City of Palmetto Proposes Property Tax Hike

PALMETTO -- City officials say their proposed tax hike is a measure needed to adjust for salaries that have been without raises for more than four years, repairs to aging infrastructure and maintenance for parks and public utilities.

Raising the millage by .5 mills, will bring the rate to 5.7171. Mayor Shirley Grover Bryant said, "You can go down on the rate, but you can't go up, once it is set." Monday night's vote of 5-0, in support of the increase, set the amount. 

Through August and into September commissioners will host a series of budget workshops that will determine how and where the mill rate is spent, if passed. On September 23, the tax proposal, for the 2014 budget, will go before the commission again for a second reading, and then once more, at a later date, for a final vote.

The 2014 proposed budget has a 3 percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) in the salaries of city workers that haven't received one in the last four years.