By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–At a busy (but short) special session Monday, the Paris City Commission approved the 2024 property tax rate and the proposed Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget. The panel also requested the Henry County Election Commission set a municipal election for two commission seats and issued a resolution in support of a multimodal grant which would construct sidewalks along West Wood St.
The current property tax rate is $.90 per $100 of assessed value. The new tax rate will show no increase.
The proposed budget for Fiscal 2024-2025 shows the following items of interest:
• Two additional police officers / SROs – cost is offset by State funding. • A street paving budget of $1.3M.
• Five major grant projects requiring matching funds of $385,350. • A 5% increase to the cost of health insurance.
• A 3.8% COLA for all employees.
• An increase in the longevity bonus which will cost $84,635.
• A total of almost $6.3M in capital expenditures across all funds
The City Commission also adopted the following revenue schedule for fiscal Year 2025:
|
2023 Actual |
2024 Budgeted |
2025 Proposed |
|
| Property Taxes |
$1,660,739 |
$1,985,000 |
$1,907,000 |
| Sales Tax (State & Local) |
$7,481,031 |
$7,890,000 |
$8,037,000 |
The city intends to apply for the TDOT Multimodal Access Grant and commits the city to providing matching funds up to 10 percent. The project will construct sidewalks along West Wood from the overpass just west of Irvine Street to the Dollar General Store. City Manager Kim Foster said the 10 percent match will hopefully make the city’s application ‘more appealing’.
The city will need to hold an election for two Commission seats currently held by Jackie Jones and John Etheridge. The commission approved a resolution notifying the Election Commission and requesting they arrange for the election.
In other business:
–Due to the regular meeting date landing on July 4, the next commission meeting will be July 11. The meeting will be held at 4 p.m., with the planning commission following at 5.
–Foster reminded commission members of the Olympic Block Party planned by the city of Paris from 5-9 p.m. July 26 at Eiffel Tower Park. We posted a story about the event on our sites last week.