A tax increase would still be needed to balance Pulaski County’s Reassessment budget, but it may not have to be as large as originally thought. Assessor Holly VanDerAa discussed several budget concerns during the county council’s public hearing on the 2019 budget Wednesday.
She said that in order for the Reassessment Fund to cover all the expenses she has budgeted there for next year, the reassessment tax rate would have to increase from 0.0132 percent to 0.075. Otherwise, $61,350 of those expenses would have to be paid out of the county’s General Fund.
However, council members had apparently budgeted money for consultant fees twice, once in the General Fund and once in the Reassessment Fund. VanDerAa agreed that could be paid out of the General Fund, reducing the need for $30,000 in Reassessment. That means the Reassessment Fund would only have a shortfall of $31,350 that would have to be made up by raising taxes.
No formal decision was reached Wednesday, but Auditor Laura Wheeler agreed to adjust the figures accordingly. Council members will decide whether to approve the updated proposal when it adopts the county’s 2019 budget on October 8.
