Tax rate down

City tax rates are going down.

Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman reported to Portland City Council on Monday that residents will see a decrease in their tax rate thanks to an increase in the city’s overall assessed value.

Geesaman noted that Portland’s 2020 budget passed in October has been approved by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance. It came in at $6,208,159, which was up slightly from 2019.

He added that Portland’s assessed value came in at about $238 million, up from about $222 million a year ago. He said the bulk of that increase came in the form of business personal property.

As a result, Geesaman said, the tax rate for Portland residents will be $1.51 per $100 of assessed value in 2020. That’s down from $1.59 this year.

The mayor also noted that a recent two-year audit on Portland’s finances came back clean. He thanked clerk-treasurer Lori Phillips and her staff — Tina Paxson, Lisa Stevens and Malisa Brown — and the city’s department heads for their efforts.

Council members Bill Gibson, Judy Aker, Kent McClung, Janet Powers, Don Gillespie and Michele Brewster, absent Judy Hedges, approved an update to a tax abatement for Jay Stay Hotels (Holiday Inn Express).

The abatement was originally approved in August 2018 on an investment of almost $890,000 to renovate the hotel’s 73 rooms. But the project ran into some delays.

The work is now ready to move forward with plans calling for completion by the end of July. The three-year abatement was changed to reflect that new timeframe.

In other business, council:

•Heard Powers and Gillespie request that city crews clear leaves that have gathered along Meridian Street in the downtown area and south side of the city.

Gillespie also mentioned holes that need to be filled in along the shoulder of Lincoln Street.

•Approved payment of $1,439 to Jones & Henry Engineering for work related to the wastewater treatment plant.

•OK’d additional appropriations of $13,860 in the cumulative capital development other contractual fund for upcoming sidewalk projects on Blaine Pike and Votaw Street, $4,100 in local option income tax (LOIT) police equipment for cameras for a new vehicle and $3,500 in aviation utility for utility costs.

•Approved transfers for $3,310 to aviation gas from aviation part-time, $1,500 to police equipment to police canine, $800 to aviation communication from aviation repair and maintenance and $500 to (LOIT) police gas from LOIT police salary to balance line items as the end of the year nears.

•Heard Geesaman suggest that the city continue to get regular updates from a financial consultant in order to stay on top of its balances in various funds.

•Paid claims totaling $1,591,831.35.