Milton approves budget with slightly lower tax increase
After a contentious, month-and-a-half long process, Milton Town Council approved a $4.2 million fiscal year 2025 budget at its Sept. 9 meeting.
Council made its final changes to the budget, with the biggest change being a decrease to an increase in property taxes, going from an 11-cent increase to a 9.6-cent increase. The approved rate will go from $0.324 per $100 of assessed value to $0.420 per $100, a near 30% increase.
The budget has a $13,000 surplus, with $4.2 million in revenues – $2.5 million of which comes from the tax increase – and $3.8 million in expenditures. However, the difference in revenue is restricted in its use and is subtracted from the overall surplus.
The reason for the drop in the proposed property tax increase was a series of increases to the fee schedule, including increasing building permit fees and administrative fees for new construction, as well as fees related to the community enhancement and emergency services fund, which supports emergency services and town-wide amenities such as parks and streets. With that new revenue, the town was able to slightly drop down the tax increase.
Mayor John Collier said, “It’s a very lean budget. There are minimal capital expenses. The bulk of it is just to do the day-to-day operations of this town and continue to deliver the services everyone has come to expect.”
Collier said the large tax increase is something that has been building for years; Town Manager Kristy Rogers has said the rationale for the increase is to wean the town off the use of reserve funds and transfer tax revenue to balance the budget. The recommendation for a tax increase was part of a report by financial advisor firm PFM Consulting to improve the town’s long-range financial planning. According to PFM’s report, the town is on a path to have its expenses exceed its revenues. Rogers has said if the town continues to use reserves and transfer tax revenue to balance the budget, those sources will eventually dry up.
“Behavior in the past is what has led us to where we are today,” Collier said.
That sentiment was echoed by the rest of council, who agreed that while raising property taxes to this degree – and this being the third increase in as many years – is not something they want to do, it is necessary for the town’s long-term financial outlook.
Councilwoman Randi Meredith said if the town did not go forward with the increase as planned, it stood at risk of depleting its reserve funds by 2027.
“We have to rip the band-aid off,” she said. “It’s time to fix this.”
Councilman Fred Harvey said, “It’s time for us to do something. If we wait, all we’re doing is putting ourselves in the hole.”
Harvey said by doing this, the town can start the next year fresh instead of starting it in a hole.
Both Harvey and Councilman Fred Arkinson said council has looked for places to cut, but what services do people want to cut? Arkinson said the town’s expenses aren’t the problem, revenue is a problem, particularly given that transfer taxes realized by future developments won’t be included in this year’s budget.
Vice Mayor Lee Revis-Plank said this budget is the beginning of the town adapting a more strategic way of thinking in terms of long-term planning. Council members Larry Savage and Scotty Edler both said while they wished there was a way to do the tax increase more incrementally, it would not help the town catch up to where it needs to be.
“We can’t keep kicking the can down the road,” Savage said.
Council ended up voting for the budget in pieces, department by department, and the tax increase separately. Each department budget passed unanimously; the tax increase passed by 6-1 vote, with Edler the only no vote.
