The City Council recently approved its corporate tax levy of $3.61 million that will increase taxes by 4.7 percent.
The previous levy was $3.44 million.
The levy is a record of estimated expenditures and sources to fund those expenditures through property taxes and other revenues. Aldermen will be approving a budget of actual expenditures before the city’s 1998-99 fiscal year begins May 1.
Budget officer Dwayne Fox said the increase is necessary to underwrite $538,000 in major capital projects, including a $240,000 fire engine, $85,000 in new computers and software and $73,000 for vehicle replacement.
The purchases are the first in a five-year capital improvement program, he said. The city has not made any major purchases in the last two years, according to City Treasurer JoAnn Kelly.