed to fund the budget. That amount needed to fund the budget is called the levy. It is the total amount to be collected from the taxpayers by a taxing district. In Washington, property tax increases are not based on the increasing value of properties. They are based on last year’s property tax levy, which is simply the amount of the property taxes that were assessed in the prior year. By November 30 of each year, the amount of taxes to be levied by taxing districts are certified to the county assessor in a dollar amount. In Mount Vernon, our tax levy amount in 2024 was $8,922,529. The county assessor calculates the levy rate necessary by dividing the total levy amount by the assessed value of taxable property in the district. By law, this number is expressed in terms of a dollar rate per $1,000 of valuation. For example, a rate of $0.00025 is expressed as 25¢ per $1,000 of assessed value. The formula for property tax collections is expressed as: Levy = Levy Rate x Assessed Value (AV)”. The City of Mount Vernon is required by law to hold a public hearing to review revenue sources for the coming year and also to set property taxes for the coming year. The City’s property tax increase is limited to the lesser of one percent (1%) or the implicit price deflator (IPD) for the year. Additionally, a City may capture 100% of all new construction and may take any “banked capacity” available to them. Some important facts to consider when setting the 2025 property tax include: 1. The implicit price deflator (IPD) for the year is 2.57%, so it is more than 1%, so tax districts will be allowed to levy 1% more than they collected in 2024. A 1% adjustment to the property tax levy is $93,291. This amount has been included in the 2025 Preliminary Budget. 2. Banked Capacity. As a result of the City of Mount Vernon not taking the maximum regular tax which could lawfully be levied in past years, the City has accumulated banked levy capacity of $406,527. The banked capacity balance of $406,527 is included in the 2025 Preliminary Budget. 3. The new construction value per the County Assessor’s Office is $17.5M which will generate $27,361 of new revenue to the City in 2025. The City was also notified that there is a refund levy which is an amount levied that was not collected in previous tax years, in the amount of $20,936. There is also $5,221 for an increase in the value of state assessed property. These items have all been included in the 2025 Preliminary Budget. FINDINGS/CONCLUSIONS: City staff recommends that City Council: - Set the property taxes in 2025 at 100% of the 2024 revenue amount plus the 1% allowed in the amount of $93,291. - Take $27,361 for all new construction allowed to the City as well as $20,936 of refunds and $5,221 for an increase in the value of state assessed property. - Consider using $406,527 of banked capacity to help balance the 2025 Budget. - These recommendations would estimate the levy rate to be $1.5836 in 2025 which is an increase from the current rate of $1.5617 in 2024. - The impact for an average home cost of $565,000, would equate to an annual increase of $12.36 or $1.03 monthly, assuming a 0% change in assessed value. RECOMMENDATION: Council adopt Ordinance No. 3900 to set the City’s 2025 property tax levy amount. ATTACHED: Ordinance No. 3900 setting the Property Tax Levy for 2025  ITEM: 4 DATE: November 21, 2024 TO: Mayor Donovan and City Council FROM: Chris Phillips – PW Director SUBJECT: ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGER RATE RECOMMENDED ACTION: City Staff recommends City Council resolution to authorize the Mayor to set the Electric Vehicle charger rate for the MVLC for Level 2 Chargers @ $.25 per kilowatt/hour and for Level 3 Chargers @ $.40 per kilowatt/hour. INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND: City Staff conducted analysis on EV Charging Rates by utilizing “Plug Share – EV Charging Website” which provides Electric Vehicle (EV) charging rates across the entire nation; however, for our EV Charging Rate recommendation, city staff focused on Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom County private and public sites which varied from “free” to $2.50 per kilowatt/hour. City staff re-evaluated rates based on community input and further discussed with Industry EV Charging experts to better understand annual preventative maintenance, life-time maintenance and operational, and EV Life Cycle and Replacement costs. Industry experts recommended treating the EV Charging Program similar to Public Works Enterprise Funds. The EV Charging rate that meets the factors noted above and are well within the other rates offered within our region. City Staff recommends the following rates for the MVLC for Level 2 Chargers @ $.25 per kilowatt/hour and for Level 3 Chargers @ $.40 per kilowatt/hour. FINDINGS/CONCLUSIONS: City Staff recommends City Council authorize the Mayor to set the Electric Vehicle charger rate for the MVLC for Level 2 Chargers @ $.25 per kilowatt/hour and for Level 3 Chargers @ $.40 per kilowatt/hour. Please not the rates can be adjusted as needed to meet the Enterprise Fund planning considerations as Public Works does for all other utilities, impact fees and rates. RECOMMENDATION: City Staff recommends City Council resolution to authorize the Mayor to set the Electric Vehicle charger rate for the MVLC for Level 2 Chargers @ $.25 per kilowatt/hour and for Level 3 Chargers @ $.40 per kilowatt/hour. ATTACHED: Draft Resolution