City of Milton issued the following announcement on August 09.
Shortly after a presentation for a proposed budget, Milton’s City Council on Monday night approved a 4.731 millage rate – identical to the rate in place for all but one year of the City’s existence.
The 5-0 vote occurred at the end of back-to-back meetings, one a Work Session and the other a Special Called Meeting that revolved around the millage rate. The Council also approved a 0.487 rate to cover debt service on the voter-approved greenspace bond, which is slightly lower than last year. Mayor Joe Lockwood and Council member Rick Mohrig were not in attendance.
The decision followed three public hearings this month on the millage rate, the last of which took place immediately before Monday’s vote. At each hearing, Assistant City Manager Bernadette Harvill defined key terms and explained the Council legally couldn’t support a millage rate above 4.731. She presented two alternatives, one at 4.731 and other at 4.460; the difference between these rates for a hypothetical tax bill on a property with a $575,000 fair market value and basic homestead exemption was $58.27.
That exemption is one of several available to Milton property owners. Others are a senior exemption through Fulton County, disability exemption, floating homestead exemption, and Conservative Use Value Assessment (CUVA). Council member Laura Bentley urged the City to pursue another senior exemption option in the future; enacting that would require action by the Georgia State legislature.
The millage rate is among the components (along with things like various exemptions and a property’s assessment as determined by Fulton County) affecting how much Milton homeowners pay annually in City property taxes. As Harvill pointed out, even at the 4.371 rate, Milton’s average M&O levy is lower than the four other North Fulton cities and its average revenue capita is nearly the lowest.
Adopting the 4.731 rate, Harvill explained, would allow the City to fund its capital improvement projects and implement its master plans on schedule. It also gives City staff the ability to go beyond maintaining current operations and explore ways to better serve citizens through enhanced service or new initiatives.
City of Milton property tax bills should go out soon after October 1, when the new fiscal year begins.
(Watch Monday’s Council meetings at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY6DKgObVDo&list=PLpkXg669ndraOKwljbKfRZ5MnBf0jWSIL&index=1.)
Raises proposed to keep Milton in line with other cities
Bentley credited an earlier presentation on Monday outlining City staff’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget proposal with helping her better assess the millage rate decision.
During presentation, Harvill detailed projected revenues, debt, as well as expenditures – department by department. These included a handful of capital projects and new “M&O” initiatives such as:
- Partnering with a consultant to develop a cohesive branding and placemaking plan for Milton as dictated by the 2040 Comprehensive Plan
- The addition of potentially lifesaving intubation and “auto pulse” resuscitation medical equipment for Milton Fire-Rescue Department EMT Paramedics
- Adding three traffic enforcement personnel to the Police Department – along with vehicles and related equipment – to allow for enhanced enforcement on Milton roads
- Bringing in-house some positions, such as Construction Inspector and Development Engineer, at significant cost savings to the City
An analysis of that data (excluding outliers) found that Milton’s compensation generally lags behind comparable cities and especially north of Atlanta. Milton Police and Fire starting salaries ranked slightly behind others, making it harder to recruit and keep new employees. Administrative pay (for those not in public safety) were 16% behind other local governments north of Atlanta. City staff’s plan calls for any raises to be paired by moving up a pay table (because otherwise, a new hire could be paid more than a longer standing employee).
That led to City staff’s recommendations to:
- Increase Police pay by 8% and move the pay table by 7%
- Increase Fire pay by 6% and move the pay table by 5%
- Increase Administration pay by 7% and move the pay table by 6%
- Increase Department directors pay by 3%, while bringing a few positions in line with the market
Council member Carol Cookerly was “very much in favor of trueing it up,” saying “we’ve got to be competitive.” “Astute taxpayers” realize that turnover is extremely expensive and hurts morale, she added.
“You can’t condition people’s reaction to their personal pay,” said Cookerly. “… And there’s no way to really quantify the opportunity lost from those not applying.”
Council member Joe Longoria pointed out that factors beyond pay affect one’s decision to work in Milton, while acknowledging that the City risks shelling out more for top-notch training and education only to have employees make use of those and jump ship.
Peyton Jamison, a Council member and the Mayor Pro Tem in Lockwood’s absence, said not acting now could hurt the City down the road.
“If we don’t keep up, all we’re doing is making that (pay) gap wider and wider,” he said.
No budget vote was taken Monday. There will be more budget presentations and opportunities for public comment in the coming weeks prior to a September vote.
Council weighs in on alcohol items
Prior to these financial matters, Council members got a presentation and shared thoughts on topics related to Chapter 4, the part of the City Code pertaining to alcohol-related businesses.
Economic Development Manager Sarah LaDart, who was at the forefront of last year’s rewrite of Chapter 4, led the discussion on how the City should handle business proposals that don’t neatly fit existing examples.
She mentioned one for a “Specialty Grocery Store” in downtown Crabapple that would have an estimated in 67% revenues from food grocery sales, 14% for dine-in food sales, 10% for beer and wine package sales, and 9% for consumption on premises alcohol sales. The latter makes this unique for Milton, the idea being that someone could buy a sandwich, chips, then sidle up to a bar for a drink. (LaDart mentioned, as an example, that Whole Foods in Alpharetta has a bar area where people could get a beer in between shopping.)
The question was whether such an establishment should be allowed and, if so, should they pay for the same sort of license as a full-scale restaurant. LaDart asked whether the Council wanted to create a specialty license or treat each new applicant on a case-by-case basis, with flexibility to offer stipulations.
Council member Joe Longoria asked what established restaurants thoughts of this proposal to add “competition at a lower tier to their business operation.” This led to a discussion as the “intensity” of alcohol-related businesses, both now in place and proposed, in downtown Crabapple.
Zoning Manager Robyn MacDonald explained how three neighbors handled what types of alcohol-related businesses go in their defined commercial areas. Woodstock is largely “market driven,” with the added ability to walk around with open containers. Roswell has seen Canton Street transition from having a strong retail presence to being dominated by restaurants. And Alpharetta allows distilleries and breweries by right in “light industrial,” with its Council having public hearings on specific plans from a zoning perspective.
Jamison said he liked the idea of a specialty grocery store with consumption on premises, “and the community will like it. We’ve just got to make sure we don’t open a Pandora’s box.”
“I’d like to keep control over this until we really understand,” added Bentley.
Council members had fewer questions about a proposal for the owners of Six Bridges Brewing having a micro-distillery within its micro-brewery planned for Market District.
The City Council will meet next in a regular meeting on August 16.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up