Belleville takes action that could have you seeing a property tax increase next year
Most of the property tax revenue will be used to support the pension funds for the city's police officers and firefighters. Other sources of revenue such as sales tax, income tax and utility tax revenue are used to fund most of the city's day-to-day expenses of running the city.
Along with the pensions, the city also uses property taxes for the
Finance Director
Belleville's current levy is about
Ten aldermen voted for the levy increase, one opposed and two abstained.
The 10 aldermen who voted for the levy increase were:
Three aldermen were absent:
Before the vote was taken, Buettner said he has received calls from residents who said they were upset about the increase.
"They're on fixed incomes and it becomes a burden," Buettner said. He said he's not opposed to the employees receiving their pensions but he asked if there was another way to handle the pensions without knocking the sales tax too high.
Eckert said city officials before the late 1990s routinely underfunded the pension funds, but in the late 1990s, a state law was passed that required municipalities support the funds and since then he said the city has been funding the pensions.
Eckert, who is president of the
"The pension situation is a problem of immense proportions throughout the state of
In other business
Woodford was elected the first president of the
Goalby won the 1968 Masters in golf and has been active in charitable events throughout the community, according the city's proclamation.
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