City to collect more taxes with proposed four-mill decrease

While the City of Holton’s property tax levy for its 2024 budget will drop by more than four mills, the city will collect $55,856 more in local taxes for the year, the Holton City Commission learned on Monday.

The city’s new assessed valuation has been set at $27,931,587, which is up $2,853,886 over last year’s valuation of $25,077,701, it was reported.

The city’s proposed 2024 budget includes a property tax levy of 55.072 mills, two mills above the required “revenue neutral rate” of 53.072 mills, a number determined by the Jackson County Clerk’s office based on the amount of property tax revenue expected to be generated in 2023. The proposed levy also represents a four-mill decrease from the 2023 levy of 59.112 mills, commissioners noted.

The 55.072-mill levy is expected to generate $1,538,259 in taxes, an increase of $55,856 over the $1,482,403 generated from the 2023 mill levy.

A copy of the proposed 2024 budget appears on Page 9 of this edition of The Holton Recorder. Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the budget and the “revenue neutral rate” for 2024 at their Monday, Aug. 21 meeting, followed by action to adopt the budget. 

According to the city’s 2024 budget, one mill is worth $25,076, according to information presented by Olathe-based auditor Mike Peroo, who noted the city is in a “financially sound” position, largely because the city’s maximum annual spending has been growing at a rate slower than inflation while staying below its budget authority for a given year.

Peroo noted that based on Jackson County’s appraised value for homes in Holton, the average value of the city’s homes increased from $101,142 in 2023 to $113,378 in 2024 — up 12.1 percent, bringing the city’s “revenue neutral rate” for 2024 down from 59.112 mills to 53.072.

Had that revenue neutral rate been adopted for 2024, Peroo said, property taxes on a home valued at the average would increase by $4 for the year, he said.

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