Local municipalities are working to prepare for the next fiscal year.
The City of Laurel and the City of Ellisville are preparing for the next fiscal year.
Public hearings in each city have been set to allow residents to come and learn the city’s plans for the next fiscal year.
Earlier this month with little discussion, the Laurel City Council voted 6-0 (Ward Seven Councilman Anthony Paige was absent) to approve the order setting a public hearing for the Fiscal Year 2021 Budget and tax millage rates.
According to city documents, the required public hearing for the upcoming budget will be at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, August 31, in the Council Room at Laurel City Hall.
At this meeting, the proposed budget for the next fiscal year will be discussed.
Laurel Mayor Johnny Magee said no ad valorem tax increase is being proposed. He said the millage rate is anticipated to remain the same.
“The assessed valuation of property in the City of Laurel has increased,” Mayor Magee said. “With the increase in assessed valuation comes the increase in the value of a mill in the city. Therefore, we are
anticipating our mills to increase from the $182,000 they are valued at this year to about $192,000 in the coming fiscal year.”
Magee said this should allow the city to maintain its current operations without increasing taxes for the 2021 Fiscal Year.
He said citizens of the city of Laurel are invited to attend the August 31 st public hearing on the City of Laurel’s budget and will be allowed to speak for a reasonable amount of time.
Officials in the City of Ellisville said they are finalizing their proposed budget, which will be revealed to the public later this week.
Citizens of the City of Ellisville are invited to attend the Thursday, August 20, public hearing on that city's budget. If applicable, they will be allowed to speak for a reasonable amount of time.
The municipalities’ boards recently approved several amendments to their respective cities’ 2020 budget, which will close out in September.
The city clerks said the amendments are “just balancing the accounts.”
The cities' new fiscal years will begin on October 1.