During a budget workshop Monday, the St. Cloud City Council agreed to keep the milage rate the same for the 2012-2013 fiscal year rather than raise it to accommodate declining property values.

City staff had suggested, with their balanced budget proposal, raising the ad valorem rate to 5.0851 up from 4.9128 for the current fiscal year. The rate hike, called a roll forward rate, would have allowed the city to collect the same amount of tax revenue as the 2011-2012 fiscal year next fiscal year due to decreased property values.

A consensus of the city council agreed to stay at the current rate once City Manager Tom Hurt explained St. Cloud would be able to maintain the same level and quality of city services and programs to the public.

“City staff begins working on the following fiscal year budget in February. That means that the budget is a living document for at least five months,” Hurt said. “By the time it is presented to city council during the workshops, the proposed budget will see changes to existing revenues, which are largely influenced by overall economic conditions. It is our responsibility to prepare for tough economic times and maintain our commitment to our residents. We initially proposed the roll forward rate to ensure we could have that in place; we can always go lower, but we cannot go higher.”

To ensure the property tax would not increase, city  staffers were able to finalize a plan last week that allowed the city to readjust the employee health insurance to self-pay health insurance.

“This was finalized a couple of days before the workshop and it helped us determine that we could in fact go lower and continue at the current millage rate,” Hurt said. “Thanks to our hard-working staff, I am confident that we will continue providing the high quality services at the current millage rate, as directed by city council.”

Additionally, the council agreed to a cost-of-living adjustment for employees, the first COLA increase for staffers since 2008 when employees received a 3 percent bump in pay.

When the fiscal year begins Oct. 1, pending the budget's approval by the city council in Sept., city employees who have worked for the city for less than 12 months will see a half percent increase to their paycheck.

Staffers employed between one and two years will gain a one percent increase in pay while workers on the job for two or more years will get a 2.5 percent increase in salary.

The first budget public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for Sept. 13 with the second and final reading set for Sept. 27. Both meetings will be held at St. Cloud City Hall, 1300 9th Street, at 6:30 p.m.  The public is encouraged to attend.