MORAN The property tax rates Moran residents will pay in 2019 are primed to be remarkably similar to what they paid this year.
Moran City Council members on Monday set a hearing to ratify the citys 2019 spending plan, which would be supported in part with a property tax levy of about 38 mills.
The final mill levy wont be known until the citys final assessed valuation is determined this fall.
If the figure holds, the 38.023 mill levy would be roughly two-tenths of a mill higher than the 37.815 mills for this year.
To put that figure in dollars and cents, the owner of a $60,000 home would spend a shade more than $262 in property taxes to support the citys General Fund budget, about $1.40 more than was paid this year.
Accountant Phil Jarred noted the states property tax lid laws must now play a play role in a communitys budgeting, noting any property tax increases forecast to exceed the rate of inflation about 1.2 percent for this year would need approval from local voters. And its too late in the game to schedule an election.
The tax figures do not account for other taxing entities, including the county, Allen Community College or USD 256.
Council members voted, 4-0, to schedule a budget hearing at 7 p.m. Aug. 6 at Moran City Hall to give taxpayers a say in the matter before the budget is approved. Councilman Kris Smith was absent.
POLICE Chief Shane Smith told the Council he has visited at length with local semi-truck drivers about parking their vehicles alongside city streets in residential neighborhoods. City ordinances prohibit such parking, if the truck has a trailer attached.
Trucks without trailers are allowed streetside, although Smith noted most residential streets in Moran arent wide enough to accommodate such a large vehicle.
To defuse the situation, Smith said he has encouraged some drivers to park their rigs on a hard-surface area near the old Moran Grain Elevator complex.
Other drivers have made accommodations to park their trucks on their property.
THE COUNCIL accepted a bid from Rays Metal Depot to demolish a condemned home at 304 W. First St. at a rate of $135 per hour, and at a total cost not to exceed $2,400.
The price will be added to back taxes owed on the property, although Mayor Phillip Merkel noted the city is unlikely to be reimbursed for the cost.
COUNCIL members expressed little enthusiasm for a request from Elsmore Mayor Melissa Fewins to have Moran employees spray for mosquitoes in Elsmore.
