July 2020 | Vol. 7 Iss. 07
FREE CITY COUNCIL AVERTS TAX INCREASE AND EMPLOYEE FURLOUGHS WHILE PASSING NEW BUDGET By Carl Fauver | c.fauver@mycityjournals.com Editor’s note: On June 22 (after our press deadline), Taylorsville officials announced their intention to withdraw from the Unified Police Department on July 1, 2021. The upcoming August edition will have a full story on the matter.
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everal months ago, a public opinion survey gave Taylorsville elected officials a mindboggling approval rating of nearly 90%. What the mayor and city council accomplished last month may only strengthened that number. The council unanimously approved a $22,447,047 Taylorsville budget for fiscal year 2020–21, which is 8.4% lower than the previous year. However, in doing so, council members avoided both a property tax increase and employee furloughs. The new Taylorsville budget also covers an estimated $500,000 fee hike for Unified Police Department services. “This is not a ‘bare bones’ budget, but we did have to make significant reductions,” said Mayor Kristie Overson. “We asked all department heads to look for places to reduce spending. Nobody was left without cuts.” After the mayor and her staff put together a suggested budget, city council members made only two significant changes. First, they restored $100,000 that had been cut from their reserve to cover potential police overtime costs. Second, the council returned $10,000 to the Taylorsville Arts Council budget, where a cut from $15,000 to $5,000 was originally proposed by staff. “It has been close to 10 years since we had a budget decrease,” Chief Financial Officer Scott Harrington said. “But
The Taylorsville Arts Council saw its budget from the city restored, as the group still hopes to present a show in this new arts center before the end of 2020. (Carl Fauver/City Journals)
because the economy is down, our tax revenues are down. And the UPD cost is expected to go up 4.78%, from $10.15 million to $10.63 million. Through conservative budgeting, we have been able to do this. We’ve done well to avoid a tax increase.” “I am very supportive of this budget,” Council Vice Chairman Brad Christopherson said. “We froze projects; we
delayed projects. Our administration has been fantastic in adjusting to coronavirus issues. They did not propose a tax increase to mitigate virus issues.” Christopherson was also a strong advocate of the two restored budget cuts: police overtime and the arts council. Continued page 5
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