Could Nome property taxes go down? At last week’s city council work session on draft budgets for the new fiscal year, Nome City Manager Josie Bahnke told the council there are few fiscal surprises when it comes to the coming year, and overall, Nome is in good financial shape.
“There’s nothing really that remarkable about this budget,” Bahnke said. “I guess that’s the message, our ship is moving forward, we’re all paddling very hard, and we’re doing a great job.”
Good enough, some council members concluded, to entertain the idea in a drop in property taxes. The proposed drop be down to 11 mills (down from 12), a tax break valued at $275,219 on the city’s ledgers. The mill rate is a percentage of a given piece of property’s dollar value, as assessed by the city and collected as property tax. In the past year, with a mill rate of 12, the City of Nome collected roughly $3.06 million in property taxes
“We’re looking at a potential finish [in the black] this year,” said council member Randy Pomeranz. “I would say I’d like to see us drop down to at least 11, for the mill [rate]. And the other thing I’d like to explore is that preschool teacher situation.”
That “situation” is a cut grant from the State of Alaska for a pre-kindergarten teacher. Nome Public Schools is shuffling funds—and staff—to keep one teacher at Head Start while moving another two pre-K teachers to vacant positions elsewhere. Nome Schools Superintendent Shawn Arnold told the council it would take anywhere from $80,000 to $100,000 to keep a second teacher in pre-K.
Funding the pre-K job was left “in the parking lot,” however, in favor of discussing possibilities for increasing revenue should the property tax rate drop. Along with a list of possible fee increases, including ambulance calls and various administrative and facility fees, City Manager Bahnke gave just one example of where a small rate increase could bring in extra cash: the city land fill.
“If we were to look at raising anything, I would make sure it is tied to a value of service. For example, our landfill bills are at $12.50 a month to have the privilege of putting trash in the landfill. And that’s been since 1998. And if we were to raise it to $15, for example, the city could realize another $100,000 [in revenue].”
But all the talk of property tax cuts, school funding, and fees was just that—talk. The council will meet for one more work session on the city’s budget, Thursday night at 7 p.m., to take another look at city finances before submitting a final budget.
