OVIEDO, Fla. – While cities and counties across Central Florida are raising rates in order to keep up with rising costs, councilmembers in Oviedo are considering lowering their property tax rate.
This week, the council voted in favor of moving forward with a rate reduction. According to documents included in the agenda, the current millage rate set at 5.9610 mills, would be lowered by 0.1 mills to 5.8610.
Staff anticipate it will result in a $419,464 reduction in revenue.
How much would it impact the average homeowner? The city gave the council an example; a person with a taxable property value of $350,000 would save about $36 in a year.
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“Can we reduce the millage by 0.1 mills? The answer is ‘yes,’” City Manager Bryan Cobb said. “But we do have some pretty significant concerns about doing that.”
The tentative budget for the upcoming fiscal year includes salary and benefit increases, new positions, a list of capital expenditures and more. But there are also debts the city has to consider and projects on the horizon, including building a bigger police headquarters.
The council was presented with options, including keeping the millage rate and reducing debt, or reducing the rate. After discussion, 3 out of 5 votes were in favor of the decrease.
News 6 spoke to residents in Oviedo on Friday who had not heard about the proposal yet, but they did want to know more about how it would impact their bottom line.
“$36 is half a tank of gas, a meal,” one woman said. “I can tell you for a fact that there’s people out here that are living paycheck-to-paycheck and not making it.”
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Another woman was skeptical of the actual impact a rate reduction would have, considering property values continue to rise.
“I think it’s just a token to kind of keep the people at bay,” she said. “It’s not going to make me happier, because, you know, it doesn’t really affect me. $36 isn’t going to make a big difference.”
Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek said one reason the city can consider the lower rate this year is because overall property tax value increased by 8.25%.
“Last year, we could have raised it two-thirds as much as was raised, and still covered all of our expenses,” Sladek said. “So, between that and the value of all the property’s increasing, there was just some wiggle room.”
Sladek said she is the only council member who voted against raising the tax rate last year. She calls this year a reset.
“People need a little bit of relief,” Sladek said.
When asked if there are still cuts to be made, Sladek said the staff has balanced the budget by drawing down the reserve balance — which is not her preference. It will be up to the council to discuss whether they want to dip into savings or make up the difference by making cuts elsewhere.
Sladek said she would like to see a remodel of the second-floor city hall bathrooms eliminated, along with $60,000 the city pays each year for a federal level lobbyist.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to balance the budget without having to cut anything that people will notice,” Sladek said.
The property tax rate decrease won’t be final until a second budget hearing, which is scheduled for later this month.