Spending plan to be adopted next month
The Beacon City Council will hold a public hearing on Monday (Nov. 13) on the city’s proposed 2024 budget, a $35 million spending plan that includes about a $100 property tax increase on the average home and $1,000 employee-retention raises for city staff.
The budget proposes a decrease in the residential tax rate for the third straight year and a decrease in the commercial tax rate for the second year in a row. It would use $250,000 from savings to balance the $25.4 million general fund and $96,500 in savings for the $4.2 million water fund. Water and sewer fees would increase for city residents by 4 percent and 6 percent, respectively.
Only one new position, a part-time police dispatcher, is proposed for 2024. Two positions created this year — a recreation assistant and deputy building inspector — are retained in the budget. The recreation assistant will allow the city to expand its afterschool programming sites from three to four in early 2024; the summer camp program at University Settlement will also expand by two weeks next year.
