Morgan County Commissioners held their final 2015 gathering this morning and passed a resolution for a tax levy for Fiscal Year 2016.
The levy represented a three-percent increase over last year’s levy, totaling about five-and-three-quarter million dollars. The property tax extension limitation was 0.8 percent.
Commissioner chairman Bill Meier says the estimated growth in Morgan County this year was only 0.2 percent, based on discussion with the county assessor’s office.
“That’s not very much, and 0.8 percent is as far as what we can levy through the [Consumer Price Index]. So, basically, it’s one percent of last year’s tax levy,” says Meier. “Hopefully we’re going to levy more in case there’s some new growth out there that we did not pick up. We feel fairly confident that the one percent is what’s going to be levied for next year.”
The tax levy request does not include county road districts or other municipalities in the county. It does account for the highway bridge fund, the tuberculosis clinic, county health department, general systems, and the extension office.
The county may not receive the entirety of what it requested.
A separate special levy in the amount of $2,300 was passed for Marnico Village.
Commissioners also took action this morning to void a property tax lien for 203 East Morgan Street in Jacksonville.