Town Council Meeting - Special Called Millage Meeting

TYRONE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING - SPECIAL CALLED MILLAGE MEETING MINUTES August 16, 2022 at 5:00 PM Eric Dial, Mayor Gloria Furr, Mayor Pro Tem, Post 4 Linda Howard, Post 1 Brandon Perkins, Town Manager Melissa Hill, Post 2 Dee Baker, Town Clerk Billy Campbell, Post 3 Dennis Davenport, Town Attorney I. CALL TO ORDER II. INVOCATION III. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IV. PUBLIC COMMENTS: The first public comment period is reserved for non-agenda items. Comments are limited to three (3) minutes. Please state your name & address. Comments that require a response may not be answered during this time. The Council or staff may respond at a later date. V. APPROVAL OF AGENDA A motion was made to approve the agenda. Motion made by Council Member Campbell, Seconded by Council Member Hill. Voting Yea: Council Member Howard, Council Member Furr. VI. CONSENT AGENDA: All matters listed under this item are considered to be routine by the Town Council and will be enacted by one motion. There will not be separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, that item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered separately. VII. PRESENTATIONS VIII. PUBLIC HEARINGS 1. 2022 Millage Rate Public Hearing #2 Ms. Beach shared that the meeting was the second of three mandatory public hearings for the proposed millage rate that was reviewed at that time each year. She added that three were required because staff recommended keeping the proposed 2.889 mills. She added that it had remained 2.889 for 15 years if it passed on Thursday night. Because staff was not recommending a roll-back, it would be considered an increase as advertised. If approved, this year’s millage would provide 15% of the budgeted General Fund. She added that when preparing the budget, it was expected to keep everything the same for the 15th year in a row which was what the budget was based on. Page 1 of 3  She shared that after tonight’s public hearing, the final public hearing would be on Thursday, August 18th at 6:30 pm, and the adoption would take place at the regularly scheduled meeting following at 7:00 pm. Mayor Dial opened the public hearing for anyone that wished to speak in favor of the item. No one spoke. Mayor Dial opened the public hearing for anyone that wished to speak in opposition to the item. No one spoke. IX. OLD BUSINESS X. NEW BUSINESS XI. PUBLIC COMMENTS: The second public comment period is for any issue. Comments are limited to three (3) minutes. Please state your name & address. Comments that require a response may not be answered during this time. The Council or staff may respond at a later date. XII. STAFF COMMENTS XIII. COUNCIL COMMENTS Council Member Howard stated that after the last public hearing she looked closer into the millage rate item. It bothered her that the Town would be increasing by 15.99%. She added that she had met with Mr. Perkins regarding the process to roll back the 2.889 for what the citizens paid in the previous year’s fair market home value. She stated that Mr. Perkins informed her that the rate would then need to be rolled back to 2.537. She stated that the concern was that over the last six years if this year was approved, there would be a total increase to citizens of 50.69%. In her opinion, that was too much. If there was no increase in the fair market value, the Town would have managed. If there were an additional million dollars, it would have been put to use. She shared that with the current economy, the Town should consider our citizens and not cause them to have an increase in their taxes. It was hard on families and senior citizens with fixed incomes. Mayor Dial shared that as Ms. Beach mentioned, the Town had maintained the same millage rate for 15 years, as the market fluctuated. His concern was that the Town expect forthcoming volatility as the housing market would decline. In a couple of years, the Town would then need to raise the millage rate to make up for the loss. He added that he would be more inclined to be mindful of protecting the integrity of the taxes and to always keep it at a fairly low rate. He reiterated that he thought it prudent not to lower the rate to later have to raise it to make up for the significant loss. Council Member Howard stated that if the Town was not having trouble raising the rate at that time, why would the Town have trouble raising it in two years if the market dropped, as long as we did not go over 2.889? She mentioned articles regarding the increase in the local newspapers and added that it was time to show the citizens that we care about them and roll back the rate.  Mayor Dial clarified that the rate was not being raised, only the revenue. In the future, it may need to be raised if it was lowered this year. Council Member Howard stated that if a break was given to citizens this current year, they would probably expect us to raise the rate to what it was in previous years. XIV. EXECUTIVE SESSION XV. ADJOURNMENT A motion was made to adjourn. Motion made by Council Member Campbell. Voting Yea: Council Member Howard, Council Member Hill, Council Member Furr. The meeting adjourned at 5:13 pm. By: Attest: Eric Dial, Mayor Dee Baker, Town Clerk