The city of Portage expects to bring in $1.8 million dollars more in property taxes this year than previously thought. The city's financial consultant noticed that Portage was eligible for the extra revenue, when reviewing the state's budget recommendations last week.
While the city hopes to collect another $1,782,587 for the general fund, it doesn't plan to let its departments spend more this year. Instead, it'll use the extra money to reduce what it has to borrow to maintain cash flow, according to financial consultant Steve Carter with Krohn & Associates.
"Our goal in working with the administration is going to be to get that number down over the next several years, so that you don't have to go through that process of doing short-term borrowing just to make your payroll and do your day-to-day things," Carter told the city council during a special meeting Friday.
At the same time, he said the Department of Local Government Finance will also double the amount coming into the debt service fund.
To reflect the change to the general fund levy, the city council officially amended the 2024 budget Friday, the last day the city could request a correction from the state.
"We got it in the nick of time, and there are some people to thank to make sure that we got that happening," said Mayor Austin Bonta.
As for what this all means for taxpayers, Carter says their rate will actually go down about three cents, compared to 2023. But it will prevent a larger drop this year, that would have been followed by a sharp increase next year.
