Manhattan city commissioners raise concerns with 2024 budget

The 2024 mill rate currently sits at 50.47 mills, a 1.68-mill decrease in the city’s levy from last year.

A mill is $1 in tax for every $1,000 in assessed, taxable property value.

That means the owner of a $100,000 property would have paid $599.77 in city taxes in 2023; that same person would pay $656.44 on a home now valued at $113,100 home in 2024, given the average increase of 13.1% for existing single-family homes.

For the average taxpayer, that’s an increase of 9.45% in city property taxes.

Commissioner Wynn Butler said that this is a starting number for him and that he will want to start taking a hard look at what they should “chop out of here.”

Commissioner John Matta said that he doesn’t want to provide organizations with an extra cushion because it prevents people from working as efficiently as possible with their budgets.

“I think we do need to look at how we can get this number down,” Matta said.

The commissioners took no action. There will be a public hearing Sept. 5.